In a recent McKinley Carter quarterly advisory workshop, we listened to a TED Talk by Sonny Melendrez called, Intentional Enthusiasm: How to accelerate personal greatness, during which he shared a story about a drive-thru worker who was so pleasant and engaging that he returned again and again just because of how she made him feel. She was a positive start to his day and he found himself looking forward to those interactions. As Sonny described, "she consistently and genuinely exuded positivity and enthusiasm for the work she was doing."

Now, one might argue that some people are just wired that way, which can be true; but, inevitably, if one isn’t satisfied in their work, or they are struggling to identify their greater purpose, it can be challenging to consistently “put on a front”. Can you think of a time when maybe you struggled with that yourself or interacted with someone who was clearly struggling?

At McKinley Carter, we proudly invest in providing a workplace where employees WANT to be and WANT to stay. This is evidenced through our commitment to professional development via both internal and external resources, coaching and mentoring, career planning, a bountiful benefits package, consistent one-on-one time between employee and manager, and work flexibility, among many other ways.

In fact, the process we use for career planning with employees is quite similar to the work we do with clients. To measure success, we solicit feedback through an employee satisfaction survey at least annually. Most importantly, we LISTEN and ACT UPON what our employees have to say.

Does that mean everyone thinks and acts the same all day long, every day? Absolutely not. How boring and ineffective for you, the client, that would be! One of the beauties of our corporate culture is that employees are empowered to speak up when/if they have suggestions, a difference of opinion, or want to be an advocate for their clients, each other, or themselves.

F-U-N Work Environment: Fulfillment, Uniqueness, and Next
The Forbes article, "How Happy Employees Make Happy Customers" shares, “For employees to be fully engaged at work and with your customers, they must feel fulfilled with their employment at your company, feel that their unique talents and interests aid in their success, and be excited about what’s next — which could be the next big product, their next project, or maybe just being excited about coming back to work the next day. Even small gestures to make a workplace more enjoyable can influence the level of service and patience that employees deliver to customers.”

Our advisors are passionate about helping our clients take the best possible care of all things related to their financial situations. We are a work family that views our clients as family too. We want our passion and enthusiasm to exude in our work with you in the same way the drive-thru worker’s did in the story above.

Earlier this month, InvestmentNews announced that McKinley Carter was one of the nation’s Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers. We are both proud and honored to be recognized in this way because it's an affirmation that we have succeeded in creating a caring and supportive work environment.

Satisfied employees, for us, means longer career trajectories, which means a commitment to service excellence for our clients. I encourage you to take an opportunity to talk with your advisor about their passion for their career and what drives them to be the best possible advisor they can be for you.