Financial advisers spend nearly five hours a week on “unnecessary” tasks, according to a study of how advisers use their working week.

Most of the advisers surveyed (see table below) said they spent only 5 hours 25 minutes a week on providing Financial Planning advice to clients.

The study by adviser tech platform Advicefront found that time wasted per adviser amounted to around one in every eight working hours, costing them £220 per week in wasted time.

The firm asked 86 UK financial advisers to reveal their salaries, average weekly working hours and the hours they spend on various tasks.

The average gross annual wage was £81,956 for an average 39 hour week, according to the survey, giving an hourly rate of £46.38.

Asked to work out the time wasted each week on tasks they believed were either “unnecessary” or “could be done quicker”, the average adviser response was 4 hours and 45 minutes.

For an adviser on a 40 hour week working the standard 46.4 weeks per year, that amounts to a ‘loss’ of £10,222 per year in productive time.

Respondents said they spent on average:

• 2 hours and 55 minutes shredding or disposing of paperwork
• 2 hours and 41 minutes printing documents
• 2 hours and 35 minutes filling out paper forms by pen or pencil
• 2 hours and 23 minutes filing paperwork

 They were also asked to say how much time they spent manually on tasks that can be automated using technology and said they spent, on average:

• 4 hours and 34 minutes fact-finding
• 4 hours and 16 minutes preparing suitability letters
• 3 hours and 8 minutes fact-finding
• 2 hours and 55 minutes re-keying data

Asked about two main client-facing tasks, they spent an average of 5 hours and 25 minutes a week on Financial Planning and 4 hours 16 minutes on “client engagement or education.”

José Supico, chief executive of Advicefront, said: “It’s clear that financial advisers are overwhelmed with paper and facing a daily fight against increasingly onerous admin tasks, leaving them less and less time to do what they love doing – sitting down with their clients.”

source: Advicefront Survey