43% of agents admit to ‘often’ stressing about workload

Health and fitness, work/life balance, time for personal interests, and an ability to maintain personal relationships have also been flagged as concerning indicators for the industry, thanks to a new study.

This article was originally featured in Real Estate Business

The Real Estate Industry Mental Health and Wellness Survey 2020/21 surveyed more than 900 Australian real estate agents, with the results forming part of the Revive Report – a joint exercise between The Revive Project and The RiSE Initiative.

According to the latest insights, more than four in 10 – or 43 per cent – of Australian real estate agents often feel stressed about their workload.

A majority of survey respondents also acknowledged work/life balance as a struggle – just 42 per cent said they could “sometimes” manage to find balance, while another 26 per cent indicated it was “rarely” managed.

Trending with the “always on” aspects of a real estate career was also telling in another statistic from the survey, with 63 per cent of agents conceding that they struggle to find time for personal interests outside of work.

Just 18 per cent of respondents did not believe their work impinged on their ability to find time for personal interests.

Health and fitness also appears to be a pain point for the industry – with more than 42 per cent of agents indicating they are not satisfied with their level of health and fitness.

That figure is of concern, given the statistic is an almost 10 per cent increase on the previous study – with much of that increase attributed to the prevalence of lockdowns throughout the pandemic.

In that 2018-19 iteration, just 33.33 per cent of agents had indicated that they were not satisfied with their health and fitness levels.

One area in which there appears to be improvement is with respect to the impact of work on personal relationships.

Less than 30 per cent (29.3 per cent) of agents responded that their work “quite often” impacts personal relationships – a downward trend from the 34.6 per cent who had said the same in 2016-17 – the first time the survey was conducted.

According to the report, this could be due to the lockdowns enabling agents and property managers the time to reflect and reconnect with family, in spite of heightened levels of anxiety and stress.

Reflecting on the latest findings – and in spite of some of the concerning figures uncovered above, real estate coach and The Revive Project founder Jet Xavier believes the real estate industry is at a turning point when it comes to its collective attitude towards health and wellness.

He said that “what started as a quick look under the veneer of real estate life has turned into a world-class approach to minimising mental health issues in this industry”.

“Since its inception, we have seen a growing commitment from key industry stakeholders to ensure that the future is improving as awareness grows and people take steps to manage their mental wellness,” Mr Xavier shared.

The Revive Project head of research and RiSE Initiative director Sarah Bell notes that “this third cycle of our research emerges among many confronting statistics and lessons about the state of mental health and wellness in Australia, which we learned during the peak COVID period”.

“Thinking back to the conversations that first inspired this project, we were seeking to add substance to the mental health and wellness conversation which, at the time, was dominated by superficial ‘quick wins’ such as free fruit in the office, or an investment in employee break rooms,” she reflected.

Publishing of the survey results has been “a simple mission to educate and inspire action within the real estate industry”.

She is “thrilled” that mental health and wellness conversations within the real estate industry have now evolved to centre on human sustainability – and now consider both mental and emotional wellbeing, with The RiSE Initiative and the Real Care app both being borne from concerted industry efforts to provide support – especially given the strain facing public health resources – with the waiting time for a new patient in Australia to access a psychologist now between four and six months.

According to Mr Xavier, it’s a privilege to have been at the start of something “making a difference for those in this industry”.

While conceding there are still many challenges, “five years down the track, a big difference is now being made”.

“The people whose wellness, wellbeing and mental health has been impacted are being supported and understood more than ever.

“We’ve seen the success of the Rise Conference, plus the issue of mental wellbeing now on the agenda of conferences across the country, while the Real Care app is being downloaded by a growing number of agents and property managers,” he shared.