Macquarie bankers left unimpressed by bonuses
May hasn't been the merriest of months at Macquarie - many of its staff have found their bonuses to be decidedly on the small side.
Junior to mid-level employees in the firm's investment banking arm, Macquarie Capital Advisors, were paid bonuses between zero and 50 per cent, well below their counterparts at most other i-banks.
As one headhunter, who asked not to be named, rather bluntly put it: "If you weren't in the top 10 per cent of performers, then you've been pretty much shafted by your bonus."
The recruiter describes the thoughts of the typical Macquarie candidate: "I'm in a top-three bank, competing against Goldmans and UBS. I know people in these banks and they received considerably more than me. I've worked hard, helped Macquarie through the bad times, but I only got 20 per cent, while they got 100 per cent or more."
Will all this anger prompt a mass exodus? No, but Macquarie employees and banks/recruiters are starting to seek each other out. "It's still a great firm, with many loyal employees, but this year more people want to move than I've ever seen previously," says the headhunter.
An HR source at a large European bank says she has seldom spoken to Macquarie staff in the past, but she is now.
Because Macquarie pays bonuses in May, two months or more after its competitors, the job market isn't quite so active now as it was during the height of the post-bonus movement season in late Q1.
But, say recruiters, many competitors have taken this into account and have delayed some of their hiring so they can target freshly available Mac bankers.
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