When “Bonus” is a Bonus

the year 2011 has been a tough ride for the banking industry with the increasingly stringent regulatory requirements and the challenging market conditions. our bank is not spared either. in fact, we are in a worse position than many peers due to our unauthorised trading incident which made the bank lose $2.3 billion.  hence, our bosses keep reminding us to manage our expectations (or rather, dun expect anything) when it comes to compensation. indeed, it was announced to the media that bonus pool for IB was cut 60% as compared to last yr.

i got my performance evaluation a few weeks back, and my grade was kinda within expectation. i personally felt i hav not achieved much and was kind of slack hah. and somemore, im pretty new in my new team. and so, it was expected that i wun get promoted (cos in our batch of grad trainees of 3, 1 got promoted to AO). i wasnt disappointed or wad, really. damn, im such not ambitious hah.

and today was the day everyone was waiting for. but knowing our bank’s situation, we really dun dare to expect much. any bonus they give us is really a bonus alr. people start going into the respective rooms to get their letters. and many ppl were disappointed expectedly. some got donuts. seriously damn sad. my turn came at 2plus pm and i got my big envelop too.

the moment everyone is waiting for

upon opening, was glad at least i got sth. but as compared to last yr, this yr really sucked. my bonus was down 60% from last yr! and increment was also pathetic. sigh. banking industry is really gg downhill man. civil service and local banks are paying far greater bonuses. so when it comes to total compensation, i think we are not really earning as much as ppl perceive.

anyway, immediately after work, i went to get myself a nautica watch that i hav been eyeing hah, as a reward for myself.  hopefully next yr will b better though. and i really needa work towards earning my AO man!