Almost three-quarters of planners suffer burnout, stress

The results of AIA Australia’s Australian Financial Advisers Wellbeing Report, a mental health survey conducted by peak performance researcher Adam Fraser and Deakin University, reveal some extremely concerning statistics about the impact of recent industry changes on advisers’ wellbeing.

Key findings from the report, which surveyed over 700 Australian advisers, found that 73 per cent are experiencing high levels of burnout from stress while 67 per cent experienced some level of depression.

“We did this research to help the people who invest so much time and energy into improving the financial security of Australians,” Dr Fraser said.

“Concerningly, we found that advisers had the lowest scores in areas of wellbeing, mental and physical health and higher scores in terms of stress, burnout and work overload, than any industry we had previously studied.”

A further 61 per cent of survey respondents reported trouble sleeping as a result of stress, while around a third of advisers who participated in the report said they were seeing a medical professional to manage their mental health issues.

Compared to the average Australian, the report found advisers were 51 per cent more likely to belong to a high mental health risk group. Advisers also scored lower than average in several wellbeing categories, with just 21 per cent saying their life was often close to ideal, and only 36 per cent saying they were always happy in their job.

Among those who were actively enjoying work, which the researchers termed as “thrivers”, common traits were that they were able to spend less time on compliance and administration and more time on client meetings and new business.

Those who were thriving also had a higher work/life balance score, consumed less alcohol and had clearer boundaries between professional and personal time, such as by not answering calls or completing work tasks out of business hours. Additionally, they displayed more resilience in adapting to complex or difficult situations, such as by thinking about innovating around regulatory roadblocks rather than staying within the rules.

Deakin University researcher John Molineux said while the results were extremely concerning for the industry, advisers could take positive lessons from those who were evolving more quickly in the face of the dramatic changes the sector was going through.

“Due to major change and reform in the industry, many advisers are struggling and it is impacting their health and wellbeing, which I think should be a major concern to us all,” Dr Molineux said.

“Yet there is hope, as pathways for help are becoming available and many of the advisers we interviewed are learning, coping, adapting, recovering and moving away from stress reactions which can prevent us from taking positive action.”