How Much Should I Pay My Staff?

Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.

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Dear Bev,

I am interested in any guidelines on paying and compensating my assistants. I work for a major wirehouse and am responsible for adding incentive compensation. Is there any calculation? I am a veteran and my assistants are as well. They recently felt I wasn’t paying them their worth. Is there any acceptable source to help?

R.H.

Dear R. H.,

This is one of the more challenging questions to answer in our industry for a few reasons, including the duties of the role, the geographic area in which you work, whether you are trying to keep a good team player in the seat, the budget or advisor’s willingness to share more of the overall pot and the market conditions. I hear a number of advisors wrestling with this question because there are more great jobs than there are great people and many team members know they are marketable.