After the media-bashing of recent years, confidence is finally returning to the City. Our recent workplace study, ‘The new front in the war for talent’, showed that over half (54%) of employees surveyed are confident or highly confident about the future of the sector and a third (37%) believe that it will return to the glory days found prior to the recession.
Employers are equally confident, as they anticipate a busier market, with more projects and changing business demands. To respond to this change in pace, 2010/11 will be marked by an active job market – almost three-quarters of employers (71%) are expecting to increase headcount in the next 12 months, and the majority of employees (82%) are feeling optimistic about the growth in roles in 2010.
Our study in 2009, ‘Is banking and financial services heading for a brain drain?’ highlighted a potential displacement of talent moving abroad as the downturn hit and the jobs market dried up. Now that the economy is picking up and there are more job opportunities, this has not materialised. While a large number of employees (62%) intend on moving jobs, very few will be looking outside the sector (4%), or moving abroad (5%).
Despite this, the sector remains cautious in its outlook, with very few professionals believing that the industry will be back to pre-recession levels this year – which was the common belief when we ran our previous study back in 2009. Employers are feeling slightly more optimistic than employees – 44% think that 2011 is when confidence will be fully restored, while the most popular estimate for employees (40%) is that 2012 will be the year.
Considering the impact the downturn has had on many employees, this is no surprise. Large scale redundancies, frozen salaries and reduced bonuses have all contributed to low levels of morale. While the sector is moving in the right direction, it may be some time before employees feel fully confident in the future.
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