Young Bankers Have an Absurd Work Life

Junior Goldman Sachs analysts complaining about 100-hour work weeks should just
suck it up, apparently. Why is investment banking so stuck in the past?
In the first episode of “Industry,” a BBC and HBO television drama about
young investment bankers, the depiction of their world couldn’t be bleaker: A
graduate trainee dies in the office toilet after pulling several all-nighters.

(par 1)

Both writers of the cult show had left banking disenchanted by their own

experiences, and they had a real example to give the plotline substance. In
2013 a summer intern at Bank of America Corp. in London died from an
epileptic seizure caused by overwork.

What has changed at Wall Street firms eight years later? If a presentation put
together by disgruntled graduates at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is any clue,
nothing at all. The 13 analysts complain about 100-hour weeks and a severe
deterioration in their physical and mental health. “There was a point where I
was not eating, showering or doing anything else other than working from
morning until after midnight,” said one.

(par 2)

As our colleague Matt Levine points out, working crazy hours to meet unrealistic
deadlines is a regular thing in banking, a rite of passage that bestows
honor on rising stars. The client always comes first, and because bankers are
paid well they should put up accordingly, others argue:

But this attitude belongs to a different era, not one where work-life balance
and mental health are taken seriously (at least that’s what employers always
say they’re doing). The pandemic was meant to help, as working from home
allowed people to avoid competitive presenteeism. It may be making things
worse.

(par 3)

Why is it necessary for promising, diligent twentysomethings to endure

harrowing work conditions? This question goes to the heart of investment
banking’s view of itself as something special. For sure, it’s busy in the financial
markets right now — as ever — and the boom for special purpose acquisition
vehicles means there’s lots of deal work around. Why not hire more juniors
rather than flogging them to death?

The “Industry” drama’s set-up is interesting in that two women attempt to

challenge the office culture, but it’s notable that they fail and the macho
trading floor prevails — with the implication being that this is somehow
integral to doing banking properly. Some of the juniors in the show love the
adrenaline of a dysfunctional workplace. That doesn’t mean they’re right. Elite
careers in the 2020s need to move on.

(par 4)

Another oft-asked question is whether bank leaders are considering the

consequences of extreme working for the broader firm culture. That’s probably
naive: This is the workplace culture. Goldman says it’s addressing the issues,
but we’ve heard similar before. One hopes this latest example marks a
turning point, without feeling any great confidence.

Back in the mid-2010s, a spate of work-related deaths among junior bankers

spurred moves by Goldman, Bank of America and others to enforce at least
one day of rest over the weekend. It turns out old habits die hard, according to
the analysts’ slide deck. The contributors suggest that Saturday working
should be an exception, requiring official preapproval, and that a cap is
needed on weekly hours. That seems like a sensible and overdue place to
start.

(par 5)

The banks’ leadership failures are particularly harmful during a pandemic. If

junior bankers were stressed before Covid, remote working will have only
deepened their anxiety.

To start with, there’s the prevailing sense of guilt. Sitting at home during the
lockdowns rather than at a workplace breeds guilt in all of us — the worry of
“being on” at all hours. This applies even more to new starters desperate to
make an impression. An internship is always precarious and WFH has fanned
unhealthy competition to be that overkeen, serial workaholic, volunteering to
do that weekend project.What’s more, senior staffers — stuck at home with
kids — are going to be much more tempted to push tasks down the food
chain. They had to go through it and they survived, right? It’s this attitude
that’s hardest to shift.

So, the question is where do we draw the line between eagerness and suicidal
tendencies is young ambitious people wanting to live the ‘dream’??

(par 6)

1. The opening in the first paragraph is e reference to a series made exclusively for
Golden Sacks. True/ False/ Doesn’t say
2. IN paragraph 3 the word PRESEENTISM is menationed. Does it mean that
a) Presenteeism is a productivity issue that comes from workers coming to work
while unwell physically, mentally, or emotionally and is now seen as a larger
problem than absenteeism.
b) It is productivity loss resulting from real health problems.
c) the practice of being present at one's place of work for more hours than is required,
especially as a manifestation of insecurity about one's job.
3. In paragraph 4 the problem of under hiring is discussed in a way that questions
the ethics of the banking industry
4. What is the standard worker described as in paragraph 6. Do you thin it is a real
representation or somewhat exaggerated?
5. In what context is the term suicidal tendencies mention at the end of the text?