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Sales structures and aggressive sales practices are impacting negatively on financial services employees in terms of their basic incomes, well being and performance. Ultimately, this also impacts on the quality of customer service delivered and has implications for the reputation of the financial services sector as a whole. These are the conclusions of research undertaken in a number of European countries co-financed by the European Commission. Countries who contributed to the research included Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the UK.

Common challenges cited include the pressure to sell, target generated stress, conflicts of interest, insufficient time to correctly advise customers and the inadequately addressed need for ongoing training. Employee stress and burn out is a key focus in Germany and this is also a factor in the UK. In Denmark, the issue of training to keep up with product complexity is stressed. The Czech study highlights conflicts of interest between the pressure to sell versus the need to match what suits the client’s best interests. In Italy, lack of compliance with regulation is cited while in Belgium, despite an environment of cost cutting measures, there is continual pressure on bank sales staff to sell products, which often impact on the quality of advice given to customers.

The six reports can be found in related files together with a brief summary of the findings