The Alternative Workplace
Art by Hayden Maynard
As in many sectors of the U.S. economy, the advisory industry first registered the coronavirus pandemic as a wave of cancellations of in-person meetings and large-group events. For example, J.P. Morgan Asset Management chose to fête the release of its 2020 Guide to Retirement with a digital webinar versus a gathering, over concerns about COVID-19 in New York City. Fittingly enough, the new edition stresses the market volatility that investors will likely face in coming years—and not just due to the pandemic.
Retirement plan practices, now prepared to work remotely, need to stay prepared, says Todd Kading, president and co-founder of LeafHouse Financial, in Austin, Texas. To do this requires an investment in technology, he says. “We know that remote working is the safest bet right now, and we can look to our previous technology investment as a reason we can do this. We have invested millions of dollars over 10 years, optimizing the data integration needed to accomplish appropriate 3(38) oversight of 57 platforms with 40 recordkeepers and thousands of plans.”
Marianna Shafir, a regulatory adviser and attorney at Smarsh in New York City, can especially vouch for the value of high-tech methods. Her company provides software by which clients in highly regulated industries can capture, monitor and archive their data in order to meet compliance and e-discovery requirements. “With no option for in-person meetings, it’s much more vital for advisers to stay in touch [with their customers],” she says. “Consider communicating with [them] through phone calls, virtual meetings, emails, social media or instant chat. Retirement plan advisers should consider adding a chat function to their company website. That way, customers can ask questions and expect immediate answers.”
Video conferencing should now be a big part of advisers’ practices, says Raef Lee, managing director of SEI Investments Co. in Oaks, Pennsylvania. In his opinion, Zoom is the easiest of the video conferencing platforms, and many people already use it in their personal lives. Still, advisers inexperienced with video conferencing should familiarize themselves with the process before formally attempting it with a client, Lee says.
Video conferences are generally the most effective tool, short of meeting in person, agrees Scott Weighart, director of learning and development at Bates Communications in Boston. Among the clients of this leadership coaching and consulting firm are several major recordkeepers. “If you have a recurring biweekly staff meeting, try meeting via video conference every other session,” Weighart says. “Or use video chat for your recurring one-on-one meetings. You’ll find there’s a different level of engagement and participation.”
Because connecting to a video conference can be cumbersome, make sure everyone logs on at least 10 minutes before the start time, he suggests. If the meeting has 10 or more participants, one way to ensure they remain engaged is to use polls or chat boxes that let them weigh in with their thoughts, he says. “Give the group reasons to be actively engaged. Don’t speak for more than five minutes without opening it up for discussion to get others speaking.”
Microsoft Teams is another great resource, Lee says. This cloud-based virtual communication program is part of Office 365, connecting to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., and providing a video conferencing and messaging platform. Like Zoom, it features screen sharing—helpful when advisers cannot meet their clients in person, Lee says.
Loom and BombBomb allow you to make short videos of yourself—from 30 seconds to one minute—over your iPhone, he adds. These can be superimposed onto the corner of a PowerPoint presentation, so the speaker is seen explaining the information on the screen. “Advisers can use this technique to keep their face in front of their clients without a lot of effort,” Lee says.
Regardless of what method is used, encouraging participants to stay invested is key, says Larry Divers, executive vice president at Cannon Financial Institute in Boston. Many are “scared of the volatility in the markets and the uncertainty for the economy,” he notes. “Their overriding question is: ‘What should I be doing right now?’”
Jean Duffy, senior vice president and financial adviser at CAPTRUST in Des Moines, Iowa, says retirement plan advisers should be ready to respond quickly to both plan sponsor and participant questions. They should also be empathetic, as many participants are struggling financially. In fact, one CAPTRUST plan sponsor client told her it had just laid off 80% of its employees.
Think Creatively
Creativity can go a long way to compensate for needing to advise remotely. One firm, Two West Advisors, in Overland, Kansas, has launched a virtual, private consultation service to help any of the 30,000 retirement plan participants it serves who are financially affected by the coronavirus. CEO Marko Ungashick says this additional service is free of charge to clients. “We simply reconfigured our staff’s time and trained them to handle virtual participant calls. Luckily, we had just installed Zoom about a year ago, so we were well on our way to providing virtual meetings with ease,” he says.
“The [one-on-one] meetings consist of scheduled appointments, in order for our financial experts to review each individual participant’s information in advance and be prepared to have an informed conversation,” says Two West President Ryan Rink.
The service has been well-received. “In the height of the market volatility, we saw a significant spike in the request for virtual meetings from the participants we serve,” Ungashick says.
The service also will remain available for the foreseeable future. “It’s a volatile time,” Rink says. “As long as there’s a demand for it from our customers, we’ll make it work.”
Cybersecurity Is Critical
As the adviser community has transitioned to remote-based work, cybersecurity and protecting sensitive information should be top of mind, says attorney Cassandra Labbees, a member of the employee benefits and executive compensation practice at law firm Epstein Becker Green in New York City. “Employees’ Wi-Fi systems should be private and password protected,” she says. “Should their system go down, they should not access public Wi-Fi. Instead, they should contact their IT [information technology] department for help.”
Reiko Feaver, a partner in the Atlanta office of Culhane Meadows, one of the largest cloud-based law firms in the country, says advisory practices should regularly remind their employees not to open suspicious email, which could contain malware.
“There are a lot of phishing emails being sent right now with the subject line ‘Coronavirus’ and posing as coming from legitimate sources,” Feaver points out. The laptops that employees use should be password protected and lock after a period of time, be it one to five minutes, she says. If they are on the phone discussing confidential information, employees should even consider turning off smart assistant speakers or other cloud-based voice activation systems, she says.
Clear Guidelines
It is important for advisory practices to set clear guidelines for those working remotely, says Tara Wolckenhauer, division vice president of human resources (HR) at ADP in Roseland, New Jersey. “The key to working from home is creating a framework for your day, just as you would if you were in the office,” she says. “Set clear guidelines on when to start, when to take a break and when to end the day, to help avoid burnout and the pressure to be ‘always on.’”
When interacting with plan sponsors remotely, Wolckenhauer says, “The best way to deliver customer service is to be present, be polite, listen and seek to understand. Agree on actions, and confirm next steps. Even though meetings are no longer in person, overcommunicating deliverables and next steps reinforce an adviser’s commitment to service. A client should still feel it is the No. 1 priority regardless of where the work is taking place.
“Regular one-on-one check-ins are a good practice to keep an open dialogue,” she continues. “While working remotely, a simple ‘Hi’ can go a long way with clients.”