8,500 Firm Jobs Likely To Be Lost In The Mix

JPMorgan is starting to hug up to those Bear Stearns staff it wants, and is issuing offer letters to employees it wants to retain (usually after a series of interviews or meetings). Some Bear staff, however, hope that they don't actually get an offer, wanting to go on 'transition' instead, and picking up double pay and a lucrative exit package when they do leave.

All Bear employees should be aware of their job status come the end of this month, after JPMorgan has completed a comprehensive mapping process to decide which staff it can retain and where. Bear staff that JPMorgan hopes to retain will, however, need to be offered a 'comparable' job in the new organisation. And the key criteria is pay and geographical location. It's not always easy, however, to get that right and some Bear staff are concerned that they may be retained and stuck in a role which, in reality, is not comparable to the one they have lost. These staff are hoping that they can go on transition and will soon be able to leave.  To be fair to JPMorgan, however, the firm appears to have taken the view that it only wants volunteers - and Bear staff who have expressed reservations about future roles are likely to be released.

The smart money now says that around 8,500 Bear staff will have lost their jobs by the time the integration is complete (Bear currently employees around 14,000), many in fixed income and support areas. Geographically, New York and London will take big hits. Insiders say that JPMorgan is, however, taking on more of Bear's M&A people than expected.

Finally, we've heard from a JPMorgan IT employee who was hired by the firm in his native India and subsequently moved across to New York on a firm-specific work visa. He has now been told that his job is being axed because of the market contraction and has 3 weeks to find another job internally, or he will be shipped back home. This young man is facing the prospect of returning to his native land and picking up the pieces after his hopes and dreams of a career in the 'Land of Opportunity' have been dashed. Another example of the toll the credit crunch is taking on the lives of normal folks. We hope JPMorgan can find something for him'.

READER COMMENT

'I understand the concerns of the man from India who is facing the prospect of going home. I'm in roughly the same position, and am not convinced I can afford to live in the UK anymore. Losing your job comes with the territory these days, but losing your work status makes it even harder to take. My wife will have to give up her job, we will have to sell our house in a down market and will have to head out of the US fairly quickly - a country we love. Still, it's been a good 3 years'.