Software upgrades and tech investments have made working from the cottage a common practice for advisors.Milan Markovic/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
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As summer approaches, many advisors’ minds will turn to the lake. While working a little during an extended cottage stay is a long-held tradition for some advisors, the pandemic forced many to get more serious about remote work and set up a more technically advanced workspace at their vacation properties.
Darren Coleman, senior portfolio manager with Coleman Wealth at Raymond James Ltd., sees the pandemic as having been a turning point for remote work, which is now the rule rather than the exception.
“Generally, the vast majority of people would prefer to stay remote,” he says, including those in Coleman Wealth’s Toronto and Oakville, Ont. offices. “The software and all the technologies have escalated to make that the norm.”
A dedicated workspace
Mr. Coleman spends 60 per cent of his time working remotely, some of which is at a cottage, where he hopes to spend more time as his children grow up. An increased focus on working at the lake has prompted several upgrades to his workspace there, the most significant of which was a connectivity upgrade. A WiFi link serving a separate office space from his main cottage proved too slow, so he commissioned a separate, dedicated line.
Steve Bentley, managing principal and financial life planner at independent advisory firm Northern River Financial Solutions Inc. in Waterloo, Ont., also upgraded the connectivity at his cottage 40 kilometres outside Huntsville, Ont. The previous connection at the site, which lies 15 to 20 km off the main highway, was spotty. Instead, he opted for Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet system.
A dedicated workspace is important if an advisor is to work properly at the cottage, Mr. Coleman says. After the lockdown lifted, he invested in making his more usable. That included simple comforts such as a better chair and two large monitors. He also paid more attention to lighting for his video conferencing setup.
Brett Simpson, chairman, financial advisor and portfolio manager at RGF Integrated Wealth Management Ltd., has a similar setup at his cottage, which is a couple of hours’ drive from his Vancouver office. His desktop-based conferencing system, complete with two large monitors, is always primed. “I can just get to the place and in 10 minutes, I’m on a call,” he says.
Upgrading to a more professional system has enabled Mr. Simpson to participate in industry events such as regulatory meetings. He took a voting position on the board at the Insurance Council of British Columbia only when the option for online meetings became available, giving him more flexibility to contribute to the industry while planning his time at the lake.
Software considerations
While some technology enhancements have happened lakeside, others took place in the cloud. The evolution of software and services has been a big driver for remote work. Mr. Simpson highlights electronic document signing as a key factor.
Docusign and other developments “were game changers, enabling us to get documents signed by clients remotely without them having to see a wet ink signature,” Mr. Simpson says.
Group collaboration software has also facilitated work from the cottage. Mr. Bentley warns that although the pandemic was a wake-up call for insurance and investment companies, some still lag in their back-office technology.
“Sometimes, there’s still paper involved,” he says, adding that for some insurance carriers, faxing is still a requirement. To that end, both Mr. Simpson and Mr. Coleman keep printers with built-in scanners at their cottages in case they’re needed.
Even if firms’ back-office technology options lag, advisors can at least innovate in their front-office collaboration, which many do with software such as the Slack conferencing service and Microsoft Teams.
Teams’ artificial intelligence (AI) features can also help to minimize working time at the lake, says Jay Brommet, head of modern work at Microsoft Canada.
“AI can start to introduce these great capabilities that enable us to be more productive and process information more quickly,” he says, citing automatic meeting summaries as a key feature.
Meeting expectations
While technology is making working from the cottage easier, financial advisors still have certain expectations of themselves and their teams. Mr. Coleman insists on having at least one person physically in the office all the time, even if it’s just an administrator, to handle deliveries or field unexpected visits from clients.
When staff are en route to the cottage or some other vacation destination, Mr. Coleman also asks them to pack a laptop. He learned that after one staff member was caught overseas when the lockdown started, and a three-day vacation turned into a three-week absence.
RGF Integrated Wealth Management mandated in-office meetings every Wednesday, combining team conferences and other meetings with social gatherings. It’s a necessary part of remote work, Mr. Simpson says, “One of the downsides of working remotely and people coming into the office less is the loss of culture and the spontaneous interchange of ideas.”
Balancing desk time and dock time
Advisors must also manage their work/life balance when at the cottage, Mr. Simpson says.
“There used to be a very defined line between work and home,” he says. “That has become much more gray because you can work from almost anywhere. It takes a psychological toll.”
He advises advisors who work at the cottage to segment their days to carve out clear windows for family and office time. Mr. Coleman recommends reinforcing that distinction by making the dedicated workspace less casual, thus creating some form of transition between work and play.
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