STAFF VALUES

Our Values

There are lots of financial services firms in the market. Most have capital, most have licenses, most have lavish premises to operate out of, however there are only some that are small, nimble and successful.  Why?

People

At Poole and Partners Investment Services our people are the most valuable asset, so we make sure we look after them.

Having the right culture and giving our team the opportunity to thrive and build on their personal success and drive is fundamental to us.

Our vision is to deliver outstanding financial services for clients and their families and we can only achieve this if our team feels supported.

Partnership

The partnership with our people runs deep and many of our staff have been loyal to PPI for over 9 years. This is a mutually inclusive firm and we treat people with respect and seek their unique differences and views. As we face difficult times in financial markets and short-term lockdowns, we are determined to assist our people as much as we can.

There is no “I” in team, so no one’s interest is bigger than the overall picture of helping and assisting the entire team.

We value the suggestions and opinions of our staff. We encourage and support staff to bring ideas to the table and be actively involved in PPI’s overall operations.

Big Picture

Management will make decisions for the long-term interest of PPI and the partnership with our clients as their interests come first. We will not make decisions for short-term gains as this highlights the bigger picture of looking after clients with their best interest at the forefront for all decisions.

Just Solve It

Let’s be successful, but stuff may still go wrong.  It’s important in these situations our staff feel supported and reach out for help to resolve any problems that arise.

How we manage problems defines who we are, our goal is to be responsible and “own” situations that occur from time to time.

It is about how we individually challenge ourselves to better help our clients making them understand our decisions and our service we are offering them.

We’ll think outside the box, however we will never compromise our responsibility to act within all applicable laws and will never tolerate short cuts as we will always act with integrity in all our dealings.

Our successful reputation depends on every decision as our firm’s reputation over 40 years can be lost immediately in 1 minute of poor choices.

Our team members are all supported to solve any problem they may face and we can rely on our experienced team to maintain our reputation in the community and around Australia.

Our Expectations

We call a Spade a Spade

We will be frank and honest with our clients and our team members of PPI. We’ll tell our clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. We will always call a ‘Spade a Spade’ for the best interests for every client we are privileged to serve.

Have Fun

We want to make work fun, challenging and rewarding. We have successfully operated with a culture to laugh at ourselves and not take it personally. We value our team members mental health and it’s important that all team members enjoy working for PPI and bring a positive attitude to work.

Speak up

If you don’t think you are being treated in accordance with our values or if you see someone not maintaining our core values – it is everyone’s responsibility to speak up. Our clients, their families, PPI team members and families all depend and rely on the ongoing success of PPI.

We keep our communication lines open and value compliance. If you feel that a matter needs to be  addressed, raise it with our Compliance Officer anonymously via the “whistle blower service”.

How we Roll

What we do and what we don’t do

Fundamentally, we treat each other and our clients as we would like to be treated ourselves; professionally and with respect.

We always work as a team.

Our team’s rewards are based on contribution and teamwork and are not constrained by bureaucracy and hierarchy.

We all don’t like the typical forced form based “annual performance review”, our process is about continual performance management.

Feedback whether positive or negative should not be a surprise, it is not personal feedback. Our business success is primarily based on “how can we do things better”.  We don’t pigeon hole and provide lots of free space to develop your own self. We are not a hand holding, monitoring organization, however we can be if we feel “things are just not right”.

If you feel that PPI has let you down

If you believe that you have been let down in any way, we will seek to handle all employment related complaints fairly, sensitively, confidentially and as quickly as possible.

Please reach out to the Compliance Officer if you feel this way.

Flexible and Agile Work Environment

We have been adaptive since March 2020 and we have redefined how we do business and contribute to PPI.

As long as you contribute to fulfil your job requirements (and don’t take advantage of our flexibility) our policy is to help you manage your work time with the flexibility you believe is appropriate. However, we think agility is a key to our staff wellbeing, productivity and success. A positive energy level and positive attitude goes a long way with our cultural beliefs.

We are most interested in your output and contribution to help clients foremost.

We respect and require an honest and frank approach to the challenges of balancing work and personal commitments. Taking time to attend to those commitments and being adaptive in your process and time management is paramount to our team’s personal success and the business’s success. If there are any problems, we have the experience and processes to help support you.

Common Sense

“It takes years to build a reputation but minutes to destroy it”.

PPI operates in a highly regulated financial services industry which we are entrusted by our clients to deliver the highest level of service.

Training

So that we make sure we are all conducting business the right way, our team will be required to complete mandatory training, continuing education and certification.

We cannot stress enough how important our reputation is as it is in our hands and our responsibility to not damage it.

Data Protection and Confidential Information

Over the course of time with PPI, you may create, receive, know of or gain access to confidential information. We ask that you follow our privacy policy to ensure you protect and safeguard this information and take all reasonable steps to keep client information confidential and secure. We will not outsource outside of Australia as our information and data will be governed by Australian law and enforcement.

A breach of our data or representing yourself or the firm in another light could be a serious issue and could cause harm to our staff or clients.

Any breach should be reported directly to our Compliance Officer and/or Responsible Manager.

Anti Money Laundering

Money laundering involves moving money that has been gained through illegal means. At PPI we need to be aware when dealing with new clients that we are not facilitating money laundering. If you notice anything suspicious or out of the ordinary you should consult with Compliance and report immediately with the relevant authorities

Gifts and Entertainment

We do not allow the offering or receiving of gifts or entertainment in such a  way that it would be considered by a reasonable person (and by this you should assume the media) as an inducement or benefit to someone for working with us or directing us to conduct business that may be considered to be conflicted advice. All advice given by PPI is to be offered in good faith and in the best interests of our clients.

Media

There are only a handful of people in the firm that are authorized to speak to the media or organize any form of media on behalf of PPI.

We don’t leak any information on any social platform and if anyone speaks to the media in connection with a client transaction, they would only do so if they had express prior permission from the client and PPI management.

Regulators

The industry we operate in is complicated and is governed by a series of regulations and laws.  As such we will always work to ensure an open and transparent relationship with regulators.  If you are directly contacted by any regulator, you should first speak to our Compliance Officer.

We are all Risk Managers

PPI promotes a positive risk culture, one that ensures we manage risk in total support of PPI’s brand, PPI’s reputation and long-term business aspirations of PPI.

Whilst we operate on tight timeframes, our people are forward looking, perceptive and vigilant when it comes to how we operate. We understand our limitations and responsibility and seek out solutions by open communication with our team to ensure our decision making is “the best it can be” with the information we have at hand.

Client Complaints

We manage our client’s service expectations at the highest level. We have an obligation to our clients to return phone calls and provide timely advice and proactively manage any client dissatisfaction in an objective and considered way.

Our client complaints framework is designed to assist our clients with their complaints and address the situation quickly and fairly.

Client complaints can be minimized by a responsibility of high service protocols for each and every one of our staff. We have an obligation to conduct ourselves that is consistent with the expectations of the regulators and the firm.

This guide is an overview of how we work at Poole and Partners Investment Services…..