Why Dana Investment Advisors is the best workplace for money managers

There are many reasons Dana Investment Advisors is a great place to work. The asset management firm in Waukesha, Wisconsin offers its employees generous benefits, fun perks, a family atmosphere and active support for charity work.

But for some employees, it all comes down to the little things.

"We added a real high-end massage chair," said Mark Mirsberger, CEO of Dana Investment Advisors. "One employee had a parent that was really struggling, ultimately died, and he was also going through a divorce. And he said, 'You know, that hour I spent in that chair after work — that was the only thing that kept me going.'"

It's details like this that put Dana Investment Advisors at the top of Financial Planning's Best Places to Work in Money Management. Together with the HR researcher Best Companies Group, we surveyed financial professionals across the country about their employers, asking about their leadership, culture, benefits and other factors. Separately, we evaluated the firms' workplace policies, practices, philosophies and demographics.

Using all that data, we ranked the nation's top money management workplaces in terms of employee experience. Dana Investment Advisors is No. 1 on that list. 

According to Mirsberger, much of the credit belongs to the firm's founder. 

"It's a culture that was originally founded by Mike Dana, which was a family environment," Mirsberger said. "We've built on, and I've helped maintain, that family environment as we've grown."

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In 1980, Dana started what became Dana Investment Advisors on the back porch of his house in Elm Grove, Wisconsin. An experienced financial manager who had worked at a number of bank trust departments, Dana wanted his business to take a new approach.

"Mike had worked a little bit at some big Chicago firms, and saw that kind of cutthroat financial environment where everyone's looking out for their own career," Mirsberger said. "He just wanted to create something a little bit different."

In the beginning, the firm mainly managed portfolios for local businesses and their employees. Over time, it expanded to also serve corporations, endowments and foundations. But just as important to Dana was how he treated his own workers. 

"It's a company where if you're sick, you stay home," Mirsberger said. "If there's anything we can do for your family, we do that. We really value the life-work balance."

Today Dana Investment Advisors offers a number of benefits that demonstrate these values. Chief among them is its health care policy: The firm covers 100% of its employees' health insurance premiums. And if someone has a high-deductible plan, the company reimburses most of their out-of-pocket costs until they meet that deductible.

Even apart from benefits, a family spirit pervades company life. Dana Investment Advisors makes a point of hosting employees' baby showers, anniversary parties, birthdays and other celebrations. Every Christmas, the firm buys everyone on staff a present — one year it was iPads, another it was Fitbits. And whenever an employee is facing personal challenges, Mirsberger said, the rest of the company does its best to pick up the slack.

"It's really an environment where you care for your co-workers," he said. "You pick them up or cover for them when they need you to."

Even before COVID, Mirsberger said, the company was scrupulously flexible about remote work. But when employees do come to the office, a number of high-tech perks await them, including virtual golf, football and soccer simulators — not to mention the massage chair.

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But the firm isn't just generous to its own workers; it also encourages them to be generous to others. Years ago, Dana Investment Advisors started a new tradition: Jeans Friday. Every quarter the company would collectively choose a certain charity, and any employee who donated their time or money to that charity would get to wear jeans on Friday.

More recently, the firm started encouraging this philanthropy by more formal means: a "Dana donor-advised fund." Through the DAF, both the company and individual employees donate to the charities of their choice. One of the first major recipients was ShelterBox, an NGO that provides emergency shelter to victims of wars and disasters.

"Again, it goes back to that understanding that there's more to what we're doing than just trying to earn a paycheck," Mirsberger said. "We're trying to be thoughtful and respectful and give back to people."

So what makes Dana Investment Advisors the No. 1 workplace for money managers? Which of its many perks put it over the top? None of them, Mirsberger said — for all its benefits and policies, the firm's greatest asset is the people who work there.

"First and foremost, it's about hiring talented people with the highest of integrity," Mirsberger said. "And then it's treating them truly so that they know they are important, and then respecting them and giving them the opportunity to grow and succeed."