Leading life and health insurer AIA Australia is sponsoring a new research project examining the mental health and wellbeing of financial advisers in Australia.

Tipped to be the largest study of its kind, The adviser’s voice: a look at the mental health and wellbeing of financial advisers will investigate the issues that have been impacting advisers’ mental health in recent years. The study’s findings will help researchers develop ‘interventions’ aimed at helping advisers minimise and manage these sources of stress to achieve improved mental wellbeing.

The study is being led by Dr Adam Fraser, an award-winning researcher and author who has studied the performance and wellbeing of workers in various professions over the past 15 years. Dr Fraser decided to start looking at the mental wellbeing of financial advisers after delivering a keynote at an adviser conference and learning about the numerous industry changes advisers have had to adapt to in recent years.

How the study works

The adviser’s voice study will comprise three components:

• a quantitative survey assessing advisers’ mental health
• in-depth, one-on-one qualitative interviews with advisers examining sources of stress in the industry and how they deal with these, and
• a qualitative diary study where study organisers check in with a number of advisers, three times per day over a seven-day period, to gauge their mood and its determinants.

At the end of the data-collection period, Dr Fraser will work with Deakin University and the e-lab to produce and collate the results. They will then draw from these in building a series of interventions designed to help advisers see the signs of approaching mental ill-health and poor wellbeing before they materialise.

Expanding the ring of care

AIA Australia has maintained a strong focus on supporting the mental health of its staff and customers in recent years, in line with its purpose to Make a Difference in People’s Lives. With its support of this new study, AIA Australia is extending this focus to financial advisers.

Working as a financial adviser has always been complex, but the seismic change over the past several years has made the industry particularly challenging for many practitioners and business owners.

This includes some of the confronting findings of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, which have led to a large number of proposals for legislative change. These have come on top of the Life Insurance Framework reforms and the ban on grandfathered conflicted remuneration, both of which fundamentally altered the accepted business model of many practices. In addition, new FASEA educational requirements and the shifts associated with Protecting Your Super and Putting Members’ Interests First provisions have created major new demands on financial advisers’ time and attention.

The human factor

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to countless Australian lives and livelihoods, and the nation’s financial advisers aren’t exempted from its impacts. In fact, for many advisers the stress has been two-fold: not only have they had to support their clients through COVID-related difficulties affecting them, but many have had to do so while fighting to keep their own small businesses afloat.

Also often overlooked is the emotional and mental toll on advisers who are helping their clients through stressful times. In a profession built on deep relationships, advisers develop close bonds with their clients, and watching them face financial hardship, illness, family break-downs and other unfortunate events can be psychologically taxing.

AIA Australia is extremely proud to be sponsoring The adviser’s voice study. By supporting this vitally important research and the potential benefits that might come from the analysis, AIA Australia believes financial advisers – and, by extension, their staff and clients – can live healthier, longer, better lives.

To register your interest in taking part in this study, or to find out more, click here.

Copyright © 2020 AIA Australia Limited (ABN 79 004 837 861 AFSL 230043). This is general information only, without taking into account factors like the objectives, financial situation, needs or personal circumstances of any individual and is not intended to be financial, legal, tax, medical, nutritional, health, fitness or other advice.