Barclays is expecting to cut another 3,000 jobs to maintain its financial position and profitability, as drops in sectors such as bond trading put pressure on balance sheets. This comes after having cut 1,400 jobs last year, and will represent a 2% cut in the workforce, though without specific numbers having been announced already.
This announcement comes despite the fact that Barclays still reported multi-billion pound/dollar profits, and although down a third from a year before, still clearly represent a business that could continue to employ its staff if it chose to do so.
Many banks in recent years, as the fallout from the banking crisis continues, have been cutting large numbers of jobs; these banks include HSBC, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Credit Suisse and Bank of America, some of which were implicated in the global financial meltdown following the mortgage crisis, and some of which are widely blamed for contributing to the crisis.
What has not happened, however, were any significant cuts to executive salary or bonuses; or at least, none that were announced. Perhaps a 2% workforce cut should be announced alongside a 2% salary and bonus cut for high-level executives with exorbitant salaries? But such is not the case.
As banks continue to slash enormous numbers of jobs and endanger the livelihood of thousands of people in doing so, despite enormous bailout packages and other government action to keep them afloat, the public perception of these institutions has been falling precipitously. The bailouts at the time were said to be absolutely necessary to save a failing economy, but if bank action subsequently includes firing lots of employees, clearly the economic impact of bailing them out is clearly not very healthy.
While certain banks were not responsible for such behavior, and some did not receive a bailout, the public perception of these actions is extraordinarily vengeful at this point. With Ireland having simply allowed their banks to fail, with what amounts to little or no consequences for having done so, it is altogether likely that the next time the banks destroy the global economy and demand a taxpayer-funded bailout, the result will likely be widespread, global revolt, or a simple, callous denial of assistance, and the banks will collapse altogether, giving way to smaller, regional banksâ€"â€"a shift which is already underway, and gaining momentum.
Given the public perception of major financial institutions as out of control gamblers, who give themselves enormous bonuses even during times of fiscal austerity, then ask for taxpayer-funded bailouts and continue to give themselves bonuses anyway, even while firing employees and claiming such moves are necessary, it seems like the writing is on the wall for some of these institutions, and they are likely going to go the way of other extinct business entities, or will be broken up into tiny pieces that have absolutely no capability of repeating such disastrous behavior in the near future.
Sadly, the one job these banking institutions could cut to regain the trust of the people who funded their survival is the CEO or equivalent; there would need to be only one layoff, and the public would at least be placated enough to let things slide...a little.
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