You have worked hard to make your financial planning practice the best in town. You have stayed up late nights completing your business tax returns, preparing statements for your clients and reading up on the latest industry regulations. You have continued your financial education, attending local seminars, joining regional and national organizations and watching informational webinars from the computer in your office. You have even sacrificed vacations and time off to cover for an ailing associate.
Throughout it all, you have tried to make your practice a place where your employees want to work. You have done your best to create an inclusive workplace that treats everyone with respect. You have plowed through endless piles of resumes and submissions in your quest to find the best and most qualified workers, and no you are reaping the rewards of all your hard work.
You now have a solid staff of men and women you can rely on. Those employees have the training they need to serve your existing clients, and the dedication needed to seek out new clients and help your firm grow. Most importantly, from your perspective, you have worked hard to make the entire firm feel like one big happy family.
While the sentiment is certainly a noble one, is it really wise to emulate a family environment in the workplace? Should you go above and beyond to make every employee feel like a vital part of the family, or should you treat your workers more like - workers? As with everything in the world of business, navigating the fine line between creating a family-like environment and maintaining a more professional firm is a tough thing to do.
No one is saying that you should maintain a professional distance at all times or treat your employees with less than the utmost respect. Respecting your employees and treating them as valued members of the team is a smart thing to do, and it is something you should strive for every day.
Treating employees with respect, and like family members to some respect, does have some notable benefits. When employees feel valued and respected, they are more likely to share their concerns and provide honest feedback. That honesty can be extremely valuable in your business.
Think about the salesperson working with a new client. That client has some concerns about how the practice is being run and how the commissions are structured. If the salesperson has a positive relationship with the boss, he or she will be more likely to share those concerns. As a result, the business owner can make improvements and build an even better and more responsive business.
Treating employees like family and taking their needs and concerns to heart can be good for business, but only to a point. There are some significant risks of treating employees too much like family, and those issues could easily get in the way of running a successful financial planning practice.
It is all too easy to visualize these risks. In fact, you may have already experienced some of these difficulties. From issues with disciplining and managing employees to interpersonal problems between top-performing workers, there are plenty of dangers to avoid.
One of the most significant problems with treating employees too much like family is that it instantly turns business decisions into personal one. Whether you are opening a new office and looking for people to staff it, extending your office hours during tax season or assigning individual advisors to new clients, the decisions you make can seem professional to you and highly personal to the employees involved.
From a business perspective, you may think that it makes sense to assign your top performing salesperson to the new office. At the same time, the good but not great salesperson who lives close by may feel slighted, and resentful as they make their long daily commute.
The problems associated with disciplining bad behavior and developing workplace improvement plans can be even worse. Being friendly with your staff is all well and good, but how do you square that friendship with the need to be a tough manager?
You do not want to put the best interests of your clients at risk, even to preserve a cherished friendship. At some point, you need to draw a line between the personal and professional and do what needs to be done.
Last but not least, there is the risk that your employees will become dependent on you and the jobs you provide. This is a huge risk in family businesses, but it can manifest itself even when the workforce is entirely unrelated.
As the owner of a financial planning practice, you probably know a few entrepreneurs who started businesses and hired their family members. The chances are that mix of employees includes a few family members who might not be employable in the outside world. Those business owners are not doing their family members any favors by coddling them and letting them skate along, and you should not make the same mistake.
It can be tempting to view your business as a family, and treating your workers well is certainly a smart thing to do. Happy employees tend to be more productive and far more loyal, and that is good news for you and your firm. Building a happy staff of willing workers is a great way to lower your turnover rate, build the expertise you need and create a financial planning practice you can be proud of.
The issue is not whether treating employees like family is a good thing or a bad thing. The issue is where to draw the line between professionalism and creating a happy and friendly workplace. That line will be different for every business owner and financial planning professional, so take a good look at your practice and make some smart decisions.
Also check out Is Your Practice a Business or Just a Job?
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