Something’s amiss in the financial advice business, and the data confirms it: Women account for only about 15% of the financial advisor population, according to McKinsey & Co. They account for only 23% of CFPs.

Since research has shown that diversity on our teams, just like diversity in a client’s portfolio, produces better results, why is the needle moving so slowly? Why is it taking so long for firms to attract and retain more female advisors, and what can be done about it?

The industry has made great strides in recent years in recognizing this imbalance and trying to change it. As those industry-wide efforts continue, firm owners and partners can also do their part. We’ve come up with some steps at our own firm, Merit Financial Advisors, that we would like to pass along to you to help make your firm more appealing and rewarding to women.

Rethink Advisor Compensation By ‘Teaming’
Women, I’ve found, are turned off by the financial advice industry’s compensation structure. In most cases, comp plans are tied directly to business development and production. While an advisor’s ability to bring in business is important to a firm, it’s not the only thing that should measure her success.

It’s also important to realize that while an advisor’s job has many dimensions, nobody can be outstanding at everything. If you expect an advisor to be terrific at all the many diverse tasks involved in her job, your expectations might be unrealistic—and that’s why the attrition rate among new advisors has been so high.

That awareness has prompted us to make changes at Merit Financial to improve our efficiency, growth, client and employee satisfaction, and profitability and—at the same time and most importantly—attract more women to our firm and get them to stay.

The idea is that people are most satisfied and productive when they do what they do best.

Advisors have traditionally been expected to prospect for new business, hold client and prospect events, maintain contact with existing clients, prepare and review financial plans and create portfolio allocations.

At Merit, we have created specific jobs for many of those tasks. They are all handled by someone working as an “advisor,” but each person works as part of a team, doing the thing for which they are best suited.

Take prospecting. Many advisors dislike marketing themselves and many don’t do it well. We’ve taken that burden off the shoulders of our advisors by creating a dedicated marketing group to handle our social media activity, email campaigns, content creation and promotion, direct mail, sponsorships and events. We invest 20% of our revenues in marketing, freeing advisors’ time and energy, all while delivering them qualified leads.

Advisor compensation has traditionally been tied to closing new clients, while the work of serving and retaining current clients has often taken a back seat. Yet the retention of long-term clients is the key to a firm’s success and profitability. With that in mind, we have created dedicated advisor teams that focus solely on client service. These teams regularly check in with clients and answer questions that may come up.

So how do you create a compensation plan for these teaming strategies?

We do it in a variety of ways at Merit, so our advisors can pick a compensation scheme that suits them best. For example, some advisors want a straight salary. Others might want their paychecks to be variable, depending on how well they perform. Still others might like getting paid both ways.

In part because of this team approach, women represent more than 53% of the 140 employees at Merit, and their numbers continue to grow.

Flexibility Is Key
Our team structure also allows us to be flexible with working hours. In addition to our generous personal time-off policy, we are very accommodating to our staff members’ personal needs and sensitive to their need for work-life balance. It’s important to understand that many people are responsible for childcare, and they also often care for older parents and relatives. Typically, this responsibility falls on women, so we support flexibility, which we find is rewarded by higher productivity, loyalty and retention.

Lead By Example
It’s one thing to create these changes, but firm leaders must also live them. I have five children and often take time during the workday to participate in their important school events. Other women see that I respect, understand and appreciate the role a parent plays in a child’s life, and when I take time to do things with my children, it gives my staff the confidence and security to do the same.

Male allies are also important. My partner, CEO Rick Kent, continues to support and advocate for women in our firm and in the industry. He recognizes and appreciates that we will attract more women to our profession if we rethink the way we approach our business.

Invest In Them
Most women want to continue fine-tuning their professional skills and appreciate it when their firms offer training and leadership programs to help them do so. Recently, we launched a leadership development program that came as a direct ask from our female leaders. We now offer coaching and training in a variety of areas and envision this continuing to act as a wonderful added value for our female team members.

Women play a key role in a firm’s current and future success. By offering flexibility and training and by differentiating roles among professional specialties, our firm has attracted outstanding women and others who probably never would have considered a career in financial advice in the past. By broadening our concept of advisor success, our firm has benefited immeasurably from their contributions. Your firm can too.

Kay Lynn Mayhue is president of Merit Financial Advisors, a national wealth management firm with more than $5.6 billion in assets. The firm supports advisors affiliated with independent broker-dealers, as well as those who are registered investment advisors.