HSBC cuts IT contractor pay rates

HSBC has become the fourth bank of 2015 to slash IT contractors’ rates or force them to forfeit their jobs.

Rather than the straight ‘take it or leave’ pay cut that BNP Paribas and another bank imposed on IT contractors earlier this year, the HSBC cut follows the example of Bank of America.

So not only must IT contractors at HSBC’s London investment banking arm who wish to keep their jobs do the same work for 10% less money, they must also accept two weeks of non-billable leave by Christmas.

The resulting real-terms rate cut of 14% took effect on Monday (October 26^th), although IT staffing agents tasked with implementing it for HSBC were first briefed on October 7^th.

One such agent told ContractorUK that, having seen their rates at Global Banking & Markets “go up, up and up,” IT contractors would now understand that HSBC needs to “trim” them.

Affected IT contractors are more likely to point out that HSBC has already this year used enforced unpaid leave to cut its costs, which are targeted to fall by as much as a reported $5bn a year by 2017.  

The affected IT contractors will also likely realise that it is not the first pay ‘trim’ they may have had at HSBC, as a 10% ‘take it or leave’ rate cut was foisted on them last July.  

Now, IT contractors outside of GBM want to know if the bank’s other divisions are going to apply the same reductions. However when asked by ContractorUK this week, HSBC declined to be drawn on any aspect of the cuts.