A group of 13 disgruntled first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs caused a sensation by putting together a professional-looking presentation in the company’s style about their experiences at the investment bank. The result of the “Survey on Working Conditions” (interviewing 13 analysts who created the slide set) that circulated on social media this week said that they worked an average of about 100 hours a week, with the majority saying that they considered themselves a victim abuse in the workplace.
Analysts rated their job satisfaction as two out of ten and said they would hardly stay at Goldman for six months if working conditions remained the same. In addition to the long hours, analysts cited unrealistic deadlines, being ignored in meetings and micromanagement as major sources of stress. Among other things, analysts said 80 hours a week should be the limit on how much they are expected to work.
In their own words, some of the analysts described their distress in strict terms:
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“There came a point where I didn’t eat, shower or do anything other than work in the morning until after midnight.”
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“My body hurts physically all the time and mentally I am in a very dark place.”
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“I didn’t come to this job expecting 9h-17h, but I didn’t expect 9h-5h consistent either.”
The DealBook newsletter writes that the episode raises an important question: in a highly paid industry, when hours worked become exploitative? The debate has two sides:
The sympathetic crowd says that first-year analysts at Goldman and other similar companies have no right to complain about long working hours. They are highly qualified and have opted for the investment bank, in part because they pay $ 150,000 or more straight from college, with the promise that within a decade the pay could reach seven digits. A first-year analyst instantly becomes a 0.1 percent member according to their age and experience. The long hours shouldn’t be a surprise: every Hollywood recruiting site, book and movie on Wall Street makes this part of the job clear. It is, in fact, the pact that employees make with employers in exchange for a lot of money.
The violin crowd says Wall Street is not focused enough on the mental health of young workers. No one should be forced to work that hard. Furthermore, the long hours are inefficient, unproductive and simply part of an ego-driven hazing ritual by older bankers who have suffered the same fate in less enlightened times. Abuse is abuse, no matter how much money someone receives. Banks, they say, mistakenly represent the workload during the hiring process, talking about how to improve the balance between personal and professional life, but do nothing about it.
“We recognize that our people are very busy, because business is strong and volumes are at historic levels,” Goldman said in a statement. “After a year at Covid, people are understandably overwhelmed and that is why we are listening to their concerns and taking several steps to address them.”