Half of bankers set to leave over 2011 bonus

With half of frontline banking staff threatening to leave if next year’s bonus again fails to meet their expectations, financial services organisations may need to find new ways of retaining top talent.
 

According to a survey of more than 1,000 banking personnel undertaken by recruitment consultancy Hays Financial Markets, almost two thirds said they were dissatisfied with this year’s bonus, even though 48% saw it increase compared with only 32% who saw it shrink.
 
Geoff Fawcett, director of Hays Financial Markets, said that, despite the public backlash, bonuses had retained their importance in financial organisations, with around half of employees saying they would leave their organisation if they did meet their expectations in this area.
 
“With over half of frontline staff indicating they are not satisfied with their bonus this year and increasing government pressure, the banks are going to need to look for more innovative ways to retain top talent and boost morale,” he added.
 
Some of the dissatisfaction may come from the fact that salaries were not increased even if bonuses fell, however. Of those that saw a drop in their bonus this year, only just over a quarter were given a pay rise to compensate and a mere 2% were offered additional share options.
 
The survey also revealed, meanwhile, that just over half of frontline personnel did not believe that deferred bonuses helped the organisation to reduce risk. While about 52% were asked to defer part of the renumeration, the majority of those that did so said it would not make any difference as to whether they stayed with their employer or not.
 
“The key for financial organisations is making sure that their compensation structure reflects the work undertaken and ultimately delivers return on investment. If the bonus culture is really going to change, financial organisations will need to look at renumeration packages as a whole in order to retain employees and achieve targets,” Fawcett said.