Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
Here is a funny video that relates to the topic of this article.
Dear Bev,
During the stay-at-home phase, we had to have a handful of team members in the office for client support reasons. We were very careful; we rotated people and we never had more than five at the maximum – usually closer to three.
We wanted to do something to acknowledge the extra effort these people had to make. We sent lunch deliveries there every Tuesday and Friday. There are a couple of local places our firm uses, and the people in the office raved about how this was the most special “treat” of their week.
Now we have returned to almost full capacity. I have a couple of immune-compromised people who have requested to stay home until we see where this Delta variant lands. But otherwise, the remaining 27 people are back in the office.
There has been noise about continuing the Tues/Fri lunch treats. Neither my partner, our COO, nor I have ever said this was in the plan. But staff members start talking about how great this perk was and now it seems to have taken on a life of its own.
We don’t want to be stuck buying lunch for 27 people twice a week. We are generous with our staff. Salaries are above the mid-range for our area, and we have generous benefits and a good profit-sharing plan. We don’t believe adding this extra expense is necessary and if you do the math over time, it adds up to significant dollars. I don’t even go out or buy my lunch most days because of the cost.
How do we appropriately let our team members know this isn’t going to happen? People seem glad to be back and mostly happy to be working together. I don’t want to throw the wet rag on them, but we have to address this soon.
Y.W.
Dear Y.W.,
What is that common saying, “no good deed goes unpunished”? Sounds like you have inadvertently found yourself living this.
It is perfectly fair to inform team members that what was reasonable during a shutdown is not reasonable once everyone is back to work and returning to something that looks like normalcy. However team members never like anything being taken away, even if they didn’t have it in the first place. So, some thoughts to mitigate a backlash:
- Proactive communication to team members is important. Don’t apologize, and don’t explain but send out a note saying something along these lines: “We’re glad to be back in the office with everyone. While we are returning to something resembling normalcy as part of the transition process, we will be bringing in pizza/sandwiches/goodies once every couple of weeks for everyone to enjoy lunch in the conference room (or at their desks, etc.). We’ll be able to do this as we transition through the first of November so let us know what you would like to eat!
In this scenario, you are not apologizing. You are offering a gift to everyone, but you are putting a limit on it and letting team members know when the end date will be. You are moving away from twice per week to twice per month to mitigate costs.
- Proactive communication whereby you let team members know of some sort of “contest” or reward. “We’d like to keep enjoying the treats that were available during the difficult COVID shutdown for team members who ventured into the office. To that end, if we are able to meet X goals by the end of September/October/November or year-end, we will buy lunch for all team members at X (i.e., fancy) restaurant as a celebration.”
In this scenario, you are tying the reward to some sort of win for the firm overall. You are engaging the entire team in meeting a goal that benefits the firm and brings in new assets/revenue and instead of continuing the tradition of bringing lunch into the office, you are taking everyone out to some nice place together.
- Proactive communication that continues the current tradition of twice per week just for the transition back period. “We are excited to have everyone returning to the office. While it is cost prohibitive to buy lunch for everyone twice a week on an unlimited, ongoing basis, we are going to do so for the first two weeks of the office return to help make the transition easier for everyone.”
In this scenario, you are clear about the cost upfront, but you don’t remove the perk right away. You put a short time fuse on it so people can enjoy for a short time but then know it is going to end.
Phase this and be clear and direct about what you will do. Nip this in the bud as quickly as possible.
Dear Bev,
Is it common for advisors with employees returning to the office to get requests like, “Can I get gas paid for? My commute is long and I was saving this money during WFH.” Or, “My commute is long and takes time away from my family. Will we be getting extra in our paycheck for the time we are losing from family time?” Or the one I received last night: “I was able to save money on wear and tear of my car, will the firm be considering extra compensation for the fact that cars are mostly company use? I don’t drive much in my personal life.”
My head is spinning – long-time employees who have never asked for much are now nit-picking us about the return to a commute which they had done for many years, so it really isn’t new. Are all advisory firms facing this and how are they responding to it?
S.H.
Dear S.H.,
Remember the old days when people just assumed you had to come to the office to get paid and do the job? What a glorious experience that was for leaders and they didn’t even know it.
You don’t mention in your note whether your team members are being paid adequately for your area and market. I’m hearing from many of our client firms that the talent wars have heated up significantly and one of the biggest perks they can offer is the ability to continue to work from home, and/or enjoy fewer days in the office. One of my advisor clients (a large firm of about 75 people) is allowing people to choose which two days minimum they want to be in the office. If people want to come in more, that’s fine. But only two are required. In other cases, advisory firms are mandating time in the office only when there are client meetings going on. In other cases, firms are doing a complete return to the office, and some are phasing in the complete return.
It’s possible your talent is being contacted by other firms or they are hearing from friends and colleagues about flexible options and so they are pushing back if you are insisting on return to the office.
I do respect and recognize your team had always commuted, always traveled in and this is new ground for them, but I’m sure you have read the many articles about the wholesale shift in thinking on behalf of workers. In many places there has been a wholesale exodus where people realize they don’t want to spend their lives in their cars commuting, or they want to have more balance and time with family or to do things they enjoy. So while this is all frustrating and concerning for management, it is a real issue that has arisen and has to be addressed.
I don’t know how large your firm is, or whether these are one-off requests you are getting but it might be worth your while to consider whether there is any perk you could offer to team members or whether you want to address each of these one-by-one and have a conversation about what’s underneath these requests. I’m not suggesting that a leader should cave and give-in to any request they get, but if these team members are important to you, and there are risk factors in losing them, it is probably important to take this seriously and try and understand (a) where the request is coming from and (b) whether it is worth trying to find a way to accommodate this with some sort of return to office perk.
Many of my advisory firms have people returning and going back to the way it always was with no pushback so this isn’t a wholesale problem – in my experience – across the industry but I always consider these sorts of things a “flag” that something else might be brewing so you want to take it seriously.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here. 
