Looking for longevity

Hiring professional staff for a family office can be fraught with challenges.

“It’s a very different sort of job,” says Nancy P. Bruns, chairman of the board of the Dickinson Group. “It’s not just going to work for a company. You’re working for an entire family.”

Particularly in smaller family offices, this can mean each employee has to be able to handle a wide range of tasks. The varied duties of Bruns’ family office’s CFO illustrate the point: “She does everything from trust work to keeping books for our companies to helping someone who is having an issue with a distribution.”

Family office professionals need more than diverse financial and managerial skills, though.

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“An employee has to have a certain set of skills, but personality is just as important: Are they going to fit into our office environment well? Do they want to engage with the family?” Bruns said.

Identifying candidates with the right cultural fit and emotional intelligence can be a challenge — and it’s one that many family offices have faced, or will soon face.

One-third of family office professionals say they plan to look for a new role this year, according to The 2023 Global Family Office Compensation Benchmark Report from KPMG Private Enterprise and Agreus, a resourcing and recruiting firm. The drivers for changing jobs include growth opportunities (42%), the ability to make a greater impact (22%) and better compensation (16%). And on the hiring side, 40% of family offices surveyed said they planned to hire in 2023.

“It takes a definite team player: someone that’s really caring and wants to be helpful. It also takes someone who wants to be part of a bigger mission than just the dollars – it’s helping to keep the family together and afloat,” Bruns said.

When the fit is right, family offices can keep employees for a long time: 25% of family office professionals have been working for their family office for more than 10 years, and 21% have been working for their family office for six to 10 years.

“We have been very lucky that we have staff that have worked for us for 30 or 40 years,” Bruns said. “We even had one employee for 70 years.”

About the Author

Margaret Steen

Margaret Steen is the editor of FO Pro, The Family Office Professional. Based in Silicon Valley, she has written for Family Business Magazine for more than 15 years.


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