Client service is competing with compliance paperwork. Strategic planning is delayed by CRM clean-ups, and late nights are spent chasing documents, responding to emails, or managing technology issues. And the to-do lists never get shorter.
This isn’t the kind of work that grows a business; it’s the work that slows it down.
Many advice firms are still trying to scale with the same internal model they used nearly a decade ago. It worked well when businesses were smaller, when there were fewer regulations, fewer clients, and fewer moving parts. However, as the demand for advice grows and the available adviser numbers shrink, that model is no longer fit for purpose.
According to industry insights, advisers spend between 15 and 20 hours a week on administrative tasks. That equates to around 1,000 hours per year. Time that could be redirected to high-value work, including client relationships, strategic development, and, importantly, growing the practice.
Instead, advisers and their team are being pulled into work that could easily be managed elsewhere. Not only is this creating capacity issues, but it’s also contributing to fatigue, slower growth, and increased turnover of teams.
The root of the problem is not time, it’s structure.
When the right support model is in place, firms can remove friction from their day-to-day operations. Efficiency increases, and clients feel more engaged. Advisers have the headspace to lead and the time to grow.
In practice, this often means reconsidering how support is sourced. For many firms, continuing to hire exclusively in-house isn’t financially sustainable, with recruitment costs rising, talent shortages ongoing, and the onboarding of local staff becoming more complex to process.
That’s why more firms are exploring the hybrid resourcing models and combining local leadership with offshore operational support to create a structure that scales with the business.
This isn’t about outsourcing for cost-cutting. It’s about building capacity, reducing pressure on internal teams, and creating a sustainable platform for long-term growth.
When administrative tasks, from report generation and database management to insurance follow-ups and form processing, are managed by trained support staff, advisers can reallocate their time to the work that drives outcomes.
The most successful firms are doing exactly this. They’re not replacing their people, they’re strengthening them. By integrating offshore teams that understand the financial services landscape, these firms are creating consistent workflows, improving responsiveness, and giving local staff the ability to focus on what they do best.
Importantly, this model doesn’t mean giving up control. In fact, with the right oversight, systems, and training in place, it delivers greater consistency and reliability. It ensures the business can operate at an important level, even during times of change or rapid growth within the firm.
Support needs to be more than just operational. It needs to be cultural. Firms that scale well don’t just outsource their tasks; they integrate new team members into their values, their workflows, and their expectations. That’s where the real return on investment lies.
Burnout in advice isn’t caused by too many client conversations; it’s caused by doing everything else in between. When an adviser spends more time on admin than on strategy, something must give somewhere.
The next generation of advice businesses will not be built by doing more of the same. They’ll be built by doing things differently.
This shift is already underway; the firms leading in Australia aren’t necessarily bigger. But they’re sharper in how they use their resources. They’re clearly deliberate about where time is spent, and they’re building structures that serve both their clients and their people.
For any adviser wondering how to scale without falling into the burnout trap, start by looking at what’s filling the calendar. Not everything on the list should be done internally, and when that changes, so does the business.
