Call for employers to provide advice access

Nigel Green, chief executive and founder of deVere Group, said that the “considerable challenges” that firms now face highlights the need for them to assist employees in accessing financial advice.

“This access would benefit the employers, the employees, and broader society and economy,” Mr Green said.

“By upgrading and boosting their employees’ benefits programs, employers will be able to attract and retain top talent during the recovery and beyond, which is likely to be critical to their success.”

Providing employees with financial advice will make them “happier, less stressed, more focused, more productive and more engaged” and create reputational benefits for businesses.

“This crisis has underscored that increasingly companies will only survive and thrive if they operate with a nod from the wider court of public approval.”

With unemployment set to rise to 10 per cent in the June quarter, and 800,000 Australian businesses already accessing the JobSeeker program, Mr Green believes that providing more people with financial advice will be key to avoiding a deeper recession.

“The cost of having an increasingly large section of the population being financially dependent on the state is damaging to individuals, families and society and it will significantly impede sustainable, long-term economic growth,” Mr Green said.

“Now is the time for employers to actively engage with the financial advisory industry.”

Mr Green joins a growing number of voices who want to see financial advice made more accessible to Australians as the crisis deepens.

“Never have we seen so many once financially viable businesses close their doors, so many people lose their jobs or lose a substantial percentage of their income,” said Sequoia managing director Garry Crole.

“I believe a subsidy, in the form of a rebate, would support Australians in need of advice and increase the effectiveness of the various support packages, which is for the benefit of all Australians.”