PLANADVISER - November/December 2022 - 21

Narrowing
W
hat will it take to attract more women to plan
advisory work, and for them to stick with it
as a career? " I think the first step, even before
recruiting women, is to set up for a diverse workforce to
succeed, " ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors' Brea Dantin says.
" Many times, folks might just default to, 'Do we have the
right maternity and paternity leave policy?' " Dantin says. " I
think it's more than that. I think it's how we structure the
job positions. I think it's how we mentor women. I think it's
listening to what we have to say when we're talking about
our work. "
It takes more than good intentions to narrow the gender
gap in the advisory ranks, and Strategic Retirement Partners'
Jeff Cullen says advisory firms need to be intentional
about taking actions that facilitate more women making
a career as an adviser. " I don't think it's any secret that
our industry skews heavily to older, white male advisers, "
he says. " If you really mean it about changing that, then
you've got to get really intentional about it, and change
both the way you bring people into the organization and
your ability to home-grow them. " Today, six of his firm's
seven directors are women.
Rick Shoff of CAPTRUST is asked why a gender gap in plan
advisory work remains. " I don't know if there's anything
specific that our industry historically has done that causes
women to not 'lean in' and stay with it, " he says. " But there
was a time when there wasn't a specific focus on trying to
get diversity in the adviser ranks. That has changed-it has
certainly changed for us. Now, we're really focused on this.
We know we can get better, but we've got to be intentional
about it. "
In 2017, CAPTRUST launched its Women's Initiative for
women on its advisory teams. Currently, 27% of CAPTRUST
advisers are women, and one of CAPTRUST's goals for the
Women's Initiative is for its members to help the firm recruit
the Gender Gap
more women to join as advisers. " But the goal is, first and
foremost, for the women to support each other, and be able
to talk about the things that matter to them, " Shoff says. For
example, the group has a conference annually and events
throughout the year that allow members to learn and to
build relationships. " I think there was a time when that kind
of support wasn't going on in the retirement industry, " he
adds. " Women were looking around the industry and saying,
'Does anyone know I'm out here?' "
Having a woman adviser as a mentor can help encourage
other women to stick with it as a career, says Oswald Financial's
Deena Rini. " Many times, women advisers are not
seeing anyone who has had a career path similar to the
one they want to have, and that's a struggle, " she says. " It's
hard to go through your career without a mentor who has
had an experience that's similar to yours. " It helps to have
mentoring support from a colleague who can relate to the
challenges women can face with building their career and
with work/life balance, she says.
Many of the issues with closing the gender gap boil down to
giving women on an advisory team the right opportunities to
develop and succeed, Rini says. " I think that opportunity is
so attractive, " she says, referring, for example, to having the
chance to develop an expertise in doing one-on-one meetings
with participants. There is a big need among participants
for the kind of empathetic approach many women
can bring to conversations about topics such as budgeting
and saving money, she says. " So many women are emotionally
intelligent, " she says. " There's a huge opportunity for
women advisers to be able to relate to their client base. "
To offer real growth opportunities, an advisory firm needs
to understand how a woman adviser wants to build her
career. " It's about making sure to listen to the opportunities
that women advisers say they want, " Rini says. " I think
women want to be empowered to make a difference. They
want to be trusted to do that. " -JW
planadviser.com November-December 2022 | 21
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - November/December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - November/December 2022
