Paul Westall, one of Agreus’s cofounders was invited to speak on Day two of the 2023 Family Office and Wealth Advisor Forum held by Family Office Exchange (FOX) in Chicago, USA on 11th July. He discussed the topic “Improving Upon the Employee Experience” along with three other speakers who work in the Family Office space.
The forum covered a wide range of topics that concerned the Family Office space, including the rise of second-generation, potential changes in regulation and law, the retention of key employees, Family Office governance, and technology. The “Improving Upon the Employee Experience” session discussed all the retaining measures beyond financial compensation. The speakers shared insights on various non-financial compensation that Family Offices can adopt to retain their key employees in a challenging economy.
The speakers believe that in order to retain staff, it is very important to hire the right person first. Family Offices are, by nature, highly personal workplaces; hence it is essential to consider the cultural fit in the recruitment process. An employee that is a right fit tend to have closer relationships with the family they serve and are likely to stay in their jobs for longer.
In this post-COVID time, the norms of work structure have shifted tremendously. Employees are now expecting a hybrid working structure or even a fully remote role. Remote working opportunities allow for better work-life balance and are considered a very effective measure to retain employees. We have come across many candidates that reject fully office-based opportunities. Fortunately, it seems that the Family Office space is caught up with the trend as our 2023 Global Family Office Compensation Benchmark Report shows that 74% of Family Offices worldwide are now facilitating working from home as a measure to retain their employees.
Additionally, the success of an organisation is often linked to the well-being of the employees. As a result, many companies began to prioritise employee well-being and now include wellness benefits in their employee benefits package. The same may apply to the Family Office space. The speakers suggested that when it comes to wellness, Family Offices should take a holistic approach as it is an all-encompassing concept. Commonly seen wellness benefits are on-site gym or gym membership, private health cover and counselling services. However, the concept of wellness looks different to everyone, as it is influenced by various external factors including the individual’s social, physical and cultural environment. Family members and employees of the Family Office should be encouraged to come up with ideas about what they need for their well-being. From the speaker’s experience, the most successful practice has been personalised wellness where every employee is treated individually. Family Offices may also enhance their experience of employees by improving their onboarding experience, working environment as well as diversity and inclusion. Other commonly found benefits include employee resource groups, nursing mother’s programmes and learning development.
Our 2023 Global Family Office Compensation Benchmark Report revealed that one-third of Family Office professionals are considering moving roles in 2023, this indicates that retaining employees is more important than ever. Family Offices often recruit talent that comes from benchmarked and standardised industries such as financial and professional services. To retain these talents, it is important to offer benchmarked financial and non-financial compensation and benefits packages.
Our 2023 Global Family Office Compensation Benchmark Report mentioned throughout this article was created in collaboration with KPMG Private Enterprise and provides a comprehensive set of data on the compensation and benefits for Family Office employees. This has proven to be an insightful read and is immensely helpful for the Family Offices that would like to review their compensation structure and benefits package. If you haven’t already, we’d encourage you to read through this report and if you have any questions or need some advice, Agreus works exclusively with Family Offices so we’re here to support you. We pride ourselves in being an expert on the Family Office space and providing tailored recruitment and compensation consulting services to Family Offices worldwide. For a more tailored conversation, please do not hesitate to get in touch.