Wells Fargo Advisors is working hard to bring in fresh blood as its grapples with the industrywide problem of a graying workforce and seeks to put a series of scandals at its parent bank behind it.
To that end, the brokerage is attempting to give recruits a positive sense of purpose as well as lots of hands-on coaching, Diane Gabriel, its head of next-generation talent, tells Business Insider. It’s also sending hundreds of advisors and managers to places where young people gather to scout for talent.
“One of the things we’re first talking to them about in the beginning is what kind of impact they can have in the branch they go into,” Gabriel tells the publication.
Wells Fargo Advisors brings new hires to its home office for face-to-face training three times in their first year and conducts weekly coaching sessions with them when they return to their branches, she adds.
How does Gabriel handle questions about the parent bank’s various scandals of the past three years? “I always say to everybody: we’re part of Wells Fargo, so we all have to own the experience of Wells Fargo in 160-some-odd years — the mostly good, but the black eyes that can happen, and did happen,” she says.
The brokerage’s advisor headcount has declined by more than 1,000 since its parent bank’s fake-accounts scandal erupted in late 2016, but John Alexander, head of integrated brokerage, tells Business Insider that advisor attrition has declined and the firm’s new succession program, which rewards retiring advisors for selling books of business to younger Wells advisors, is generating strong interest.