Most Aussie banking professionals want to change jobs

Australia’s banking and finance people seem a dissatisfied lot.

Six of 10 Australian finance professionals intend to move to a new employer in 2012 said a recent survey by eFinancialCareers, a global career site network for professionals working in the investment banking, asset management and securities industries.

The eFinancialCareers Retention Survey found the large number of Australian finance professionals ready to jump ship resulted from a number of factors including perceived higher earnings elsewhere and a lack of defined career progression at their current employer.

When seeking a new position, a salary increase of between 10% to 29% for nearly half (49%) of Australian finance professionals is the minimum compensation increase they would accept.

“With nearly two thirds of employees looking to jump ship this year, the message for employers is resoundingly clear. If firms want to keep key people they must do much more in setting out defined career paths for them,” said eFinancialCareers Managing Director APAC, George McFerran.

“Ongoing difficult economic conditions have no doubt hampered firms’ ability to provide career path certainty but unfortunately this has led to a major backlash with employees increasingly voting with their feet and looking for greener pastures elsewhere.”

The desire to change employers among Australian finance workers, the survey found, was also fuelled by other key motivating factors including the need for more flexible working hours and employment packages that included childcare subsidies and healthcare.

Yet in the current climate, the majority of finance workers recognised in 2012 it will be hard to secure a new position with better prospects in their field of specialty.