Deutsche Bank has been stocking-up on 20 year-olds as senior staff rarely leave

There are a few things you need to know about Deutsche Bank. Firstly, that once you join you probably won't leave again (of your own accord.) Secondly, that people there are pretty youthful. And thirdly, that you're almost certainly not going to be allowed to work part time.

These are among the informational nuggets imparted by Deutsche's 2018 human resources report this morning. The report also reveals that in its hour of need, Deutsche Bank substantially increased its intake of graduates. 

Last year, Deutsche Bank hired 910 graduates globally, an increase of 47% on 2017 when it hired 619. Most of the new graduates went into Deutsche's corporate and investment bank and into technology (where there was a big increase in India).  The rush of graduate hires coincided with a six per cent fall in headcount across the bank and a seven per cent fall in headcount in the corporate and investment bank specifically. - In other words, it looks like Deutsche Bank staff are both getting younger and more junior, on average.

This doesn't mean that the average Deutsche Banker is a spring chicken. Last year, the average age at DB in the U.S, and EMEA (excluding Germany) was 41, the same as the year before. Only DB APAC staff are notably younger than the rest, with an average age of 35. Those young APAC staff are abnormally happy: 68% of them say they're committed to Deutsche Bank compared to just 51% of the cynical older staff in the UK (where commitment to DB has fallen from 57% in 2016), or 56% in the Americas (down from 61% in 2016).

While not everyone loves working for Deutsche, very few DB staff seem to leave of their own accords. In 2018, the average voluntary turnover rate at the bank across Europe was 9.2%. In the Americas it was 14%. - In other words, 42% of people at DB in the U.S. seem to be working for the bank despite a professed lack of enthusiasm for it.

This doesn't mean that a DB job is a job for life. The average length of company service at Deutsche in Europe is 11 years compared to eight years in the U.S. Only in Germany do DB people stay around for 20 years or so. But if you're not going to leave voluntarily, DB might eject you involuntarily - last year 23% of U.S. staff disappeared in total; 9% of them did not go of their own accords.   

If you make it to vice president (VP) or director at Deutsche, you'll almost certainly cling on. - Last year only 11% of VPs and directors left (voluntarily or otherwise). You'll also probably be a man. Only 34% of Deutsche's 'officers' are women; this falls to 23% for Deutsche's MDs.  

Deutsche's poor retention and promotion of women might have something to do with its poor record of offering part time work. In the U.K., just 4.6% of the bank's employees work part-time. In the U.S., only 0.5% of staff do. If Deutsche wants to increase the retention of its new and gigantic graduate class (40% of whom are women), it might need to do something about this in future....

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