ClickAJob News

Newly-qualified solicitors are being offered bonuses of £10,000 when they sign up to top London firms, a new report has discovered.

These so-called golden handcuffs are just part of the pay packets offered by legal firms in the capital, with young lawyers earning £64,000 a year on average, the Independent reports.

The findings come from research produced by Hughes-Castell that finds some lawyers have seen wage increases of 16 per cent over the past year.

However, US firms operating in London are struggling to keep up with UK wage rises following the aftermath of the global credit crunch and the weak dollar and are paying workers in London more than those in the US.

"The only way many of these firms are continuing to keep their salaries so competitive in London is by artificially fixing their dollar/sterling exchange rate at significantly lower levels than the market," the publication notes the report as finding.

ClickAJob chief executive Yngve Traberg is sceptical of the practice, saying: "Big money cannot compensate if job satisfaction levels don't match."

"Working environment, future prospects, work/life balance, all of these are equally important for a commitment to be made long-term," he points out.

"Without them, a staff member's loyalty is easily bought by the highest bidder," he emphasises further.

"Totally performance-driven, the employee knows a top of the range salary package is basically danger money. Every pay packet is wrapped up in the message perform, or else.

"The result is stress, obsessive competition against colleagues and inevitably premature burnout," he says.