The Casualties Of Wall Street
Let's face it: Managing other people's money — in some cases their life savings — is a stressful occupation. Even in happier times.
Financial advisors are supposed to be made of tough stuff, type-A personalities who have the stamina and the will to drive through a brick wall — over and over again. But human resources pros take no chances on employees' health. A blogger on another Registered Rep. advisor forum wrote that one firm held “mandatory meetings for their advisors to discuss feelings and give them the hotline phone number.”
And Merrill recently introduced a one-hour seminar for advisors called, Finding Equilibrium in Difficult Markets. “The seminar speaks to what they are experiencing and what it is like out there,” says Youngblood. Merrill's companion webcast for managers examines how they should respond when an advisor's performance and motivation significantly suffers.
At Citi, Jim Tracy says “ramped-up” training is helping. “We want our advisors to be fully engaged every day they walk in here,” he says. Meanwhile, Edward Jones has launched Motivational Mondays and Wellness Wednesdays, with experts from the fields of psychology.
Youngblood and Tracy say they are not personally aware of any suicides at their firms directly tied to the market upheaval. “Merrill is a large place where we do hear, of course, about deaths and suicides,” says Youngblood. “Our role at EAP is to respond to the group this is impacting.”
Merrill's Finding Equilibrium program is aptly titled for a seminar that penetrates a sensitive topic. “There is one slide we show at the end of this seminar that I really like - and it is addressed to advisors and to what we are seeing and experiencing,” Youngblood says. “The slide says, ‘This is not your fault.’”
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