With most advisors back in the office, many parts of the client relationship remain virtual

While wealth management firms take different approaches to remote work, advisors say the way they do their jobs has changed significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic – regardless of where they perform it.
Some financial services firms are taking cues from the public sector and tightening rules on remote work. In September, the federal government began requiring employees to be in the office three times a week, up from twice a week previously.
The mandates are varied among wealth management firms, with some advisors reporting to the office five days a week and others saying their firms have left hybrid work policies discretionary.
But despite the variation, advisors say the way they conduct client meetings, run events and build relationships is different.
John Iaconetti, a financial advisor with the McClelland Financial Group at Assante Capital Management Ltd. in Thornhill, Ont., says the team of 20 full-time staff has been working in the office five days a week since January.
“There was pushback when our branch first mandated this,” Mr. Iaconetti says.
His branch in Thornhill previously had a hybrid work model, with advisors working from home on Mondays and Fridays. He says the arrangement was beneficial as it allowed him to work at his own pace and avoid the commute at the beginning and end of the week.
However, his office had several new associates join the team over the past few years and training prospective advisors virtually was difficult, he says.
“As much as we like to say we prefer to work from home, we’ve built a pretty good company culture here, and we all enjoy being together,” Mr. Iaconetti says. “At the end of the day, our job is front-facing, so we knew we were coming back to the office.”
Despite the client-facing nature of many jobs in the industry, research published by the C.D. Howe Institute in September found that 65 per cent of employees in Canada’s finance and insurance industry work from home at least part of the time, compared with only 26 per cent of the general population.
Many advisors credit the industry’s adoption of virtual meeting tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams for allowing them to continue their jobs in the early days of the pandemic.
Alyson Kent, a partner and financial planner with the Vancea Financial Group at Investia Financial Services Inc. in Stratford, Ont., says she still conducts most of her job using Teams and the app-based phone system her company adopted early in 2020 to allow advisors to work from home.
Despite returning to her office five days a week, Ms. Kent estimates that more than 95 per cent of the documents her clients sign are done electronically via DocuSign.
“Before the pandemic, some clients would have hesitated before signing important documents electronically,” she says.
Before the pandemic, Ms. Kent says she spent at least one day a week travelling to clients’ homes and offices to meet in person. While most of her clients live near her office in Stratford, she serves a large population of clients in Kitchener, Ont., and a handful in London, Ont., large neighbouring cities she now visits once a month.
“Most of my clients are comfortable with remote communication now, and now prefer it,” says Ms. Kent, who only conducts about 25 per cent of her meetings in person now.
“The compliance requirements for opening a new account can also be done with a video call now,” she adds.
Lindsay Sparrow, senior wealth advisor with Sparrow Wealth at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc. in Edmonton used to spend a couple of hours a day driving to clients.
With no mandate on how many days she and her colleagues need to work at the office, she says most of her clients prefer virtual meetings.
“We’re in the services business, so it should be what the client wants,” Ms. Sparrow says, adding that less than 20 per cent of client meetings are in person now.
Before the pandemic, Ms. Sparrow preferred to meet prospective clients face-to-face to establish a sense of trust. But she says the suite of tools available to her and other advisors has made it so in-person meetings are no longer required – although she still chooses them at times.
“In some circumstances, such as when rebalancing a portfolio, it’s more effective to conduct the meeting in person,” she says, as it’s easier to explain and map out new investment strategies.
Ms. Kent says she prefers to handle discussions regarding a death in a client’s family or any estate matters in person, but even then it’s not a requirement.
Virtual seminar tools allowed advisors – and their firms – to carry on with client events despite pandemic restrictions on in-person gatherings.
Since joining Wellington-Altus in 2020, Ms. Sparrow has been slowly working on a three-part virtual informational series for her clients (and prospective clients).
“I prefer to have events in person. You’re able to feed off of your clients and the people present,” she says. “But I know I’ll have more reach virtually.”
Before the pandemic, Mr. Iaconetti says his team used to host a monthly lunch-and-learn for clients at a golf club near the office. The team would serve food and host a speaker covering a financial topic or something more casual.
Now, his team hosts one in-person event a quarter and two virtually – the latter of which he notes are easier to put together.
“People like to get the chance to come out and make friends, and it’s great because it gives you a chance to get to know your client,” he says. “I find there’s also more attendance in-person.”
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