Some days feel like a flashback to when I was growing up. My dad and his friends often complained about “kids today” not wanting to work hard, or take low paying jobs, or stay with one company for long. I am willing to bet his parents said the same about his generation.
Yet, many employers of younger staff use the argument that things are different now, that lifestyle outweighs opportunity, that compensation expectations are out of line. “We need to overpay, underwork and support lifestyles in order to attract average employees,” is a common refrain.
In some cases, their observations are valid. But as a generalization, low unemployment rates in almost every community seem to conflict with this perception. The pandemic gave many a taste for remote work and short commutes. Combined, they contribute to the notion of poor work habits. Yet firms are growing at record rates, generating high levels of revenue growth and profits, and in many cases, selling at very high multiples.
It begs the question: Is the problem with the employee or the employer? Filtering out those who won’t make it at your company has always been a challenge. However, the burden still falls on the leaders and managers of firms to think differently about their recruiting, hiring, retention and promotion strategies.
The reason is clear. Most growth-oriented firms are experiencing capacity constraints, a talent shortage, and a smaller labor pool of qualified candidates. Plus, the founders of firms are closer to the end than the beginning which presents stress on their continuity plan. While selling their advisory businesses to a consolidator relieves owners of the pressure to hire and develop their successors, it does not yet address the leadership gaps that exist in most practices.
Advisory businesses with the healthiest approach to human capital are able to define the nature of the work, the nature of the worker and the nature of the workplace. The most dynamic of these firms recognize that it is the job of its leaders to create an environment in which motivated people can flourish.
This means defining the role with clear expectations and matching people to roles that align with their interests and skill set. But few people are content to do the same thing for their entire career. When an organization provides challenging work, and an opportunity for personal growth, they have a higher probability of keeping the people they want.
However, the instinct for many managers is to induce loyalty through higher pay or better benefits or more flexibility. They are looking for love in all the wrong places. Money does not sustain employee motivation. Instead, money rewards motivated people.
Therefore, leaders need to recognize what is a motivation factor, and what is a hygiene factor. Things like fair compensation, fair policies, good work conditions (whether remotely or in the office) and strong relationships with peers and managers are the minimum elements expected by employees. It is critical that business leaders evaluate how their minimum expectations stack up to other job opportunities in their market.
A good place to start is with your recruiting messages. An amazing set of examples published by Bored Panda demonstrate how many employers are tone deaf when communicating their value to prospective employees.
Imagine, for example, if you saw a recruitment message that suggested candidates should have “15 years of social media experience;” or “4+ years in FastAPI.” My hunch is this would limit the candidate pool.
Or those who do tests or quizzes or request examples of thinking that do not align with the job, such as the job opening within a call center where the company stated, “We prize high quality creative writing in our company. Please write a short story about a purple flying turtle as part of your application.” For a call center position?
One of my favorite examples of limiting the pool was the company using a drop-down menu on its menu to pre-qualify candidates. In the educational background, they specifically listed only six universities including “Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania.” They included “other,” but their bias was clear. I wonder if they realize there are great candidates who didn’t attend these schools. Or how many candidates automatically turned away from applying because of their elitist approach?
The point is that for growth-oriented firms that want to attract and keep the best people, they must become aware of their unconscious messaging that makes them less appealing as places to work. Further, they must recognize we have been in a tight labor market for all types of jobs so they need to differentiate their business more sharply.
As much as advisory businesses spend on attracting new clients, the big shift for the coming years will be on attracting more talent and developing them into managers, leaders, and a catalyst for change. This is a far different attitude than complaining that “no one wants to work anymore.”
In the business of financial advice, we are experiencing an oversupply of clients, and an undersupply of professionals to serve them. To become the "employer of choice" in your market will be a key part of your positioning in order to build an enduring business.
Under the Spotlight: Mark Tibergien
Mark Tibergien is a nationally recognized expert on management, strategy, and transition issues within the financial services industry.
He has led organizations from start-up to exit, from dynamic growth to turn-around. He has consulted with hundreds of financial services organizations in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Canada.
He currently serves as Advisor in Residence for Ernst & Young’s Wealth & Asset Management Group; an independent director of Pathstone, a $40 billion multi-family office business; and as an Advisory Board Member for Commonwealth Financial Network. He retired in March 2023 as Chair of the Workforce Development Committee for the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning whose mission is to promote diversity in the advisory profession and financial planning as a career choice.
Most recently, Mark was CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC, an affiliate of The Bank of New York Mellon. Prior to joining Pershing, he was a Principal in the CPA firm, Moss Adams LLP, where he was head of the Business Consulting Group, specializing in the financial services industry. He wrote a monthly column for Investment Advisor/Think Advisor on management issues.
He is the author of four books published by Bloomberg Press/Wiley & Sons: Practice Made Perfect (2005) and How to Value, Buy or Sell a Financial Advisory Practice (2006) ; Practice (Made) More Perfect (2010) and The Enduring Advisory Firm (2016).
Mark Tibergien is a speaker at RIA Edge West on September 27-29, 2023 at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, CA. Don't miss out on his session on RIA Mega Trends. Find out more about RIA Edge West here >>
