Any additional administrative workload imposed by the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms on financial advice practices is largely being absorbed by existing staff, a new survey has found.
The inaugural SLICE survey, conducted by financial advice specialist recruiter, The Dawson Partnership, and people management consulting firm, Balance at Work, asked practice owners about the impact of FoFA on their staffing levels.
Just 13% said they had put on new staff to manage additional workload, with the majority of survey respondents saying they would be able to absorb the impact of FoFA through their existing staff.
In some cases, the recruitment of new staff was in direct response to increased business growth. For example, one business owner commented that although FoFA had little impact in terms of workload, the business intended to boost employee numbers due to increased business, including bringing some work they outsourced during the GFC back in-house.
…even in this cost sensitive environment businesses recognise that they are reliant on their staff to deliver client outcomes
Interestingly, 9% of respondents said they had actually reduced staffing numbers as a result of FoFA. While a further 25% said they were unclear of the ramifications of the legislation, during follow-up discussions with the survey’s authors, most suspected that there would be little or no impact on employee numbers.
The primary impact FoFA has had on staffing, according to the survey, is in the area of training. When asked about their training costs for 2013, half the respondents said they had increased their budgets.
When asked in follow up conversations where the increases were targeted, respondents said they were focused on up-skilling employees in the use of the client service and administration functions, and compliance.
“The inaugural SLICE financial planning survey has revealed that even in this cost sensitive environment businesses recognise that they are reliant on their staff to deliver client outcomes and ensure they are fulfilling their requirements under FoFA. Those businesses with a strategy to hire and develop quality staff in anticipation of new challenges were better placed to meet them,” said Balance at Work People Strategist and co-author of the report, Susan Rochester.
The SLICE survey will be conducted quarterly, canvassing a range of issues faced by financial advice practices. The aim of the survey is to build an understanding of the most effective approaches to a broad range of hot button topics that challenge practices’ efficiency, profitability and viability.