6. Every new hire undergoes a formal orientation program. Depending on the job, this orientation lasts from one to four weeks before the new employees start doing what we’ve hired them to do. We are frequently told by new employees that at other jobs they showed up for work on the first day, were assigned to a desk and told to get to work, with no idea what they were supposed to do or how to do it. By the time our rookies actually start working at their jobs, they feel like seasoned veterans.

In addition to offering people high pay, good benefits, a great culture and a family-friendly environment, we also work hard to keep our employees motivated by offering opportunities to advance in their careers. If people can’t grow and develop, they’ll leave.

To help people grow, and to help us manage them, I developed a ladder of career development. It gives our staff a clear pathway to advancement while emphasizing the kind of people who are most likely to advance with us. I’ll tell you more about our ladder system in a future column.

Our approach seems to be working. Employee turnover last year was only 9.3%, less than a third of the industry average of 29% (according to Equifax). And in 27 years, no advisor has ever left the firm to join another (although we’ve fired some, asked others to leave, had a few retire and had one pass away). Our efforts to recruit and retain employees have gotten us named a “best workplace” five times by several magazines and newspapers, and that helps us recruit even more great talent—a virtuous circle.

All this is a sharp contrast to the advisor who complained that his employees don’t work 40 hours a week, even though he pays them to do so. Our own calculations have shown that, because of our workday breaks, paid time off, paid holidays, sabbaticals and so on, our employees work an average of 30 hours per week. But instead of being annoyed about that, we just hire more people. It’s simply the cost of doing business.

The alternative is to hire no one and get nothing done.

Perhaps none of what I’ve said has changed your mind about hiring people. Perhaps you still don’t want to engage in it. Well, you don’t have to. There’s another option: Simply fold your practice into a bigger firm like ours that takes care of hiring and managing the support staff you need, so you can focus on what you do best and enjoy most, working with clients.

There’s no question that HR is an essential part of building and maintaining a successful practice. Whether you choose to handle this yourself or offload it to others, make sure it is handled and handled well.


Ric Edelman is chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services LLC, a registered investment advisor. He is an investment advisor representative who offers advisory services through EFS and a registered principal of (offering securities through) Sanders Morris Harris Inc., an affiliated broker/dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. You can connect with him on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/RicEdelman or on Facebook at facebook.com/RicEdelman. Or follow him on Twitter at @RicEdelman.

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