Lehman Staff `Keeping Their Heads' as Resumes Hit the Street

By Michael Janofsky, Jamie McGee and Michael J. Moore

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- As the stock plunged and television news crews circled, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. employees said it was business as usual in the office.

``We've got a bell that rings every time a trade goes through,'' said a second-year trainee trader in London who declined to give his name, ``and it was still ringing today.''

As the 158-year-old investment bank sought a buyer with help from the government and the share price dropped 42 percent yesterday, workers interviewed outside Lehman buildings in London and New York said people were going about their business despite the media scrutiny.

``There's some anxiety, but in this kind of market you'll find that everywhere,'' said a man wearing a Lehman badge as he took a cigarette break in a park in midtown Manhattan, declining to give his name. Another man who said he was a research analyst and an eight-year Lehman veteran described his attitude as, ``I'm like, whatever.''

Headhunters said they were seeing another dimension to the behavior of people who work for the New York-based bank, which was saddled with subprime mortgages as the housing market tanked and has projected a $3.9 billion loss for the third quarter.

``Their best people are scrambling to find opportunities,'' said Linda Bialecki, president of Bialecki Inc., a New York- based management search firm. ``They know they need to be prepared.''

John Lee, a partner in the financial services practice at the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles Inc. in New York, said Lehman employees ``are reaching out to firms like ours.''

``Clearly, when a firm like Lehman is vulnerable, it creates upheaval and anxiety amongst the staff,'' Lee said. ``Morale deteriorates.''

`Hosting the Wake'

At Bobby Van's Grill, a Lehman hangout around the corner from the New York office, a bartender said he has seen evidence of that from his perch this week. The crowds have been ``exceptional,'' he said, staying longer and spending twice as much as usual on $7.50 Hoegaarden and $8 Stella Artois beers.

``I've been hosting the wake,'' he said, declining to give his name. He has seen some tears, he said. Customers from Lehman are anxious because if they're fired, he said, ``where are you going to go, Bear Stearns?''

In fact, the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. in March and its fire sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co. taught people to go along for the ride, said a man wearing a green Lehman baseball cap.

``Everyone's keeping their heads,'' he said, declining to identify himself and describing his Lehman job as being in capital markets. ``Ups and downs happen. People adjust. No one's panicking.''

Wearing the Hat

He said he was proud to work for the company. ``I still wear my hat, see?''

In London, people filing out of the company's 32-story building in Canary Wharf chatted on their mobile phones and checked BlackBerrys as they headed toward subway stations and nearby bars.

All but one refused to talk, saying they were in a rush or walking away when asked about the atmosphere inside. Some said they didn't work for Lehman, even those with company badges clipped to their trousers.

In New York, the Lehman building was a tourist attraction, with people snapping photographs and pointing from the sidewalk on the other side of 7th Avenue.

Liz Willis, who runs the news stand outside the building, said she was in business before Lehman moved in six years ago and would survive whatever happened.

``I was here before,'' she said. ``I will be here after.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael Janofsky in Los Angeles at mjanofsky@bloomberg.net; Jamie McGee in New York at jmcgee8@bloomberg.net; Michael J. Moore in New York at mmoore55@bloomberg.net.