I’m going to jump on the Bank Bonus Bandwagon today and throw in my two pennies’ worth.Stephen Hester has been turned into a scapegoat in the worst way…following the demands of the baying mob representing the British public.
Finance sector pay has always been a glittering prize for the types of people who can do the work against the “City mentality” which is often fickle, crude, cutthroat and sexist…but if the UK finance sector isn’t worth saving, why did Mr Cameron stand up in the EU last month to exclude us from new taxes on financial transactions?
Pay in the sector is in a whole other ballpark compared with the rest of us mere mortals, but that’s what it is and forcing one bank to reduce its staff rewards can only have the effect of reducing the attractiveness of that bank as a place to work. Perhaps that’s the reasoning…it’s the taxpayers’ bank so let’s turn it into another public sector institution.
I do understand that the sour grapes of the majority of people who don’t earn anywhere near his salary and bonus must taste vile, but I do not agree with his breaking under the pressure. Think of the £500K the taxman is missing…
We attracted him to the job by offering him a market-aware pay package. The man has done the job he was asked (maybe he wasn’t asked to do enough, but that’s down to the RBS Board), for the payment he was promised and now we don’t want to pay him.
If I was him I’d have taken the pay and then resigned…it would have been interesting to see who would take on the poisoned chalice…and even better if the public got what they deserved in his place.
Who’s going to apply for that job when he leaves? Someone with a “vocation” to run the taxpayers’ bank? Well, one thing I will predict is that it won’t be anyone who has a real option to work elsewhere.
It reminds me of the fairy story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The villagers were desperate for his services and promised him a pretty penny if he achieved their goals…and when he did the villagers refused to pay him. The people got their comeuppance in the worst way possible…
Let’s hope it’s just a fairy story.
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