Australia’s finance professionals fear for bonuses
The global career site network for professionals working in the investment banking, asset management and securities industries, eFinancialCareers, recently announced the results of its latest Bonus Expectations Survey in Australia. The majority of finance professionals (50%) expect their bonus this year will be higher or the same in comparison to the bonus they earned in 2010.
Looking further ahead, however, confidence seems to ebb: nearly five in 10 respondents (48%) predict bonuses will decrease over the next three years.
Eight in 10 (80%) finance professionals in Australia believe they will receive a bonus this year. Three in 10 (30%) expect a decrease in comparison to the previous year, while slightly less (28%) anticipate an increase. Over two in 10 (22%) reckon their bonus will remain the same, while the remaining 20% don’t expect a bonus at all this year.
In comparison to the rest of the Asia Pacific region, finance professionals in Australia are slightly less optimistic than their counterparts in Greater China. In Singapore, a third of respondents (33%) take a more conservative view and expect their bonus to decrease this year – compared to 30% of respondents in both Greater China and Australia.
Table 1: What do you expect to happen to your 2011 bonus compared to 2010?
|
Australia |
Greater China |
Singapore |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Expecting an increase |
28% |
31% |
28% |
| No change from last year |
22% |
22% |
20% |
| Expecting a decrease |
30% |
30% |
33% |
| I will have no bonus |
20% |
17% |
20% |
| Total |
100% |
100% |
100% |
Please note totals may not equal 100 due to rounding.
Source: eFinancialCareers APAC Bonus Expectations Survey, January 2012
With regard to compensation, over seven in 10 respondents (72%) had a change in their base salary in the past year. Out of those, nearly nine in 10 (88%) were given an increase.
Bleak outlook for bonuses
Asked to make a prediction about bonus sizes over the next three years, nearly half of the respondents (48%) say they expect bonuses to decrease in the future, 22% anticipate bonuses to stay the same, and only 18% predict that bonuses will increase. Over two thirds of respondents (67%) cited market conditions as the key factor that concerns them in relation to their bonus, believing that the tumultuous market will potentially lead to a downward influence on total compensation.
eFinancialCareers Head of Asia Pacific, George McFerran, comments: “Despite Australia’s better than average global economic performance, Australian finance professionals have a rather sober outlook in terms of their bonus expectations this year – and for the immediate future. No doubt this is fuelled by tightening conditions in global financial markets.”
