GUEST COMMENT: Irish bankers are optimistic, but not naive

In the current market conditions, optimism within Ireland's banking sector is hard to come by. But, while the situation does not look like drastically improving in 2010, the majority of financial services professionals we surveyed in January believe the worst is behind us.

Nearly half (48%) of respondents to our survey said they were confident 2010 will be better than 2009, as opposed to 33% who feel the opposite. Around 20% were still undecided, showing that confidence - while it does exist - is still a little fragile.

And now for the downside. Recent redundancy announcements within Ireland's banking sector show it would be slightly foolhardy for employees to believe their job was completely safe, and sadly 50% of respondents believed redundancies were still possible this year.

This element of fear is hard to dissipate, understandably considering the widespread media coverage of banking job cuts in the first two months of 2010.

Morale is still low in the industry, with a disappointing 42% of bankers we surveyed saying they felt happy in their job. One of the reasons for this is that with reduced headcount, many employees have been given extra responsibilities - without commensurately higher pay packets - and are clearly feeling exploited.

Banking and financial services employers have been taking short-term views with pay cuts and redundancies without considering, or entirely ignoring, the long-term repercussions. It would not be a massive surprise if company loyalty is left behind when better times return and employees in the sector will be quick to move to a new firm where they believe they will be treated better.

With new job opportunities and pay rises hard to come by, many Irish financial services workers have been taking it upon themselves to improve their situation. Nearly 45% of those we surveyed said they had invested, or were considering investing, in training and further education as a direct result of the recession.

This is clearly a combination of the need to feel more secure in their currently position, and the opportunity to up-skill for a better role when more jobs become available again.

The Hudson banking and financial services survey provided us with some interesting insights, but also threw up many questions. The sector is still in a period of flux, but the rise in optimism - albeit slight - has us convinced we're beginning to move in the right direction.

Fintan Lawler is banking and financial services consultant at Hudson in Ireland