What pandemic?
Despite advisors being uprooted from their normal work environments and navigating myriad uncertainties, a recent survey paints a picture of industry resilience and silver linings in the face of a global pandemic — with one significant exception.
FlexShares’ third annual
But a closer look at the results reveals that COVID-19 has had an outsized impact on the women who make up about 23% of the advisors in the industry, according to the CFP Board. In the survey, female advisors reported significantly higher levels of stress than their male counterparts (55.3% vs. 46.9%) in 2020, as well as stress levels higher than the national average of 48.9%.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the challenges the pandemic year posed, three key indicators used to measure stress and wellness — occupational satisfaction, life satisfaction and work-life balance — remained on par with 2018’s results overall. Indeed, the survey recorded a 2.5% jump in financial advisors’ occupational satisfaction in 2020 as opposed to two years ago.
There were notable changes in the stressors themselves: political uncertainty was the top business concern in 2020 versus the state of the markets in 2018. Other top anxiety-producers for advisors last year included compliance and regulatory issues; client relationships and demanding clients; and growing their practice or attracting new clients.
However, the average stress level for women advisors increased from 53.7% in 2018, while the average stress level for males declined slightly from 47.1% in that year.
In 2020, female advisors’ stress was generated by a unique mix of factors, for example having to wear “multiple hats” and balancing work and family life, according to the report.
As younger wives increasingly cede money matters to their spouses, advisors should urge them to know where and how they're invested, says trusts and estates attorney Sharon Bilar.
A larger percentage of women (27%) reported caring for elders vs. men (20.5%). Women found caring for dependents during the pandemic more stressful than men and viewed the pandemic as more of a “real threat.”
And while women advisors experienced the same stress-related symptoms as men, the degree to which women surveyed reported suffering from these symptoms was greater across the board.
Closing the anxiety gap
I believe these findings reveal a looming problem, and that solving it is critically important for our industry’s future. Advisory firms need to ask themselves how they can better support female advisors and make the workplace more rewarding. We see several actionable ways to do this.
One is to encourage an open dialogue about stress. In general, women are typically better reporters of stress, which can lead them to reach out for help in order to better manage it. Advisory firms should actively encourage this open discussion of stress factors for all employees to better identify issues and work through potential solutions that will help retain quality employees.
Another is to consider workplace stress solutions. Addressing employee stress can take many forms, but as a whole “on-the-job” strategies such as task and time management and “being good” to clients to cope with stress may be more effective stress-reducers than outside of work activities. Female advisors — more so than their male counterparts — chose such strategies to clients to cope with stress. Consider implementing policies such as flexible work arrangements and formal support structures for task and time management to directly deal with productivity and work-life balance.
Overall, when asked what they loved most about being a financial advisor, respondents overwhelmingly stated the ability to help and provide service to those who need it (58%), followed by independence and flexibility (19%) and the relationships that they form (13%). These same factors that kept advisors highly satisfied amid the pandemic — feeling a sense of purpose and having flexibility — could play a role in future recruitment and retention.
