What makes a firm a great place to work? For people who work in money management, this can depend on a wide range of factors, from company leadership to employee benefits — or even the office decor.
Jason Diamond, vice president of the recruitment firm Diamond Consultants, connects financial professionals to their ideal workplaces. Some years ago, he brought a new prospect to the office of his potential new employer, which at the time was a major investment firm. Just one detail ruined the visit.
"When this gentleman went to the firm, he liked the capabilities," Diamond recalled. "But I kid you not — he hated the color of the carpet. He said, 'The color of the carpet makes me very uncomfortable. I can't bring clients here. It looks like a cheap Marriott.'"
Most people who work in money management, of course, are not quite so fussy. More commonly, Diamond said, they focus on the two biggest criteria: culture and economics — and not just for the money managers themselves.
"There are three prongs to what's the best place to work," he said. "One is, where's the best place for you to work? And then number two is, where is your team going to feel best served? … And then thirdly, and maybe most importantly, where do your clients want to be?"
With so many factors to consider, ranking the best workplaces for money managers is no easy task — but Financial Planning accepted the challenge.
The first question was eligibility. Who counts as a money manager? Our definition: Any financial professional who manages the portfolios of institutional investors — such as pension funds, endowments or foundations — and is regulated by the SEC as an "investment advisor."
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And what counts as a workplace in money management? Any registered investment advisor (RIA) that employs money managers — and meets certain conditions: Each firm must have a facility in the United States, must be in business for at least one year and must have at least 10 employees working within America's borders.
Finally, how could we rank these workplaces? For this question, we worked with our partner, the HR research firm Best Companies Group, to survey financial professionals across the country. We asked these employees about the firms they work for, measuring them in terms of leadership, culture, pay and benefits, training, work environment, engagement and communications, among other factors.
Separately, we evaluated each firm's workplace policies, practices, benefit programs, philosophy, systems and demographics. Best Companies Group combined the scores from these evaluations with the scores from the survey data, and voila! We had our ranking.
In the end, our research brought us to 18 firms that are the best workplaces in money management. Scroll through the cardshow below to see who made the list.
