Private Equity Fund Administration and Employee Happiness

All private equity fund administration companies, including ourselves, list in their mission statement the goals of; (client) service, (financial) success, and (professional) satisfaction (a.k.a. employee happiness) in one manner or the other.

The main differentiator amongst private equity fund administration companies, is which order these three things rank in importance as the most relevant.  We rank professional satisfaction (a.k.a employee happiness) at the top with the view that the staff provide excellent client service which drives financial success.  Without happy quality staff there is no way a service company can deliver to their clients.

We look for “SWANs”: people who are Smart, Work hard, are Ambitious, and Nice.  We believe that the characteristics of energy, drive, enthusiasm, motivation, morale, determination, dedication and commitment provide for the perfect employee.  Their commitment to Tower is returned with our commitment to them by providing an environment that balances their lives with rewarding work and less than 40 hour work weeks with flexibility of work load that provides for quality personal lives for family, hobbies, and community engagement.  We work to live not live to work.

Throughout our company policies and procedures we convey these mantras:

  1. Accountability – the assumption of responsibility for actions and decisions while encompassing the obligation to report and be answerable for resulting actions. There is as much of an emphasis on being accountable and taking ownership of the positive outcomes as shortfalls.  Employee happiness depends upon this!
  2. Humility – the quality of being modest and respectful. This transverses both interactions with clients and fellow team members.
  3. Integrity – consistency of actions, values, principles, expectations, and outcomes. Ethics is stands above all for both the individual and the company as a whole. The perception of integrity is insufficient without demonstrating it in all your actions.
  4. Perseverance – continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, or opposition. Continually challenging yourself as an individual and a company to grow in knowledge and ability.  Studies have shown that the collective judgment, knowledge, experience, and ability of its members- there must be ongoing, continual effort at all levels.
  5. To teach and be taught – By developing the skills of its members, the company adds to the only resource it has to sell: professional judgment and talent.

By living by these standards we have seen employee happiness and productive people continuously succeed at Tower which has contributed tremendously to our growth and success.