Much has been made of how quickly brokers adapted to the pandemic and resulting lockdown, but a report published by Crystal Specialist Finance shows that the industry may be suffering its own form of ‘long Covid’ that could lead to burnout if brokers don’t take action.
The report — titled ‘Thrive’ — primarily takes the form of a survey of close to 2,100 people. Among its many findings regarding brokers, some of the more interesting to note concern workloads.
It finds that, over the past 12 months, 52% of brokers have struggled the most with their work-life balance, 34% with a lack of motivation, and 32% with their mental health and wellbeing.
It’s easy to talk about growth, but initially you need to take a step back and work harder to put infrastructure in place to allow this
And the top two biggest challenges brokers are currently facing, according to the survey, are “keeping up with government schemes and changes”, cited by 40% of those surveyed, and “promoting myself and my business”, at 32%.
On top of this, a selection of broker comments are as follows: “I need admin help”, “[There is] not enough time in the day”, “I don’t have enough staff to cope with the workload”, and “I am a one-man band and my biggest challenge is meeting demand”.
The survey also asked what skills and knowledge are the most important for the future, with 75% of brokers saying that product knowledge and criteria is top, with promoting myself and my business at 43%.
The first question that needs to be addressed is surely whether the increased mortgage activity leading to this level of stress is temporary or not?
We realised the need for face-to-face interaction on a daily basis was important to avoid misinterpretation
“The stamp duty tax breaks have certainly caused artificial spikes and brought forward a huge amount of transactions,” says Crystal Specialist Finance sales and marketing director Jason Berry. He believes, however, that appetite to borrow will remain high and that brokers should expect to remain stretched in the long term, “with £39bn of fixed rate maturities ending in January 2022 alone”.
Aside from this, Berry points out an “inevitable” rise in non-standard customer profiles, and government policy relaxing planning rules for both permitted development and change of use, which are likely drive investor interest and the growth of bridging finance far into the future.
West Yorkshire Money managing director Adele Forbes says it isn’t just the workload that has hit brokers, but “the isolation of working from home has had a detrimental effect on mental health”. And she says that, early on in the lockdown, both she and operations director Emma Hutchinson “realised the need for face-to-face interaction on a daily basis was important to avoid misinterpretation”.
Forbes expanded her office and staffing levels in spring this year.
The need to think outside the box has never been more important
“Originally we had no admin support,” she says, “but the increase in enquiries due to the easing of restrictions meant there was a requirement for admin due to the rewriting of cases from one lender to another, and the increase in phone calls and compliance support.”
She says an increase in complex cases, “news of branches closing and the increase of broker market share” gave her the confidence to do this, and that her firm will be recruiting an apprentice soon.
Specialist Finance Centre managing director Daniel Yeo says: “What started as mortgage and specialist brokers having to become counsellors for confused clients navigating their way through payment holidays, furlough advice and general uncertainty, soon became an avalanche of purchases, both for standard mortgages and bridging products.”
Your eyes being lifted from client files is liberating
His solution has been to hire specialists for each area of lending.
“It’s far more efficient than trying to deal with an application you’re not used to and without the market knowledge or contacts to handle it properly.”
He says that his selection of both employed and self-employed advisers who have different skillsets “has created a network of advisers who can work collaboratively and utilise each other based on what they each do best”.
But he stresses that investment in business is something to consider even in normal market conditions.
“And it’s easy to talk about growth but initially you need to take a step back and work harder to put infrastructure in place to allow this,” Yeo explains. “Once you have done that then you need to put capital back in your business by hiring. Only then will you see your own workload and stress levels decrease. Your eyes being lifted from client files is liberating.”
Berry concludes: “The very best broker models provide holistic advice and do not miss opportunities to provide clients with a solution.”
The isolation of working from home has had a detrimental effect on mental health
He adds that some brokers should improve their skills “and become experts across multiple products areas, while others can simply partner with third parties to fill knowledge gaps”.
Of course, in the current market, finding the time to do this is easier said than done. But the Thrive report makes something very clear: if the market continues to be this frantic — and there is every sign that it could for a long time — many brokers need to take steps to avoid burning out completely.
“The need to think outside the box has never been more important,” says Forbes.
