'What is good for employees is good for business'

Within wealth management and financial advice, most businesses acknowledge the benefits of in-person, office-based collaboration, while also allowing employees the flexibility to work from home when needed or desired.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in the four months to January 2023, only 19 per cent of those in professional occupations were in the office full-time, with no home working or hybrid option.

Research from US firm Scoop found that in financial services 80 per cent of businesses favour hybrid arrangements, while only one in five required people to be in the office full-time. 

Not where, but how

With the ‘back to the office’ debate largely settled, it seems the next chapter in the future of work discussion will be not around ‘where’ but ‘how much’, with the world’s largest trial of a four-day week drawing to a close in February. Of the 61 UK companies that took part in the pilot, 56 said they planned to continue with it.

A recent discussion piece in FTAdviser found there was understandable scepticism from some firms when it came to a shorter week, with many citing the need to be on-call for clients, especially during market hours.

We cannot control which regulations are imposed upon the sector, but we can control the time spent on repetitive admin tasks.

This recalcitrance is likely compounded by the fact that financial advisers feel under pressure from increased fee scrutiny, rising costs, and further layers of regulation.

Yet financial advice is arguably well-placed to experiment with more flexible work patterns, given we are only scratching the surface of the efficiencies that technology can bring to the sector.

The issue of how we work is particularly pertinent given the perilous number of advisers set to retire in the coming years.

FCA data from 2021 showed about half of advisers were over 50. Few will have failed to notice that chancellor Jeremy Hunt devoted funding in the March Budget to ensuring over-50s are incentivised to stay in, or return to, work. This included the abolition of the tax-free lifetime allowance on private pensions, encouraging high earners to work for longer.

Smarter, not harder

Experienced advisers are certainly more likely to stay in work when they are met with financial reward (as per the Budget) but also if they have increased personal fulfilment – in particular the ability to achieve an attractive work/life balance.

A working day spent helping clients to get the most from their money can be highly rewarding. Advisers are often given unbridled insight into clients’ lives, family concerns, and innermost ambitions – a responsibility that proves both fulfilling and demanding.

Firms looking to retain talented people as they move through their 50s and 60s need to simplify their operating models and future-proof their technology stacks.

Yet the administrative load is only increasing, meaning advisers spend less time on the rewarding aspects of their job, and more on the unrewarding boring bits. For example, in 2019 the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments (CISI) estimated that Mifid II had added another 20 minutes of admin around each client meeting.

We cannot control which regulations are imposed upon the sector, but we can control the time spent on repetitive administrative tasks and the dual keying of data.

We still speak to a staggering number of firms running a spaghetti mess of platforms. Imagine the countless hours lost to employees as they battle with forgotten passwords, the duplication of tasks, and time spent mastering different systems. 

Therefore, the best course of action is clearly to adopt modern technology to reduce the administrative burden on employees and leave more time for them to focus upon the most rewarding task of all: providing excellent client service.

The pandemic sparked a technological and ideological shift.

Firms looking to retain talented people as they move through their 50s and 60s need to simplify their operating models and future-proof their technology stacks to both ensure that these advisers are doing more of what they enjoy now, as well as ultimately enabling them to reduce their workloads over time.

There is cause for optimism. The pandemic sparked a technological and ideological shift whereby businesses now place more emphasis on helping all employees work in a way that complements their lifestyle. There is growing recognition that what is good for employees is good for business.

If senior employees can be motivated to stay, by harnessing technology to take away as much of the thankless administrative tasks as possible, this will mean that the sector continues to benefit from those with decades of experience.

Ian Partington is chief executive of Third Financial