British bankers the most concerned about trust in the sector

London, 28 May 2013: Of all global bank workers, the financial crisis and repeated scandals have left the British the most concerned about a decline in public trust in their sector, and also personally the least trusting in their paymasters, according to Michael Page Banking & Financial Services Global Employment Trends.

In fact, only 6% of British workers from financial services companies believe that the public trusts the sector, three times lower than the corresponding figure from other European countries. Fewer than one third say they themselves trust companies in the sector, versus an average of 45% of their European counterparts.

David Leithead, managing director of Michael Page Banking & Financial Services said while the survey showed increased optimism for the sector in 2013, there has been a serious erosion of employer loyalty.

“Our survey shows that jobseekers are positive both in terms of the prospects for jobs, and for pay and bonuses to improve, however on the flipside company loyalty has decreased. This is revolving around the belief that pay and reward are now less connected to personal performance,” Mr Leithead said.

According to the survey, UK respondents believe that earnings are out of their control, with 61% saying they were mostly decided by company performance. Only 10% believe that the better they perform, the more they earn.

The survey confirms that pay remains an extremely strong factor in causing people to look for jobs, and consequently, the large majority, 87%, of UK respondents believe that the way to maximise their earnings is to make strategic or opportunistic moves to other companies. Only 8% believe long term incentive plans in their own firm are going to work for them.

“In recent years, events well outside an employee’s control are being cited at their year-end appraisal as a reason to curb pay rises and bonuses. For many employees it’s hard to reconcile that message with increased hours, stress and pressure,” Mr Leithead said.

“Such an extreme erosion of employer loyalty is bad news for the banks. It’s a closed loop so employers must pay an incoming

replacement whatever they weren’t paying the disgruntled outgoing employee. Then pay the additional price of high turnover and its impact on continuity, stability, and staff morale.

“Bank chiefs must push back on domestic political pressure: they need to swiftly restore their employees’ faith in the idea of reward for performance. Our survey shows that bank workers in other countries feel more engaged and that will translate into better business performance, which can further damage the UK banking sector,” he added.

Michael Page Banking & Financial Services Global Employment Trends survey is based on responses from an online survey of more than 3,800 people working in the financial services industry. Respondents cover a broad range of departments and levels of seniority. In total, 47 countries spanning all four major regions including North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia Pacific are represented in the survey.