Bonus ball

[undyingking]

There's been a lot of talk in the press lately about whether we should have got our bonuses, given the financial difficulty the bank's been in, and the part-nationalization. I think most of it is people not really knowing what they're talking about, to be frank.

I'm awarded that bonus based on my own performance, and actually I performed pretty well, thank you. I made the bank money consistently. It's not my fault if overall the business lost money, is it? Why should I have to suffer just because a bunch of extreme factors elsewhere in the world poisoned our assets? I earned every penny of that bonus, and no-one can say different.

In any case, to even call it a bonus is misleading. In reality it's an agreed part of my overall remuneration package, and of course it's a lot more significant than my basic is. How could anyone survive in London on their basic? It's just not do-able: you couldn't get anyone to work in the City at all if they weren't guaranteed a decent bonus. And the UK needs the City to be strong and to continue to employ the best and the brightest: that's obvious.

The other thing of course is that to recover the overall economy, we need people to be spending. If people like me had their package cut so severely, we wouldn't be able to spend the money that's going to keep other people in jobs. Service and consumer goods industries depend on there being some people around who can buy things from them. My bonus means I can buy more, therefore it's good for the economy. Simple!

Comments

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

1 / 13 so far today, though I guess the one about the nun could be a second.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I vote: nun of the above.

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

I doubt that any but the most blindly enraged would be too bothered about people who performed well getting bonuses. Sure working for a bank is probably a big plus to your Social Pariah Score at the moment, but it's the ones who are responsible for losing shedloads of money and then expecting taxpayers to bail them out that are the real targets of public ire.

And the UK needs the City to be strong and to continue to employ the best and the brightest: that's obvious.

I'm not sure which bit I find funniest, the word "continue" or the word "obvious". I'd be fine with them employing the best and brightest, just as long as the best and brightest are not also blind, amoral, avaricious bastards nursing a gambling addiction, which frankly seems to have been too often the case!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

too bothered about people who performed well getting bonuses

Hmm, I'm not sure. I think that if the business as a whole has basically gone bust, people do look rather askance at paying out part of the taxpayer's bail-out money as bonuses to those staff who judge themselves and one another to have performed well. People want to see all that money being invested in restoring the bank's finances, rather than immediately disappearing in the direction of the nearest Porsche showroom.

(Although perhaps I'm just imputing a wider blindly-enraged factor than you are.)

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

Mmm, fair point.

I must admit, I look forward with misty eyed (and probably forlorn) hope, to the day when the bastards in the banking industry who really were responsible for this mess get strung up for it.

The placard on Wall Street a few weeks ago (according to HIGNFY at least) saying "Jump You Fuckers!" did carry a certain resonance for me.

I should emphasise by the way, that as yet (and there is plenty of time for circumstances to change) I have personally experienced a net improvement in my financial situation as a result of the current turmoil. My mum on the other hand has seen over £25 grand disappear off the value of her retirement savings, and my brother, who employs two Chinese programmers, has been stung to the tune of a 35% increase on his wage bill as a result of Sterling's recent plummet on the money markets.

My desire for retribution is therefore largely vicarious, and in the interests of Natural Justice.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

Chortle!

There is sadly little logic to the relationship between remuneration and productivity from industry to industry, even though I fear it's working in my favour at the moment.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I think you were due a bit of it-working-in-your-favour!

[mrsdanvers63.livejournal.com]

"How could anyone survive in London on their basic? "

We don't get bonuses, we get basic civil service rates + an inflation based pay rise(no pay increase for the last 5 years). A lot of people I work with ARE trying to survive in London on a lot less than banking staff.

"And the UK needs the City to be strong and to continue to employ the best and the brightest: that's obvious."

Sorry, fell off chair laughing at this.

Nevertheless, I agree that you are entitled to your performance-related pay, assuming you are an "ordinary" bank employee and not someone who has been playing roulette with my money for the last 10 years.

My sister was formerly employed by Barclays (made redundant last year). She took all her PRP in shares , so that's all worth sweet FA. Similarly, my sister-in-law. My brother works for a company that supplies parts to Nissan - need I say more.
My mortgage has gone down, but my savings policies are now likely to be worth about 75% less than expected when taken out.

The trade unionist in me thinks you should get your money, the realist says that you are going to have to take a lot less than usual to satisfy the not-so-silent majority.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Sorry, fell off chair laughing at this.

Glad you liked it! I added a bit of comic emphasis there, but not too much I think -- everything else is taken from things I have actually heard or seen City people saying over the past month or so. Hopefully at least a few of them have got a good punching in return...

[(Anonymous)]

Hate to be the one to point this out to you, but if the taxpayer hadn't bailed out your bank, you wouldn't even have a job, let alone the prospect of getting a bonus.

It's a BONUS, not a right. Count yourself lucky you're not out on your arse like countless other people, who've lost their jobs primarily because of the utter incompetence of your bosses and people like them.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Hmm, thanks for your comment, but I guess this demonstrates the thing about satire not working on the internet. (I am not actually a banker.)

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for clearing that up. Sarcasm often doesn't across very well in print, it's true.

[(Anonymous)]

It doesn't COME across very well, that should be.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I might go back and edit in a winking smiley, just to be clearer ;-)

(How did you happen to come across this post, by the way, if you don't mind me asking? Always curious...)

[(Anonymous)]

I followed a link from your comment on Separated by a Common Language, then got (inappropriately) incensed.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Ah, great! I do love that blog, although I don't comment very often.