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Nearly a third of FSA staff disgruntled over pay
29 July 2010
Almost a third of Financial Services Authority (FSA) staff complained they felt poorly paid compared to other organisations, according to the regulator’s annual survey. The 2009 survey, which was released under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed staff grumbles about pay, workload and a lack of confidence in the management of the FSA. Ipsos Mori found 44% of the 2,500 employees at the FSA felt that they were paid fairly compared to similar jobs in other organisations while another 29% were neutral or undecided on this issue. The FSA spent £305.3 million on staff wages in 2009, according to the report. A separate question revealed that 25% of staff at the FSA, who would have shared a £21.9 million bonus pool last year, felt dissatisfied with their reward package. ‘I think like a lot of public sector employees they seem to think the grass is greener in the private sector,’ said Ian Smith, director of Redditch-based Central Financial Planning. Just over half, 56%, of FSA staff said they had confidence in the depleting senior leadership team at the regulator. A total of 14% of staff did not have confidence in FSA chief executive Hector Sants and chairman Lord Adair Turner while 30% felt neutral or undecided about their leadership. ‘My impression of the FSA is that there is a lot of external and internal communication,’ said Smith. ‘If they can’t get the message [about what the FSA does] across to their own staff that would be quite a issue.’ The poll found the biggest downward shifts in opinion between the 2009 and the 2008 survey were over job security, whether the FSA was a responsible organisation and FSA bosses could deliver a successful long-term future for the organisation. The poll also found that 41% of FSA staff felt that they had too much work to do with another 51% felt that they had the right amount of work and 8% felt underworked. Published by CityWire
