- Goldman Sachs’ first-year analysts are warning of abusive working conditions.
- An informal survey of 13 junior bankers is circulating on social media.
- Analysts describe the decline in mental health, exhausting 100-hour workweeks and lack of sleep.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
Overworked junior employees at one of the world’s most prominent investment banks are fed up.
Goldman Sachs’ first-year investment analysts detailed what they call “inhuman” working conditions in an informal survey of 13 people who circulated on social media on Thursday. Analysts classified the findings of the February survey as an official presentation by Goldman and shared the results with management, Bloomberg reported.
The 24-question survey paints a brutal picture of exhaustion, sleep deprivation and declining physical and mental health among Goldman’s youngest bankers.
According to the questionnaire, analysts have worked an average of 98 hours a week since the beginning of 2021, sleeping an average of five hours a night. All respondents said that their hours of work negatively affected their relationships with family and friends.
“There came a point where I didn’t eat, shower or do anything other than work in the morning until after midnight,” said an unidentified analyst.
On a scale of one to 10, respondents rated their mental health at 2.8 and their physical well-being at 2.1, compared to 8.8 and 9.0, respectively, before starting at Goldman. Seventy-seven percent of respondents said they felt as if they had been victims of abuse in the workplace, while 75% indicated that they had considered mental health counseling instead of work-related stress.
“What is not right for me is 110-120 hours over the course of a week! The math is simple, which leaves 4 hours a day to eat, sleep, bathe, bathroom and general transition time,” said an analyst. “This is beyond the level of ‘hard work’, this is inhumane / abuse”
Goldman, meanwhile, said it intends to address employee complaints.
“We recognize that our people are very busy because business is strong and volumes are at historic levels. One year after the start of COVID, people are understandably overwhelmed and that is why we are listening to your concerns and taking several steps to resolve them las “Goldman spokesman told Insider in a statement.
Goldman pays its first-year investment bank analysts an average of $ 123,500 a year, including base salary and bonuses, according to data from Wall Street Oasis. Elite Wall Street institutions are betting that young employees will work long hours and take on a demanding workload so that the chance ends up knocking down millions in top management.
But respondents do not think that the paycheck justifies the stress of it all. On a scale of one to 10, analysts put the chances of still working at Goldman at 3.5 in 3.5 months if working conditions do not change.
“Sleep deprivation, treatment by senior bankers, mental and physical stress … I have been to an orphanage and this is arguably worse,” said an official.
To correct the situation, young bankers recommended solutions such as limiting workweeks to 80 hours and ensuring that meetings with clients are always scheduled a week in advance. Junior bankers should not be expected to work after 9 pm on Fridays or Saturdays without notice, they said.