Investment Management Success with Retention Best Practices

While hiring is a necessity, it can be a painful process.

Sure, it's important to identify and attract the kind of talent that can help your business run smoothly and support your future asset growth. But recruiting can also be:

• time-consuming
• costly (advertising, hiring employment agencies/headhunters)
• a distraction from your core daily activities
• disruptive (must get new hires up to speed and meld them successfully into your existing teams)

RIAs need to get the recruitment process right, but that's just the first step. Once you've employed successful candidates, it's equally important that they don't leave. If they do, you'll have to go through the search-hire-train cycle all over again.

Plus, there are key person risk issues. If trusted team members with valuable skills and in-depth information about your mission-critical operating procedures leave, will your firm still be able to function as normal?

According to The Work Institute, labor bureau studies show the average American will have 11.3 jobs during their working life, and nearly 60% of employees are job hunting. With labor turnover so high, robust yet responsive retention strategies have become critical.

Employee Retention Strategies for RIAs

Compensation will play a major part, of course. In today's price comparison era, where the workforce has become highly mobile, and job security and loyalty on both sides have diminished, a competitive pay and benefits package will go some way to fostering a sense of value (and hopefully fidelity).

Career prospects are another factor. Making the work interesting, varied, and challenging help keep staff engaged. Providing opportunities to expand employees' skills and experience, along with a clear career track and potential for promotion, offer the promise of progression.

But material considerations are not the only element in keeping staff motivated, productive, and loyal.

Post-2008, there's been a brain drain away from the financial industry and toward the tech sector. Why? Pay may be the reason, but it probably isn't the determining one. Consider these factors:

1. Tech companies are "cool," brings certain personal and social kudos.
2. The work is creative.
3. There is typically a health-oriented, fun culture and work environment.
4. Often there is an emphasis on achieving a better work-life balance (which for many employees is the all-important attribute).

But material considerations are not the only element in keeping staff motivated, productive, and loyal.

These are necessary lessons that all RIAs should heed. Turnover is expensive, and skilled, knowledgeable, efficient employees are gold dust. Companies that ignore retention best practices do so at their peril.