April 14, 2015
A survey by New York executive search firm Options Group revealed that half of financial professionals are completely unhappy in their current jobs, CNNMoney reports.
Participants were surveyed on satisfaction with regard to their job, firm, pay and prospects. Fifty percent of respondents indicated they were unhappy in all four categories.
An anonymous U.S.-based trader said: "In a lot of cases keeping your job is your bonus."
The survey, which is conducted twice a year and covers mostly senior employees located in the U.S. and Canada, mirrored negative results found over the past three years.
The negative sentiment among financial professionals gives a glimpse into life on Wall Street and in finance more broadly after the 2008 financial meltdown.
The financial sector has seen a flood of investigations, lawsuits and new regulations, piling the pressure on workers as their employers demand a return to the massive profits of the past.
"Politics-driven big banks are destroying their talent pools and driving out precisely the kinds of people they need," one U.K.-based investment banker who works for a U.S. firm told CNNMoney.
"In an environment where pay and bonus pools are stagnant, brute politics and internal credit-stealing are ascendant."
Read more from CNNMoney.
