HR IN SMALL BUSINESS For Personal Financial Advisors, a Small Staffing Plan with a Big Impact Robert J. Reed has been a financial planner since 1978 and Reed realized that the part he excelled at and loved most was received his certified financial planner designation in 1981. managing the investments, not the presentations to clients, In 1999, he hired Lucy Banquer, a former legal secretary, to and that he wanted the firm to grow in a way that would free work as his assistant and the only employee at his firm, more time for him to spend with his family, not expand his Personal Financial Advisors LLC in Covington, Louisiana. hours to supervise others. As Reed defined the scope of his At that point, human resource planning wasn't on Reed's own desired job, he clarified what he wanted from his next radar at all. employee: a certified financial planner who had experience But around 2005. Reed began to act on a desire to have a plus an interest in all the planning and advising tasks except more complete plan for his firm's growth. He determined investment management. that he wanted the business to grow from about $400,000 in With that strategy in mind, Reed began the search for annual revenues to become a million-dollar firm by 2012. another planner to work with him. After about eight months That was a realistic goal, but not one he could achieve with of recruiting, Reed met Lauren Gadkowski, who was run- only the support of Banquer. Although Banquer does an ex- ning her own advisory firm in Boston but preparing to relo- cellent job of fielding client phone calls and answering ques- cate to Baton Rouge to be with her future husband, Lee tions, Reed needed to bring in more financial expertise to Lindsay. Reed wanted his new financial planner to operate serve more clients. independently, so he agreed to the idea of her office being Typically, a financial-planning firm like Reed's expands by in Baton Rouge, about a 45-minute drive from his, and he hiring an entry-level advisor to handle routine tasks while let her determine how often she would need to visit the Cov- learning on the job until he or she can take on clients inde- ington office. pendently. But Reed didn't simply take the usual path; he con- Reed stuck to his plan: Lauren Lindsay quickly began sidered what role he wanted for himself in his firm as it grew. working with Reed's larger clients and introduced herself as 232 CHAPTER 5 Human Resource Planning and Recrui their main contact with the firm. After sitting in on a few meetings to satisfy himself that he had made a good hiring decision, Reed shifted his efforts to managing the invest- ments. About 10% of the clients indicated they would prefer to maintain their working relationship with Reed. Lindsay took over the remaining 90% as well as the new clients she has brought into the firm since joining it. Reed's decision to focus on investment management has paid off for Personal Financial Advisors, giving the firm better-than-average performance on its investments even as revenues have climbed. And with Lindsay on board to handle client contact, Reed became able to follow the more tradi- tional path to further growth by hiring an associate financial planner, David Hutchinson, in 2008. In contrast to Lindsay, Hutchinson is still preparing to become a certified financial planner, but he has an educational background in financial planning and experience as an investment broker. Go to the case in the text on page 232: HR in Small Business: For Personal Financial Advisors, a Small Staffing Plan with a Big Impact. You should summarize the case. Then answer the questions following the case. Case analysis must be detailed (more than 300 words), well-written, and thorough using the principles learned in the chapter. Your case analysis must be APA-formatted and properly referenced. ALL written work will be checked for references and any plagiarized work will receive a zero. Please refer to the 6th/ 7th Edition of the APA manual or www.APAstyle.org for proper referencing. Submit your assignment by Sunday 11:59 PM Eastern time HR IN SMALL BUSINESS For Personal Financial Advisors, a Small Staffing Plan with a Big Impact Robert J. Reed has been a financial planner since 1978 and Reed realized that the part he excelled at and loved most was received his certified financial planner designation in 1981. managing the investments, not the presentations to clients, In 1999, he hired Lucy Banquer, a former legal secretary, to and that he wanted the firm to grow in a way that would free work as his assistant and the only employee at his firm, more time for him to spend with his family, not expand his Personal Financial Advisors LLC in Covington, Louisiana. hours to supervise others. As Reed defined the scope of his At that point, human resource planning wasn't on Reed's own desired job, he clarified what he wanted from his next radar at all. employee: a certified financial planner who had experience But around 2005. Reed began to act on a desire to have a plus an interest in all the planning and advising tasks except more complete plan for his firm's growth. He determined investment management. that he wanted the business to grow from about $400,000 in With that strategy in mind, Reed began the search for annual revenues to become a million-dollar firm by 2012. another planner to work with him. After about eight months That was a realistic goal, but not one he could achieve with of recruiting, Reed met Lauren Gadkowski, who was run- only the support of Banquer. Although Banquer does an ex- ning her own advisory firm in Boston but preparing to relo- cellent job of fielding client phone calls and answering ques- cate to Baton Rouge to be with her future husband, Lee tions, Reed needed to bring in more financial expertise to Lindsay. Reed wanted his new financial planner to operate serve more clients. independently, so he agreed to the idea of her office being Typically, a financial-planning firm like Reed's expands by in Baton Rouge, about a 45-minute drive from his, and he hiring an entry-level advisor to handle routine tasks while let her determine how often she would need to visit the Cov- learning on the job until he or she can take on clients inde- ington office. pendently. But Reed didn't simply take the usual path; he con- Reed stuck to his plan: Lauren Lindsay quickly began sidered what role he wanted for himself in his firm as it grew. working with Reed's larger clients and introduced herself as 232 CHAPTER 5 Human Resource Planning and Recrui their main contact with the firm. After sitting in on a few meetings to satisfy himself that he had made a good hiring decision, Reed shifted his efforts to managing the invest- ments. About 10% of the clients indicated they would prefer to maintain their working relationship with Reed. Lindsay took over the remaining 90% as well as the new clients she has brought into the firm since joining it. Reed's decision to focus on investment management has paid off for Personal Financial Advisors, giving the firm better-than-average performance on its investments even as revenues have climbed. And with Lindsay on board to handle client contact, Reed became able to follow the more tradi- tional path to further growth by hiring an associate financial planner, David Hutchinson, in 2008. In contrast to Lindsay, Hutchinson is still preparing to become a certified financial planner, but he has an educational background in financial planning and experience as an investment broker. Go to the case in the text on page 232: HR in Small Business: For Personal Financial Advisors, a Small Staffing Plan with a Big Impact. You should summarize the case. Then answer the questions following the case. Case analysis must be detailed (more than 300 words), well-written, and thorough using the principles learned in the chapter. Your case analysis must be APA-formatted and properly referenced. ALL written work will be checked for references and any plagiarized work will receive a zero. Please refer to the 6th/ 7th Edition of the APA manual or www.APAstyle.org for proper referencing. Submit your assignment by Sunday 11:59 PM Eastern time