by David F. Smith, Ph.D., CFP®
Are They Thinking of Quitting?
Yes. Leadership studies find that each employed person has a degree of what is called voluntary termination intention (VTI) and CFP® firms are not immune to this employee characteristic. VTI came up during table-talk at an FPA® Chapter meeting: "Millennials just up and leave," complained a (baby boomer) planning firm partner. "We hire them in, train them, show them a career path, and 'Bam!' they leave." This complaint describes the high end of the VTI spectrum –quitting. Employees who are satisfied have low VTI. Losing valuable personnel is costly to a firm: planning skills, operational expertise, and marketing talent are hard to develop and replace. Whereas some industries have jobs that are "plug and play" (e.g. a union hiring hall) financial planning employers do not have a ready talent pool to tap into.