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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