Is James Gorman Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf of Independence?
Seeking Freedom
Why return to the branch? In fact, I suspect many are thinking: Why be part of a wirehouse at all?
Indeed, the recruitment pace for RIAs and independents continues to pick up. Other advisors with the WFH bug might be more likely to jump ship for other wirehouse and regional firms with more flexible policies.
Keeping advisors on board at some wirehouses has always been a challenge. Everyone wants a great producer.
By nature, producers are entrepreneurs. They’re more lone wolves than sheep who will follow the guy with the big shepherd staff.
Most advisors are decision-makers who take action to remove obstacles to the growth of their business. Sometimes, this involves tweaking their marketing strategy. It can also involve changing firms or business models.
One of the great drivers of the migration of wirehouse advisors to the independent space has been their desire to maximize their control over their business lives. This means everything from their personal branding to the daily operation of their business.
The breakaway movement continues to gain momentum because so many advisors place a premium on expanding their level of personal freedom.
Advisors & WFH
Entrepreneurial advisors are self-starters who generate their own clients and devise their own investment programs. They are not employees whose daily activities need to be managed and carefully scripted by hands-on supervisors.
The hallmark of a successful salesman is the can-do attitude of “Just give me the tools and resources I need, and then stand back, get out of my way and let me get the job done!”
These issues may have influenced UBS to recently launch a work-friendly strategy for “eligible” U.S. employees, which stands to give it a recruiting advantage over Morgan Stanley. The new virtual work framework will allow at least some roles at UBS to be 100% remote and was “designed to appeal to [a] diverse talent pool and increase retention, while enhancing client service,” the firm said.
It’s fair to say that this move puts Morgan Stanley at a disadvantage, since it is now locking its advisors into a limited number of work-from-home days. And Morgan Stanley’s “willingness” to talk about exceptions to this policy is not a strong selling point.
Perhaps Gorman fears that WFH during Covid-19 was the wolf in lamb’s clothing — a dress rehearsal for independence for many advisors. He’s calling them out.
But he’ll need something more than the offer of a career to get everyone back into the corral — as advisors ask themselves, “Will it be worth it?”
Pictured: Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman. (Photo: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg)
