Goldman Bankers Beg to Work Only 80-Hour Weeks in Stinging Deck
2021-03-18 14:01:34.4 GMT

By Gillian Tan, Sridhar Natarajan and Tracy Alloway
(Bloomberg) – Hundred-hour weeks on the job. Declining
physical and mental health. The heightened chance of fleeing the
bank in very short order.
Those are among the laments of 13 first-year analysts in
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s investment-banking group who surveyed
themselves, according to a presentation making the rounds on
social media. They shared their findings with managers. The
grousing was serious enough that the Wall Street firm is
enacting new measures, including forgoing some business to help
keep the workload more manageable, according to a Goldman
executive with knowledge of the matter.
Wall Street has long been the industry of choice for those
who can tolerate long hours, and that’s proven even more true
during the pandemic. But complaints of not having time to eat or
shower, appearing in the deck, are at odds with the softer,
kinder Wall Street that senior industry executives have
presented in a bid to attract and retain talent.
“We recognize that our people are very busy, because
business is strong and volumes are at historic levels,” said
Nicole Sharp, a spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs. “A year into
Covid, people are understandably quite stretched, and that’s why
we are listening to their concerns and taking multiple steps to
address them.”
The analysts even suggested solutions for the bank, such as
maxing out their workweeks at 80 hours and avoiding last-minute
changes to presentations for client meetings – a notable dig at
Wall Street’s constant “pls fix, thanks” culture.
“Junior bankers should not be expected to do any work after
9 p.m. Friday or all day Saturday without a pre-approved
exception, as that is the only safe-guarded personal time that
we get,” they wrote in the presentation.
Read more: Goldman CEO’s Year of Empty Offices, Island
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