Overtime is the new bonus for Irish banking staff
In the wake of the government's 90% bonus tax and the ongoing controversy around AIB's capital markets division deferred payments, it seems that offering any sort of incentive to bankers in Ireland will be frowned upon.
However, there's a new (modest) offering on the table that may provide a little cheer to a certain number of Ireland's financial services professionals - being paid for overtime.
This may not seem like a big deal - certainly for those who would have been in line for bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of euro - but for those further down the ranks, getting paid for non-contracted hours is proving more lucrative than their annual payouts, suggest sources.
What's not clear is just how many people are receiving these payments. Recruitment sources suggest a number of Irish institutions have implemented the policy lately, while other insiders tell us it could be limited to AIB capital markets staff.
Bank of Ireland tells us that over-time isn't a feature unless it's absolutely necessary and has been pre-approved at a senior level. AIB, meanwhile, has said that overtime is being paid to "junior staff within certain locations of AIB capital markets", but insists this is not a change in its contract terms.
This may not be strictly true. During the controversy over AIB's since rescinded decision to pay €40m in deferred 2008 bonus payments, capital markets staff commenting on eFinancialCareers were bemoaning the necessity to often work late into the evening, and weekends, without being paid "a cent of overtime unlike every other department in the bank as we receive performance related bonuses".
So, in lieu of bonuses, overtime has been offered to incentivise junior capital markets staff. This is unlikely to sit well with the Irish public, but it's important to point out that this will not be paid to managerial employees, or those front office trading roles, but to junior and back office staff.
In 2009, over 1,300 employees outside of management positions in AIB capital markets (classed as 'other staff'), shared a bonus pot of €4.49m - or an average payment of just €3.2k.
The overtime is an attempt to offset the loss of these payments and while some sources suggest the new arrangement exceeds the average annual bonus in these positions, AIB insiders say the move is hardly breaking the bank.
"How are you supposed to incentivise staff when the prospect of a bonus has been whipped away from them?," asks one bank insider "Some of these people are working in IT, for instance, often on critical systems, but we're asking them to work into the early hours of the morning, and on weekends with no extra reward. These are not the greedy banker stereotype, but ordinary rank and file workers."
