The people getting big pay rises in banking are those doing the hiring and firing
Who would want to work in HR for an investment bank? Aside from the unpleasant experience of having to conduct regular redundancy programmes, deal with increasingly restrictive recruitment budgets or guide arrogant traders and investment bankers through the appraisal process, you are – relatively speaking – lowly within the organisation.
But across the various HR functions, whether that’s recruitment teams, compensation experts or those coming up with criteria and strategies to identify ‘high-potential’ talent to bump up internally, financial services organisations are struggling to find people.
HR, the function set up to manage banks’ talent, is having problems attracting talent, according to the latest monthly employment monitor from recruiters Morgan McKinley. HR is hot and HR roles are paying more and more.
Predictably, the driver is regulation – namely, the rules forcing banks to hire from an ever-scarcer band of compliance professionals. “The shortage of skilled workers coupled with the rising number of FCA regulations is particularly good news for professionals in HR working at analyst level,” said Hakan Enver, operations director at Morgan McKinley. “Similarly, there is a growing number of opportunities for HR professionals with a global remit.”
Salaries have increased by a hefty 19% this year, suggests the recruiter. How much can you earn? Sadly, with £340k packages even available in operations roles now, HR still seems like the poor man of investment banking. All of this is relative, of course, with total comp nearing six-figures once you reach manager level – pay levels that would be eagerly grabbed by the population at large.
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