Wall Street Employees Unhappy About 2008 Bonuses

[RedEarth]

From Bloomberg:

About 79 percent of Wall Street employees responding to an online poll this month said they received a bonus for 2008, more than the 66 percent who expected to get a reward in October, according to eFinancialCareers.Com.

Of the people who said they received a bonus, 46 percent said it was higher than last year, eFinancialCareers, a unit of Dice Holdings Inc.....46 percent of people responding to the poll said they were dissatisfied with their bonus

What it shows is the bonus culture is very deep-set in the securities industry,” said John Benson, founder and chief executive officer of the Web site. “There’s an entitlement culture amongst a number of people in the industry, which I think in the current environment is very misplaced.”...

“I have been a defender of the bonus system in the past because it provides banks with a degree of flexibility on their cost structure,” Benson said. “I think most people on Main Street would say their organization incurred losses of this size that very few people in the organization if anybody would receive bonuses at all.”

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/01/wall-street-employees-unhappy-about.html

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

1. My heart WEEPS I tell you

Those poor starving babies.

[nichomachus]

2. A couple of things to remember

Is that a lot of people are hired on a compensation system that ties a base salary to bonuses. This IS part of their compensation package. And often, people take lower salaries because of the bonuses.

Also, many of those bonuses are based not on the company profits, but on meeting personal goals. If the person works hard and meets those goals, they really have some claim to their money.

Now, this isn't the case if the bonuses are tied to company performance.

But, if a person performs as he's supposed to perform and doesn't get his bonus, it's no different than a piece-worker who agrees to make widgets for a dollar a widget and them, after making 10,000 widgets, is told the company is in bad shape, so he's not getting any money for the widgets he's already made.

[arikara]

3. Well if that's the case

they probably shouldn't be calling it a bonus. Bonus to most of us implies a bit extra in the pay packet at Christmas time, with the amount based on how good of a year the company had.

[nichomachus]

8. You're right

In some cases, it's a misnomer and that clouds the issue. Most of us think of "bonus" in terms of "we had a good year, so here's a little something extra for you." In a lot of cases, it's not that at all.

A friend of mine works on a bonus system. If you increase sales in your area by a certain amount, you get a bonus based on the amount of business you brought it. My friend worked his ass off and increased sales in his area by 25 percent over the previous year. At the same time, the upper management -- a few of whom are total assholes -- fucked up a couple of big deals and the company didn't make any money. My friend feels that he should get his bonus because (a) he met and exceeded the goals that were set for him (by working his ass off) and were part of his compensation package and (b) if it hadn't been for him, the company would be even worse off than it is. Makes sense to me.

[AnneD]

4. I've worked Bonus or comissions....

I accepted a lower salary knowing that if I worked hard and produced, I would make more. I just didn't get it handed to me. Some of these folks are driving these companies into the ground ....And they get rewarded? They must think they work for Washington and not WS.

[DCKit]

5. They're losing money hand over fist, yet they're being compensated?

I understand what you're saying, but, to the average wage slave, it just doesn't make any sense - We're expected to perform at peak and get fired when we don't contribute to the health and financial success of the company. Wall St. expects a bonus no matter how dismal their performance, whether the company survives or not.

Total disconnect.

[nichomachus]

7. A lot of the people getting "bonuses" are wage slaves too

It's not just the guys at the top. A lot of the people who get bonuses, come into the office every day for 9, 10, 11 hours and work their asses off.

[readmoreoften]

6. I agree with the poster below. That shouldn't be called a bonus. It's a wage.

Ironically, it lets their scummy CEOs rob them through public humiliation the same way their scummy CEOs union bust. "Sorry Joe, we can't afford to give you a 'bonus' for your extra labor, times are tough" vs "Sorry Joe, everyone has to be at work on Saturdays in case a client comes in, but we can't afford to pay wages because Saturdays are so slow."

[sendero]

10. Still...

... DON'T CARE.

[RedEarth]

9. Wall Street bonuses declined only 4.7% last year(2007) to an average of $180,420 per worker,

Wall Street bonuses declined only 4.7% last year to an average of $180,420 per worker, according to the latest figures from the New York State Comptroller’s office. One of the worst years in Wall Street’s history, a year when three illustrious banks – Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch – closed, was still one of the best years for bonuses.

“It’s not a popular thing to say this, and Joe Sixpack is never going to get this,” said one Wall Street banker, who wished to remain anonymous, “but if we don’t pay the bonuses, we lose the talent.” He said losing the best performers in a downturn was even more damaging to business. He argued Bank of America was not a Wall Street bank and did not “get” bonus culture.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5581070.ece

[BR_Parkway]

11. Shouldn't they call these commissions instead?