BM: Typically, in what stage of their career are people looking to switch to work in a family office?
PW: When we first started around 10 years ago, it was seen as a career move for someone who’s spent 30 years in banking or investment management and is looking for a comfortable job for the last few years of their career. That’s starting to change, and I think it’s becoming a proper career path for people and becoming a career sector of its own. People now mainly see it as a way to get front-line access to deals, especially if you’re at the midstage of your career and you’re on a big team and not getting the sexy access you might want. You’ll get that in a family office, but you’ll also get the very mundane stuff as well, so it’s a bit of a battle.
BM: What should people considering a transition into a family office expect in terms of pay compared with their current roles?
PW: Obviously, salary needs to be competitive with the market they’re coming from. Naturally, if you’ve been the CEO of a big investment firm, then it’s impossible to make the transition over to a family office [because the salary won’t be enough]. For bonuses, what we find generally is that initially they’re done on a much more discretionary basis, and once that trust has been built up it can move into a more formulaic structure. Once you prove your loyalty and the returns are good, the opportunity for increased salary can be a lot greater. That’s often the leap of faith that candidates need to make. We’ve heard amazing stories where, for example, there was a CEO who had been doing a really good job, and so, as a bonus, his principal let him and his family spend a week on board their £300 million [$381 million] superyacht.
BM: How does diversity in the family office space compare to that in the rest of the financial world?
PW: The gender side is comparable to the investment banking and management world. It’s quite largely male-dominated—around 71% male. We’ve seen a trend, though—that some of the most successful family offices are run by women.
TM: In terms of race, families tend to hire people who are good for the job, but they don’t have HR or an internal policy to make sure they diversify. I think they generally tend to hire people like themselves for the comfort aspect, though I don’t think they’re making a conscious effort to do that.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.