Paraplanners report 71% of firms adopting flexible working

15 September 2021

Nearly three quarters of paraplanners (71%) said their firms have adopted flexible working in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Professional Paraplanner survey.

In contrast, just 21% said their firm was returning fully to pre-Covid working arrangements.

The most popular arrangement was providing staff with the flexibility to manage their work location as needed, with 29% of those surveyed citing this set-up.

Meanwhile, nearly a quarter (24%) said they will be working three days in the office, while 18% are expected in the office for 2 days and 16% said they could work from home full time if they preferred.

In comparison,  only 5% will be office-based for four days and just 2% of paraplanners said their firm expected employees to return for a full five days.

It mirrors the findings of Professional Paraplanner’s recent report Paraplanning in a Pandemic which showed that that while 64% of paraplanners always worked from the office pre-pandemic, just 7% expect to do so from now on, with 93% anticipating they will work full or part from home going forward.

When asked how they feel about the new post-pandemic working arrangements, over half (56%) of paraplanners said they felt very happy.

With more employees working remotely than ever before, firms have also had to accelerate their digital offering, with 94% of firms expected to offer virtual meetings and reviews to clients alongside face-to-face meetings.

One paraplanner commented: “Physical or electrical meetings will be offered going forward and clients, particularly ones who live far away, are much more likely to have a Zoom-type meeting than before the pandemic.”

Another said: “Most existing clients are happy to continue engaging in this way, with a face-to-face maybe once a year and interim, half yearly and quarterly meetings virtual. However, the majority of initial new client meetings are now back to face-to-face with follow up meetings virtual.”

Paraplanners were in agreement that virtual meetings had fared well during lockdown, with Zoom and Teams meetings largely embraced by clients who prefer the flexibility and time-saving element.

Professional Paraplanner