Our Bonus and Job Market Expectations Report is a guide of wisdom on many matters, from bonus expectations to job security to job searching.
However, we didn’t just crunch the numbers. We also asked over 2,000 respondents several open-ended questions and asked them to respond as they saw fit. One of the questions we asked was about lifestyle and changes to expect over the next year.
People were often satisfied, but not fully satisfied because of compensation, the prospect of career stagnation, overwork, etc. “My job is extremely important, but I’m currently overworked and underpaid,” said a junior at Barclays in charge of ESG issues.
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
Some people want to work more in 2024. One private equity professional said he now works an average of 65 hours a week. “Ideally, you can do more work and at a faster pace,” he said. He was planning to move to a hedge fund within the next year.
Others were more…memorable. “16 years ago, I made the decision to sacrifice my career and move to Madrid for the quality of life,” said the Sales and Trading MD of a global bank in the city. “It was the second best decision of my life,” he said. However, he has been looking for a new job for the past 10 months.
Europe’s problems seem to be consistent. One mid-level employee said, “I’m satisfied with my job.” “But the problem in Italy is that inflation is not covered by salary increases. Every small increase poses a difficult and arduous negotiation challenge.”
The vice president of private equity had mixed feelings about his role. “Work is fine,” he said. Although the lifestyle wasn’t great, “I love that I’m working to make the world a better place” (I can’t print what he actually said). “Late nights and weekend shifts are the norm, and I don’t think the cash portion of the salary is really worth it, especially compared to the cash salaries you get at banks and other big PE funds.”
Curiously, as recruiters have noted in the past, not many people commented on the number of days they spent in the office. 71% of respondents to our survey were satisfied with the time they spent in the office last year, even though that number increased slightly from an average of 3.55 days to 3.81 days. I answered.
Click here to create your profile on eFinancialCareers. Represent yourself to recruiters who are hiring for top tech and finance jobs.
Have a secret story, tip or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill out the anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signals are also available.
Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this article. All comments are moderated by humans. Sometimes these people might be asleep or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or defamatory (in which case it’s not).
