During the course of my 20-year career within the wealth management industry, one thing that has changed, and changed quite dramatically, is the way women and men present themselves in a professional environment. Business, as well as the way it is conducted, has certainly changed in many ways, including developments in technology, the introduction of flexi hours and attire being far more business casual. Companies understand that the workforce today is different from the work force 20–30 years ago: employees are looking for more of a work– life balance opposed to being chained to a desk and a slave to their job. However, despite these changes, there is a core foundation that has not changed, and indeed which will never change. It is the foundation of business known as “professionalism”.

If you demonstrate certain aspects of professionalism in the workplace, they will define you and could promote you; but if you don’t, they could lead to demotion and potentially cost you your job.

When I think of professionalism in the corporate world, I think of six characteristics, none of which will ever change:

1. Appearance
2. Reliability
3. Respect
4. Loyalty
5. Accountability
6. Ethics

A lot of people are either oblivious or seem to think the “rules of engagement” in the workplace do not apply to them, but in reality these six characteristics apply to everyone. So the question comes to mind, how do you learn all the aspects of professionalism? Are they skills you learn on the job or a series of scripted or unscripted lessons you learn throughout your younger years?

When I was in year 10 at high school, I completed a 10-week extracurricular programme through my school called “Deportment” (others may know it as “Finishing School”). For two hours after school, one day a week, we were taught how to conduct ourselves with etiquette and social grace. It does sound rather old-fashioned, and at the time I thought it was quite ludicrous; however, in all honesty, they were some of the best lessons I ever learnt. I go to many business dinners and I notice when someone doesn’t know how to use a knife and fork properly, or when they put their elbows on the table.

Let’s face it, how you conduct yourself outside the office has an impact on how you conduct yourself professionally – the two are entwined. How you present yourself to the public in your professional career is going to make a huge difference: your image is your brand and you are representing your company. In the corporate environment, employers are simply looking for an appropriate professional image (they are not looking to see whether you are up on the current fashion trends). The fact is, potential clients are always going to gravitate towards someone who looks more well-kempt and who has taken time to run an iron over their outfit and ensure their clothes are clean.

Being reliable exudes professionalism to both your clients and employer. When you are reliable you are dependable, so you often become a commodity they can’t afford to do without. If you are always calling in sick, not responding to your clients in a timely manner, coming in late to work or not adhering to agreed deadlines, it simply shows that you don’t care. Professional people have excellent time management. Professional people care.

Respect in the workplace is key, both for your colleagues and your clients. You must earn the respect of your colleagues and clients, but you must give them respect unconditionally – it is an unspoken rule. Respect in the workplace is about boundaries, and often one of the greatest challenges is when your colleague becomes your friend and your friend then gets promoted before you do, ending up in you reporting to them. You must respect your company’s decision that they chose the best person for the job, and you should treat your manager with respect regardless of whether they are your friend. Respect in the workplace is one of the pillars of professionalism.

When I think of loyalty, I think of traditional marriage vows: “To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part”. No job is perfect, no employer is perfect, and certainly no employee is perfect. However, loyalty is paramount in career development, and if you are job-hopping every few years, it becomes a pattern on your resume. Employers look at the “life span” of an employee. If a competitor was to offer an extra $2,000 per year, would they jump ship or remain loyal to the company?

I am sure we all know someone who blames everyone else for their problems; it’s never them, it’s always someone else who’s to blame. Being accountable for your actions, whether good or bad, is one of the strongest traits of professionalism. Accountability can be looked at in two ways, either being held accountable or being accountable. Professionalism means being accountable for your OWN actions. Accountability is your work ethic, and if you don’t have a good work ethic it will cost you in the long term, perhaps by developing a bad reputation within your industry or being overlooked for promotion.

Are you ethical? Where do you draw the line in the sand? Are you willing to turn a blind eye if it makes your job easier? The easiest way to ruin your reputation is to be known as unethical: it is a career killer. You will never be taken seriously and it will haunt you for the rest of your life, especially now in the age of technology. Bottom line – you can’t be professional if you are not ethical.

The term “professionalism” will have different meanings to different people based upon their particular industry. Although there are industry differentiators, professionalism overall is about how you conduct yourself in the environment where you work. Employees fail to recognise that how you conduct yourself in the workplace will ultimately affect your earning potential throughout your working career.

The post What does it mean to be professional? appeared first on RG Magazines.

By Carla Seely

When a new business starts up on the island, one of the many items on the ever-increasing checklist is the topic of employee benefits. Understanding what is required by law, what is considered an added benefit, or deciding between using a single provider or splitting between different ones, is all part of the research. The benefits an employer provides to its employees will have a big impact on employee retention, so understanding your corporate responsibility and the industry standard is essential.

As Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, once declared: “Take care of your employees, and they will take care of your business”. As an employer, you’ll discover one of the largest expenses is health insurance for employees, not just in Bermuda: health insurance costs are challenging globally. An employer’s responsibility is to ensure employees have good-quality insurance that meets the needs of its workforce. However, providing health insurance is only one element; a company should also implement wellness programmes. Investing in a workplace wellness programme can improve the company brand, build loyalty with its employees and reduce sick time.

Effective as of  January 1, 2000, a mandatory pension scheme was established in Bermuda, requiring companies based in Bermuda, or wishing to set up in Bermuda, to create a company pension plan for their employees (Bermudians and spouses of Bermudians). There have been amendments to the Pension Act over the past eighteen years, the same binding principle still exists –– providing retirement benefits. Most employers now offer a pension plan to all employees regardless of their status, which shows employers recognise the value in helping their employees towards their retirement goals.

Life and disability insurance, although not a mandatory benefit, is something that is typically offered by most employers. However, it is important to note that since life and disability insurance is not mandatory, there will be eligibility requirements –– some of which the benefit provider will set and some of which the employer can request.

Once you have decided on the type of benefits you wish to offer your employees, the next decision is whether you bundle the benefits (use one provider for all) or unbundle the benefits (use the best provider for each type of benefit).

A great way to figure out what your workforce is looking for is to hold a “town hall meeting”, where you find out what is important to them, i.e. essentially which products and services they are looking for in today’s environment. Once you have the information from your staff, it is time to tender a request for proposal (RFP) for all your employee benefits, and we normally recommend doing this every few years. Once the RFPs come back, sift through the information and determine what options are available. Perhaps you will stay put, but perhaps you will discover a much better offer for each benefit.

Changing benefit providers is not as painful as you may think. Yes, it generates paperwork, but benefit providers are experienced with the process, which is streamlined and well regulated.

At the end of the day a happy employee is a productive employee, which is what any employer wants.

Carla Seely is the Vice President of Pension and Investments at FM Group.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 edition of the RG Business Magazine. 

The post Evaluating your employee benefits appeared first on RG Magazines.

Your early years (infancy, living with your parents, schooling)
Your working years (making money, looking after a family)
Your retirement years (spending money)

But what a lot of people don’t think about is that the second part – your working years which has to financially fund two-thirds of your life, i.e. your working years and retirement years.
With the Pension Act only coming into effect in 2000, this has given people a mere 18 years of compulsory pension savings, which would lead to the conclusion that many people probably don’t have enough money in their pension to retire on.
The simplest way to build extra money for retirement is through voluntary contributions in your pension plan.
The most important step is to confirm if your company pension plan allows its employees to make additional contributions into the plan. If your company’s pension plan does allow this, then you really should consider choosing this method for saving additional funds for retirement.
The second most important step is to create a budget to ensure you can comfortably afford to shift some of those dollars currently being deposited into your bank account into your pension plan instead.
Think “new year, new budget”, and the easiest and most effective way is with a simple budget spreadsheet: creating a budget with a template will help you take control of your finances and determine how much money can be redirected straight from your paycheque to your pension account instead of your bank account.
Once you have crunched your numbers, determine how much you think you can have additionally taken off your paycheque and put directly into your pension plan. Perhaps it’s only an additional one per cent per month deducted from your paycheque until you are comfortable with a higher amount being redirected into your pension plan.

I personally started with an additional two per cent per month, and whenever I was given a cost of living pay rise, I would increase my pension contributions by that percentage – ALWAYS PAYING MYSELF FIRST. Would I have preferred to keep the additional money from the pay increase instead of directing it into my pension? Yes! But I also recognised that, for myself, my pension will be the majority of my retirement income and I need to be dedicated to the cause.

The great thing about voluntary pension contributions is they are NOT locked in, so if an emergency does arise, you can access those funds without too much trouble. In addition, you can stop and start voluntary contributions whenever you want – so if something comes up and you find things are too tight, stop the voluntary contributions for a few months until things are back on track and then simply start up again.
The third step is to ensure your investment selection for your company pension plan matches your needs: it’s about your investment goals, your investment time horizon, and most importantly, your tolerance to risk.
Considering your time horizon is essential; at what point on your life timeline do you plan on retiring? It could be early retirement starting at age 55, standard retirement at age 65, or even later. It sounds like an easy question, but without an answer, you are not creating an end game and it makes planning for retirement even harder. I plan to retire at age 60, which means I have 18 plus years until I retire; however, I need to make sure what I have at retirement can provide me with 25-plus years of retirement income. The longer your time horizon, the better equipped you are to ride out any market fluctuations and benefit from compounding interest on the investments, and the more time you will have to save more money.
Once you have figured out your time horizon, you must think about how it relates to investment risk – the simple question is: How much risk are you willing to bear for the potential investment reward, and if that investment goes pear-shaped, how much time do you have to recover?

The greater the risk, the greater the potential for a higher reward, similarly, the lower the risk, the greater the potential for a lower reward. If you are closing in on retirement, then taking a lot of risk would not make sense as you don’t have the time to recover from investment fluctuations.

However, if you are 15, 20, 25-plus years away from retirement, then taking more risk for the long-term growth potential would make sense as you have time to recover from any investment downturns.
Putting extra money away in your pension gives you more potential to grow your retirement savings faster and the ability to diversify into investments that may not be available outside of a pension plan.
At the end of the day, whether you earn $50,000 or $150,000 per year, making sure you can dedicate a little more to your pension can only help you in the long term and provide you with the retirement that you deserve.

Carla Seely is the Vice President of Pension and Investments at Freisenbruch-Meyer. If you would like any further details, please contact her at [email protected] or call 297 8686.

The post Start the year by paying yourself appeared first on RG Magazines.