Facing a profession in a state of rapid change, financial advisors are already overburdening their emotions and intellect—but the pressures of Covid-19 have made things even more stressful.

Some advisors are burning out, said Jennifer Tarsney, director of New York Life Investments’ Advisor Advancement Institute (AAI). The AAI is dedicated to helping advisors identify new ways of doing things, conducting proprietary research around industry and demographic issues and, based on that research, issuing recommendation for best practices to grow advisory businesses and improve the client experience.

Before the pandemic, changing client demographics were one of the leading stressors for advisors, said Tarsney.

“What burns out advisors in a normal scenario is the amount of client contact needed these days to keep clients happy,” she said. “The work we’ve done with women clients shows that they are requiring more and more proactive contact from their advisor to really feel satisfied. Advisors, in general, are struggling to keep up with these new expectations.”

Then, Covid-19 forced almost everyone—advisors, clients, support staff, prospects, third-party vendors—to work from home. With their team dispersed, an advisor couldn’t walk down the hallway or poke his head in another office to ask a question or have a conversation. In a virtual, work-from-home environment, advisors often have to stop what they’re doing to track someone down and have a conversation, said Tarsney.

Tasks and workflows that require multiple people take longer with a dispersed workforce, said Tarsney, so where possible, advisors often take on more responsibilities themselves. “That’s leading to a sense of being overwhelmed—at the end of the day it’s 5 o’clock and you haven’t gotten through your to-do list.”

Changing Roles
The changing role of financial advisors has also taken a toll. When most advisors first got into the business 20 to 35 years ago, their main focus was on managing investments.

Today, more advisors primarily serve as wealth and life coaches, and many delegate investment management to another internal staff member or department, our outsource it to a third party.

“The advisor’s value is now in connection with the client and helping them with whatever they need, and financial planning is a huge part of that,” said Tarsney. “Now advisors are being relied upon to provide advice with big topics that face families with money, and that’s become more time consuming than just  managing their investments.”

Providing these services creates a valuable emotional bond between advisors and clients, households and families, but it also takeks an emotional toll, said Tarsney.

Providing that kind of service is even more taxing in the context of widespread illness and death.

“Now add to that clients who are calling in and looking to advisors to be a source of strength and guidance to them,” said Tarsney. “Keep in mind that for many of these advisors, clients are like part of their family. There’s serious emotional involvement there, you feel bad, it’s sad when you have to experience sadness with clients. I think people are emotionally exhausted, and that absolutely speeds up the burnout.”

As a result, advisors may feel like they’re not able to help everyone they’re supposed to help in a given day, or that they’re not able to provide comprehensive or holistic services, she said. The danger is that clients can tell when an advisor becomes distant, avoidant or withdrawn.

Symptoms Of Burnout
Does any of this sound familiar? Two of the most easily recognizable symptoms of burnout, according to Tarsney, are difficulty focusing and a short fuse. Advisors may lose the vision they use to plan for clients, their business, their family, even their day.

“Another sign is that decisions that should take 10 seconds might be debated for 10 minutes, or longer,” said Tarsney. “That’s a sign that you’ve overwhelmed your brain.”

Emotional fatigue can manifest in inappropriate responses to emotional topics, said Tarsney, like crying or laughing at things that do not merit tears or laughter. Weight gain can also be a sign of stress and burnout, as some people cope by eating.

Or, advisors will sometimes pour every bit of themselves into their clients, she said, and ignore what’s best for themselves and their businesses altogether.

“We also see advisors so focused on client goals that they maybe fail to focus on their own goals, which can also lead to feelings of burnout and being overwhelmed because advisors aren’t getting to their personal to-do lists,” said Tarsney. “Only 42% of advisors write down their goals, according to our own research, but as advisors should know writing goals is a critical part of keeping focused.”

What To Do About Burnout
Tarsney offered a few tips to avoid or mitigate advisor burnout

• Create a plan that focuses on your goals.
• Start every day by writing down two to three things that you absolutely need to get done that day to move the needle, and accomplish those things before focusing on anyone else’s goals.
• Be aggressive about blocking out some time for yourself. Turn off your phone and turn off your email to make sure you complete tasks.
• Trust your training and knowledge and make recommendations to clients with conviction. If a client declines a recommendation, be prepared to respond with education over time.
• Coach your team to be resilient and follow your example, especially in goal-setting.

“Ultimately, for burnout, you have to be your own personal coach,” said Tarsney. “Don’t be afraid to talk to yourself in positive ways—we all talk to ourselves.If you really feel like you’re at a breaking point, sit down and take a deep breath and have a catch phrase you use with yourself to hit the reset button Teach yourself to take a timeout and hit that reset button.”