Deutsche Bank people want "positive acknowledgement" as jobs cut everywhere but India
Deutsche Bank's 2024 annual report is out. It doesn't just contain the revelation that it's paying someone €18m and keeping the EU bonus cap. The report also has an array of interesting details on what it's like to work there.
As Deutsche Bank embarks on another round of cost-cutting, it seems morale at the bank is good, but not great. Deutsche Bank says its internal "culture pulse" fell from 73.84 in 2023 to 69.89 last year as employees said they wanted more positive encouragement and more ideas for improvement.
Declining morale was accompanied by job cuts almost everywhere. As the chart below shows, Deutsche Bank cut headcount in all its major locations except for India and Romania last year. Notably, India is the bank's second biggest location of staff.
Jobs in India and Romania are growing as Deutsche cuts contract staff and brings IT jobs in-house in low-cost locations. Citi is doing something similar.
As Deutsche Bank trims headcount in higher cost locations, some people there seem more inclined to leave of their own accords than others. The annual report shows that staff turnover last year ranged from 6.7% in Germany to 13.7% in the Americas, where Deutsche has always struggled to retain people. By comparison, global turnover at Bank of America last year was 8%.
Deutsche's report also reveals that its employee base is ageing, likely as a result of all its retail bank staff in Germany. Employees aged over 50 are half as likely to leave each year as those aged between 30 and 50. And although many of DB's staff are aged 50+, it almost never hires people in this age group: they accounted for just 3% of its hires in 2024, with remaining recruits split almost equally between under 30 year-olds and people aged 30-50.
It's possible that morale at Deutsche Bank will increase in 2025 following this year's far more generous bonus pool. It may also help that the bank has done away with the 'reference pay' that gave people vague and sometimes misleading indication of how much they were supposed to earn in total compensation. Reference pay been replaced by 'fixed pay and variable compensation orientation' which sounds similar, but indicates your new bonus as a percentage of base pay. It still won't be more than 200%.
Deutsche Bank is due to release a new strategic plan later this year. CEO Christian Sewing said in January that the "clear intention" is to "operate the bank with lower headcount...to actively reduce management layers and roles, and integrate teams as part of our workforce optimization initiatives, in particular scrutinizing those areas where we do not see the required efficiency improvements."
Deutsche is nonetheless adding emerging markets traders. It also plans to expand in flow credit, particularly in the US.
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