ACT Signatory Journey: ‘We are seeing more due diligence requests on our culture’
Image: Jonathan Wilcocks
Jonathan Willcocks, global head of distribution at Premier Miton, discusses the key questions clients are asking about firm culture, the importance of transparency in more testing times and not becoming complacent.
Are fund selectors increasingly asking about your company’s culture? What are they specifically asking for?
Yes; we are seeing more due diligence requests including request for information on culture. Naturally, our clients want the assurance that they are partnering with a firm that believes in an inclusive, diverse and supportive environment and that takes its responsibilities to its people seriously. A company that takes the time to nurture its staff and develop a strong culture is one that is committed to the future.
Key questions being asked by our clients include succession planning and turnover, retention of key employees, including compensation frameworks and details in relation to our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion.
This year, you took the step to become a Signatory to ACT. What was the motivation behind this?
We’ve always believed in the importance of culture at Premier Miton so becoming a Signatory to ACT was a natural next step for us; we believe it also helps our clients to understand the importance of culture to the firm.
What has this helped you identify in terms of areas of strength and weakness in your internal culture?
Pleasingly, I think this has evidenced that we already have a strong internal culture in place but we are not complacent; we continuously look to make improvements through engagement with staff through regular interaction, staff surveys and action plans.
We believe that our culture, which focuses on our core values of collaboration, responsibility, passion, and working collegiately, can help drive good outcomes for our clients and long term success of the company.
How do you build trust with clients? Why is this important in building long-term relationships?
Honesty, transparency, and open communication are essential; we are proud that much of the third-party client research we receive indicates that those clients who know us well, hold us in very high esteem. This is especially important when we are facing more challenging environments – it is during these more testing periods that we look to ensure we are even more visible by being on hand to answer client queries and concerns, promptly and honestly. We receive regular feedback from our clients who appreciate the accessibility to fund managers and support from our client service teams.
How do you think the ACT Framework is improving the investment industry?
It’s really important that, as and industry, we continue to work together to improve the perception of the financial services sector generally, build trust with our customers to help them achieve their long-term investment goals. The industry can offer so many benefits to the broader economy, and can be a fantastic place for young people to start and build great long-term careers.
What are your targets, from a culture perspective, over the next year?
From a cultural perspective, our key priority is to continue to drive engagement to ensure that we are getting the best out of our people. This is through a variety of initiatives, such as building out our learning and development opportunities, ensuring our wellbeing initiatives are fit for purpose, and focussing on leadership development. From a DEI perspective, we are keen to continue to grow the strong foundations that we have built over the last few years, to ensure that our DEI practices follow best practice across recruitment, reward and retention. We are also focusing on building out our young talent programme and charity partnerships, driving opportunities for employee participation and engagement.