The research indicated that up to 5.5m people will reject paying a fee for financial advice but a significant proportion are open to the idea of financial advice sourced by their employer.
Andrew Power, lead RDR partner at Deloitte, said: “The RDR and introduction of adviser charging poses significant challenges for advisers and providers. One option for them is to increase work-based financial advice, although there are hurdles to overcome.”
Power added that more than a third of people have a company pension giving them an obvious reason to seek financial advice in the workplace.
He said: “From the providers’ perspective, this opportunity to give advice in the workplace is significant.”
Of those employees surveyed, 33% said they would pay for an in-house financial adviser provided by their employer and 18% would use more financial planning services through their workplace if it were offered to them.
However the development of work-based financial planning faces obstacles.
More than a quarter of employees do not want their employer to know more about their financial arrangements and nearly one in five do not trust their employer to provide financial advice or planning.
However Power added: “Deloitte’s research indicates people will be willing to use a work-based adviser particularly if their employer shares the cost of advice. Dealing with a larger number of people at an office also gives advisers an opportunity to reduce the cost of advice.”
