In the Family Office world, we use the term Hybrid for many things.
From hybrid family offices which describe a half online, half physical set-up, to those who have both a remote team of partners and an in-house pool of resources to the hybrid role: a position given to a Family Office professional which oversees not just one role but the role of many.
While hybrid family offices can be found across the globe, hybrid roles are commonplace and their popularity has only grown through the course of the pandemic and for good reason.
Family Offices manage extraordinary wealth and naturally require a level of privacy, unparalleled to the corporate world. The less people exposed to both the family wealth and the secrets attached to this wealth, the better and so the professionals charged with managing this wealth not only have a huge responsibility on their shoulders, but it is often a responsibility that is heavily split between no more than five or six employees.
These individuals must be loyal, committed and carry absolute discretion. They must also be dynamic, bring with them a transferable skill-set, a can-do attitude and both an ability and willingness to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in, across multiple facets of the business.
They must be culturally aligned to the way of doing things and the environment which most often takes the form of a flat structure with little departmentalisation of roles or scrutiny over the rather large decisions they must make every day.
Above all, they must be able to wear several hats on any given day and while any role requires an ability to multi-task, Family Offices are increasingly calling upon experts in two or often three areas of business.
To offer two recent examples, we were asked to support a search for a Chief Investment Officer and Chief Financial Officer and an Office Manager and Accountant. Beginning with the CIO/ CFO hybrid role and this calls upon a single individual who is able to craft, implement and embed an investment strategy while also being responsible for cutting costs and managing budgets. Two roles that arguably counteract one another and two roles often filled by entirely different personalities. One a risk-taking leader and the other risk-adverse and while both carry the same objective of generating greater wealth, while one is responsible for creating that wealth, one is expected to oversee its creation with an additional layer of scrutiny.
Looking now at the Office Manager and Accountant and while both sit within the same industry bracket of Operational Roles, both once again require not just a different skill-set but a different set of qualifications, personalities and typical compensation structures.
Hybrid roles may be commonplace but, are they a good idea?
There are of course positives. As outlined above, keeping a small and close-knit team is important to Family Offices who survive by being able to keep the secrets to their success. Not only does a hybrid role allow for this set-up but it also makes financial sense for those Family Offices who, in times of flux, do not need for instance, a full-time accountant. Having an Office Manager who can oversee diary management as well as the management of budgets is ideal and of course, while offering an inflated salary for the both roles, would of course save on paying for two separate individuals. This also eliminates the need to pay for additional training, annual leave or other human resources related costs.
On the downside, this person can be overworked and tire quickly. While there are times of flux within any organisation, there are times of chaos and one person simply cannot be in multiple places at the same time, even if it is a requirement. This is especially challenging for more senior and pivotal roles such as a Chief Investment Officer which is required to generate the family wealth, not a part-time position nor one that allows for downtime. While saving on the cost of two, a hybrid role when successfully implemented requires a series of upskilling and professional development which does cost money. Counteracting perhaps any savings made.
Ultimately, like anything in the Family Office world, it must be a personal choice but with a global pool of extraordinary talent at our fingertips, there is nothing stopping you from expanding your Family Office team. The only question you need to answer is, do you opt for quality, quantity or, both?