GUEST COMMENT: The insipid working environment within Ireland's domestic banks

Irish emigration is not a new concept, neither is the fact that internationally mobile financial services professionals move abroad for the right opportunity.

However, the elephant in the room currently is not that Ireland's financial services professionals are leaving just because of redundancies or a dearth of new opportunities locally, but that they're being forced out by an insipid working environment and the stigma associated with working in the industry here.

London, Australia and Canada continue to attract the best and brightest from Ireland's financial services industry. Generally, those moving fall into three camps:

· Young, newly qualified accountants with a couple of years' experience who are flocking to London for fast-track career opportunities.

· Domestic banking high-fliers, mostly working in front office positions, who have seen their bonuses dissipated and have therefore taken a massive hit in take home pay. Generally, they're heading to the City, but because of young families in Ireland and negative equity on their homes tend to commute back every second weekend.

· Very senior executives, who with their grown-up children and mortgage-free lifestyle have the flexibility to pursue well-paid consultancy work in other financial centres. Previously, they would have been inundated with work locally, but this has dried up.

Monetary incentives aside, one of the main things spurring the flight of banking professionals is simply that working in a domestic organisation is a depressing experience.

It was only three years ago that working in banking in Ireland was as dynamic as it ever has been. It was all about pay rises, record breaking results, promotional opportunities aplenty, performance incentives and a real sense of purpose.

Understandably, in the wake of our home-grown banking crisis, such a policy is now considered suspect. But we've gone too far in the opposite direction. Most people haven't had a pay rise in three years, promotional opportunities are non-existent and in many cases people have essentially been demoted.

And this is ignoring the ever-present threat of redundancy and the vilification by Joe Public.

The upside for those that remain is that more opportunities are emerging again in greater numbers than they have been for a couple of years. Unfortunately, even for those with specialist skill-sets, competition remains red-hot.

Ken Harbourne is managing director of Dublin-based recruiters Wallace Myers International