New York City has seen an exodus of banks’ back-office workers this year — and can expect to see even more shedding in 2019 — as weaker regulatory oversight has encouraged big deals and boosted profits to all-time highs. Wall Street, which made a record $62 billion in profit last quarter, is hiring less-experienced compliance…
What changed in 2018 is that markets became more volatile and investors turned increasingly cautious, slowing the flood of new money into cheaper index funds. A decline in assets—and revenue—is no longer a dormant threat for managers. And many are warning it’s going to get worse. “2019 will be the start of much tougher years…
“The major investment and commercial banking firms continued their strong performance, especially in equities trading and underwriting,” said Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates and one of the nation’s foremost authorities on Wall Street compensation. “Private-equity firms also turned in a second straight year of healthy financial results and strong fundraising.” Johnson said 2019…
One way banks are looking to cut costs: get out of the Big Apple. “Our clients really realize it’s just too danged expensive to do business in New York, Boston and San Francisco,” Johnson Associates Chief Executive Alan Johnson told The Post. New York Post / November 12, 2018 READ ARTICLE
“Beginning now through the first quarter of 2019, we expect to see headcount reductions through both natural attrition and selective terminations,” said Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates. eFinancialCareers / November 12, 2018 READ ARTICLE
The asset management segment was initially on track to see a 7% increase in year-end incentives, but starting in the second half of this year projections slid to a 5% increase due, in part, to rising competition among money managers and fee pressures, said Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, in a phone interview.…
For a second straight year, much of the industry will get “moderately” higher incentive payouts in coming months, according to a closely watched annual report released Monday by compensation consultant Johnson Associates Inc. Its projections for raises of as much as 20 percent show jittery markets can be hard on people who help companies execute…
Still, don’t bash Amazon. “It just makes you look desperate,” Johnson said.
Instead, companies should reiterate their mission, vision and values. “Double down on what makes you a good place to work,” he said.
Johnson recommended that executives consider which employees they most want to retain and make sure they are satisfied. He said that many companies don’t have significant differentials between compensation awarded to their stars and average employees.
“It is hard to pay some people more and some people less. It is human nature to want to even everything out,” Johnson said. “How many people get zero raise? Not enough. How many get to 10 to 15 percent? Not enough.”
SHRM / November 5, 2018
Decades ago, employers took a broader sociological view to determine if the real wages of their employees were going up over time,” says Johnson. “Now, employers see wage growth as something out of their control. They may be reasonably competitive with wages or benefits, but it may only be okay for employees, not great. And they think ‘I can’t do much about it because it’s out of my control.
Human Resource Executive / August 2, 2018
“At the next board meeting, people will be talking about it,” says Alan Johnson, founder of Wall Street compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates. “It will be front of mind.”
It’s possible, though, that if the company regains market value, “by the end of the year, these days might be forgotten or it may have not really happened,” Johnson says.
Agenda / August 20, 2018