Axed HR professionals could be among the few victims able to find jobs elsewhere in the City, according to experts.
Daniel Naftalin, partner in the employment group at law firm Mishcon de Reya, told Personnel Today that as banks shed workers, they desperately needed HR expertise to manage the chaos.
The number of new job vacancies arising in the City in August 2008 was down one-third on the same month last year, according to the London Employment Monitor by recruitment firm Morgan McKinley.
But Naftalin said: “There is still considerable demand for HR expertise in the financial services sector.
“Companies will need experienced HR people to manage employment and redundancy situations for them.”
He added that when banks went bust, employees faced a challenge getting hold of their outstanding wages.
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More than 4,500 Lehman Brothers staff in the UK were only told they would receive September’s wages when administrators found the cash later last week. It had been uncertain whether staff would receive the estimated £40m owed to them.
Naftalin said: “Staff are essentially at the bottom of the pile as deferred creditors when a company goes into administration.”
