riting a commentary in
W
this market is a
dangerous activity, as
the moment words drop
© STEVEN PUETZER
onto the page, yet another fi nancial
tremor can take us to a new historic
low. In this article we would like to
examine some of the implications for
working in the City in the next few
years, as far as we can see through the
fi re and smoke. One issue we have been
looking in the current crisis is its
proximity to the last one – it is only
seven years since the last crash. And that
is the problem in analysing survival
scenarios: we are dealing with a highly
complex global crisis which has been
further compounded by issues that
perhaps the asset management
community did not have an
opportunity to resolve last time round.
Was this oversight or carelessness?
Th e major issue that the industry
faces right now is the complete
breakdown of trust in the fi nancial
system between institutions and,
critically, between investors and fund
management groups and banks. Added
to this we have seen the breakdown of
trust between employer and employee
with the bankruptcy of Lehman
Brothers. As part of a search business in
asset and wealth management, this was
one of many landmark moments we
have seen in the past six months. Th at
Survival tactics
event will have implications for
everyone in how we view our City
employers and how staff want to be
rewarded. For one thing, the days of
for City staff
‘my word is my bond’ are over and,
second, cash now reigns supreme in any
compensation package.
HARSHER ENVIRONMENT
Headhunters Sarah Dudney and Yuan Yuan Xu
For compensation trends this means
say that the crisis is changing the face of jobs
that many City staff who sat in the
cosiness of an ‘entitlement culture’ are
– and pay – in the investment industry and
now facing a diff erent and harsher
both staff and managers need to change.
environment. It is critical for survival
that they adapt to this new environment
either as a manager of a business or as a
BY: SARAH DUDNEY; YUAN YUAN XU
member of staff . Whereas in the past,
bonuses have been seen as part of the
30 WINTER 2008/09
30-3130-31 compensation.indd 30compensation.indd 30 27/11/0827/11/08 16:29:0116:29:01
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76