3 ways working with a planner can help your workaholic clients achieve a better work-life balance

We have all met workaholics in our time as professionals; you might even have identified as one yourself at some point during your career.

When you work in a stressful role, such as running your own business or managing a large team, workaholism can be a way of coping with the pressure you face day-to-day.

Indeed, you may have clients who you would consider workaholics. According to Healthline, some of the key symptoms of workaholism include:

• Prioritising work over basic human needs, like sleep, eating, rest and social contact
• Paranoia about work-related issues, especially one’s own professional performance
• Putting in far more hours than are needed to do a good job
• Crippling fear of failure at work, or failure as a leader
• Using work to avoid personal problems
• Intense feelings of anxiety when working, or periods of depression when something goes wrong at work.

Your clients might not experience all of these workaholic symptoms, but they could identify with at least one or two of these points, causing them day-to-day stress that is difficult to cope with.

Workaholics can experience health issues that could impede their ability to work long-term

Being a workaholic can have detrimental effects on your clients’ health.

A 2021 report by Health and Safety England (HSE) claims that more than 800,000 workers in the UK are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety. What’s more, a high percentage of these are senior officials, managers, and associates.

Plus, a study by Perkbox revealed that money is the biggest stressor of employed adults in the UK, with over a quarter of adults feeling stressed about their finances every single day.

All these statistics point to one simple fact: your clients could be suffering as a result of working too hard, and could be experiencing financial stress on a day-to-day basis.

Here are three ways working with a financial planner can benefit your workaholic clients by helping them to achieve a better work-life balance.

1. Working with a planner can help your clients focus on their goals

Workaholics often think in a scattered way, trying to oversee every single detail of their business’ operations, and ultimately exhausting themselves in the process.

If your clients are burned out, they are more likely to make risky or poorly researched financial decisions that could affect their business in a serious way.

Working with a planner can help streamline your clients’ focus, so they can prioritise what’s important, channelling their energy into achieving their financial goals, and leaving unnecessary worry behind.

A planner can also help spot inefficiencies in your client’s financial operations, helping them to simplify their day-to-day and their long-term goals too. This additional support could work wonders for your workaholic clients who need constructive advice they can rely on.

Having a planner help your client to streamline their financial operations and focus on their goals can give them much-needed mental rest, helping them to ultimately achieve better work-life balance.

2. A financial planner can take on some of the financial stress they endure day-to-day

Your clients are likely highly experienced in their industry, managing teams of skilled professionals and providing mentoring themselves. Nevertheless, dealing with any huge responsibility on your own is ultimately taxing, no matter how experienced you are.

A planner can help alleviate some of your clients’ financial stress by shouldering some of that load. By providing guidance on making their business or personal finance more tax-efficient, for example, a financial planner can give your client the peace of mind they need, so they can more easily switch off and enjoy life outside of work.

By having a “teammate” on their side who can share some of that weight, your client could sleep better, have more confidence when running their business, and ultimately feel more in control of their life, rather than allowing work to control them.

3. A planner can counsel your clients to enjoy the money they’ve worked so hard for

Some people think financial planners are always going to encourage you to “save, save, save”.

While saving is, of course, a hugely important part of life, a financial planner’s job is also to counsel your clients to enjoy their money. Some clients, especially those with valuable businesses and a large portfolio of assets, become afraid of their money, saving it all away for a rainy day rather than reaping the benefits of their success.

If your client is a workaholic who never spends any of their hard-earned money, a financial planner can help counsel them to relax and enjoy their money, knowing they have built a great foundation to fall back on if they need to.

Learning to relax and have fun with their money might give your workaholic clients the perspective they need in order to achieve better work-life balance overall.

Get in touch

We’re here to advise you and your clients on all aspects of financial planning. If you have clients that would benefit from advice, or you’re interested in how you can work more closely with us, please get in touch. Email enquiries@prosserknowles.co.uk or call 01562 829 222.

Please note

This article is no substitute for financial advice and should not be treated as such. To determine the best course of action for your individual circumstances, please contact us.