Bankers bonuses

[jazzactivist]

Hi all! Do you think that people working in the banking industry should get financial bonuses this year? I must admit that I find it quite shocking that they would even expect to get a bonus given the current state of banking, and this has made me wonder why anyone should get financial bonuses at all in any sector. Surely, people get paid a salary to do a good job and extra money rewards aren't necessary. I have almost always worked in the charity sector where there are never even any extra payments for overtime let alone bonuses. The expectation is that employees do a good job for the agreed salary, or lose the job. Do you think that there is still place for financial incentives, or has this created the problem? Could there be other types of incentives, or should there be any at all?

[souter girl]

Don't get me started!!!! If a person can get a bonus for helping his or her company to make more profits, then they should equally be accountable when the firm, or bank, makes a loss AND MAKE IT UP!!If I weren't a laydeeeeee I would tell you what rhymes with banker.

[dragonfly]

I think it disgusting that they can even consider bonuses (and some are having £millions) when such a lot of people have lost their job and their lives are in ruins at present. The bonuses they are having is money the government gave them to put things right. Our bonus was a percentage of the profits and as we are not making a profit anymore we will not be having one. I agree that they should be paying money back not taking more out.

Jazz I am in complete agreement with you on this topic.:)

[Clunkshift]

Just to blur the issue, Son2 works for an insurance subsidiary of RBS and because of the mismanagement that overpaid for a Dutch Bank, RBS are in trouble but their insurance arm did very well and made a good profit.
Son2 and all his colleagues have been warned that RBS may shut their operation and make them all redundant, but all of them are due for bonuses because of the profits they made. Son2 is not a pinstripe suited banker, he is a smartly dressed voice at a call centre that has to take elderly and foreign-born customers through the intricacies of holiday health insurance and pet insurance. Son2 is their top performing operative because of his sales.
So While I agree that CEO's and Board members should not be paid a bonus for failed ventures, there are managers and workers that have worked hard and made a good profit for the company and in their system, are due for a recognition award.

Being self employed, I find my boss is much too tight to give bonuses...:D

[jazzactivist]

Is a financial bonus always the best, though, or has this link between performance and more money actually caused the problem by making people greedy? People who work in the charitable sector also work very hard, often with long hours expected for free, and have the responsibility for bringing in large amounts of funding to keep the charity going, but no-one gets a bonus and salaries are not great.

Everyone expects bank and financial services staff to be friendly and capable (although some aren't) and only to sell us the products that we need when we need them. So why should doing a job properly mean extra money? Doesn't this become the driver, rather than a will to provide good service? The CEOs of banks are an extreme of this attitude - where the opportunity to make millions in bonuses to add to their already huge salaries has led us all, except them, into a very bad economic situation. Their attitude, of course, sets the tone for the whole financial industry.

So maybe other 'rewards' for looking after customers money and wellbeing instead might be more aprpopriate, such as extra holiday days or opportuntiies to take a few months paid leave to get time to focus on a personal interest? What non-financial incentives would you like?

My boss is too tight to pay bonuses too, clunk, although she does allow quite a lot of time off to do other things!

[buecherwurm]

this reminds me: The German health insurance system never has enough money. So a few years ago it was decided that we have to pay a quarterly sum of 10 euros if we have to go to the doctor and another 10 euro if we have to go to the dentist (this is on top of our health insurance premium each month which isn't cheap). So by the end of the first year the health insurances of course had made a big profit. Guess what; all the managers got big bonuses because they had made profits. Ha! The law had them make that profit. But the politicians told us that the managers had the right to their bonuses, they couldn't do anything to prevent them from doing so.
I think if a company at the end of a fiscal year has made a large profit it would be nice if the workers would get a small bonus (money, dinner, whatever) the rest should be reinvested or put away for a rainy day. A manager already has a very, very large salary and doesn't really need a bonuns; where would he be without the workers anyway?