Blog: Archive for the “Compensation Report” Category

A front page story in the Sunday New York Times (“After an off year, salaries are bouncing back”) may have given hope to aspiring MBAs. It seems that banking bonuses are expected to bounce back to 2007 peaks, after an off 2008, made possible by the reserves major banks are setting aside. While absolute bonus reserves … Read More  

In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Alina Dizik identifies a new employment trend among graduates of the Class of 2009. Dizik posits that MBA students, chastened by the weak job market, are having difficulty changing careers. Instead of forging on to find that ideal new job, many are grudgingly returning to their previous fields. While this … Read More  

Many bankers are expecting the worst as bonus season approaches and news has potentially leaked from Merrill Lynch that its bonus pool will drop by 50% this year.  Still, Bloomberg attempts to offer an encouraging note: “Even if Merrill set aside nothing for compensation in the fourth quarter, the firm’s 60,900 employees still would reap … Read More  

In an op-ed in the New York Times, Duke Professor Dan Ariely discusses his research on the effects of bonuses, revealing a somewhat counter-intuitive result: large bonuses lead to poor results with regard to cognitive tasks. Ariely mentions that he offered to test this hypothesis in an investment bank but, intuitively, could not find any takers.

Our use of “declining” above is indeed a double entendre – pay is declining and some are declining to be paid.  The Wall Street Journal reports that Congress is considering compensation limits for firms who partake in the federal bailout – limits which include no bonuses for executives making more than $200,000 and no “golden parachutes”. … Read More