Credit Suisse is not undergoing its first restructuring. When entire divisions are restructured, projects are stopped, and regional focuses shift, the staff takes notice and starts to move.

When a company announces a transformation and job cuts, the understandable result is unrest and uncertainty among the workforce. For some employees, it is the impetus and incentive to test their value outside the company and look for alternatives.

Others react with a kind of defiance and work harder to prove the value of their work. But one thing is inevitable: Those with an alternative will be more inclined to jump ship

Departures on the Rise

It is hardly surprising that reports of departures at Credit Suisse have accumulated in recent weeks. Whether it's a team of client advisors from the non-profit desk in Private Banking moving to LGT, or a Private Banking Manager moving to Piguet Galland, a private bank in Geneva. Over the summer, three client advisors moved to the independent asset manager VT Wealth Management in Zurich.

The moves are not limited to the bank's home market. The CEO for Greater China, Carsten Stoehr, left the bank after 25 years. He was also chairman of the board of Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. In Italy, country head Andrea Donzelli is moving to US financial services provider Jefferies Financial, according to media reports.

Rumblings Amongst the Workforce

To be sure, individual personnel changes are by no means evidence of a trend. In a company as big as Credit Suisse, there are changes and fluctuations daily. Still, departures receive more public attention than the few reported hirings these days.

Overall, the job cuts are going relatively quietly, but nevertheless understandable the Credit Suisse workforce is rumbling. At the strategy presentation on October 27, management announced job cuts of 2,700 jobs worldwide by the end of the year, with 540 in Switzerland expected to be cut. By 2025, the headcount is to be reduced by around 9,000 to 43,000, with nearly 2,000 jobs expected to be eliminated in its home country.

The bank emphasizes that staff will also be reduced through natural attrition, not filling vacant positions or offering early retirement. But redundancies are also likely to occur.

Swiss Social Plan Kicks in

Credit Suisse already has experience with this. In the first round, scheduled for the end of the year, employees whose jobs will be eliminated have likely been informed by now. In Switzerland, the social plan that has been in place for years will take effect, providing for transition periods of up to ten months depending on age. In countries with a high level of employee protection, such as Germany, Italy, and France, redundancies are also likely to last for a more extended period.

In response to an inquiry from finews.com, Credit Suisse declined to provide further details on the course of the job cuts beyond those known so far.

But one thing is clear: The reduction in Switzerland will be neither sudden nor obvious. There will be no images like those in New York during the financial crisis in New York, at the height of which hordes of bank employees left offices with cardboard boxes under their arms.

Filling Internal Gaps

Announcing job cuts always means you lose people you actually need and don't want to lose and will leave of their own volition. In such situations, those who think they have a good chance of getting a job elsewhere will be the first to jump ship, especially if they are able to bring a customer book, making them interesting for competitors who want to expand.

It is almost inevitable such a transformation will also result in personnel gaps. But attracting qualified people from outside is all the more difficult. Who wants to start working for a company where the new colleagues fear for their jobs?

Upheaval as a Career Boost?

In this case, the main option is to fill vacant positions internally. For some Credit Suisse employees, the upheaval could turn into a stroke of luck and even give their careers a boost. At the turn of the year, for example, 183 employees were promoted to Managing Directors. Even so, that was 12 percent fewer than in the previous year.