More than half (60%) of respondents said they expect to receive a bonus in 2012/13, down from 67% in 2011, according to research by Morgan McKinley.
Its Bonus expectations survey, which was carried out in November 2012 among financial services professionals, found that respondents who do not expect a bonus believed their employer would be unable to afford to pay for it, citing underperformance of the organisation as one of the reasons, while others said they were new to the business so would not expect to receive a bonus.
The report also found that 89% of respondents who thought they would receive a bonus expected it to be only up to 30% of their base salary. More than half (57%) of this group expect their bonus to be the same as last year, while 27% thought that their bonus would be higher than in 2011/12.
Hakan Enver, operations director at Morgan McKinley Financial Services, said: “Overall, responses suggest that the reality of reduced bonus payments as a result of subdued business activity and global market uncertainty is hitting home among financial services professionals.
“We are no longer seeing bonuses playing such a key role in the negotiation of compensation packages across the board.”
