One Hundred Plus Hour Workweeks Drove Young Investment Bankers To The Breaking Point

Forbes

02-05-2025

Young investment banker looking nervous at his Bloomberg stock screen
Wall Street is known as one of the top sectors to earn a lot of money. Along with lush compensation, there is a status effect of saying that you are an investment banker at a top financial institution. It's an extremely competitive place. Young investment bankers feel the pressure to produce. To keep the job and get ahead of the crowd, bankers log in more than 100-hour work weeks. While the prestige and pay is great, for many, it takes a mental and physical toll. It's not unusual for bankers to work almost every day of the week, long into the night as well. The vibe is like hazing, some got through it, others were left scared.
Recently, a team of junior bankers at Robert Baird, an investment bank, had been working until 4 a.m. for weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. Evidently, the long hours were not enough. Managers told the bankers that they had to up their production. Some bankers objected, but were told to be more efficient.
Wall Street has been dealing with its hustle culture, logging in long hours. Unfortunately, the pressure pushes people too far. The results for some, were tragic. Many junior bankers have said that their complaints are ignored. Some of the country's biggest banks have responded by stepping up policies to protect young employees, including capping workweeks at around 80 hours.
Getting a job in investment banking at Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley has been a big goal of many motivated university students. They viewed it as a route towards potentially building incredible wealth and achieving a high level of social status. For many people, the profession, dealing with mergers and acquisitions, taking companies public with IPOs or trading stocks and bonds, is an attractive and exhilarating career. However, there are downsides.
Young investment bankers working late in the evening to complete an important deal
A few years ago, Goldman Sachs was accused by junior employees of having to endure unfair work conditions. They were working 100-hour workweeks, and felt it was way too much. At the time, the New York Times reported that a group of 13 disgruntled first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs had made waves by assembling a professional-looking presentation in the company's style about their experiences at the investment bank. The resulting 'Working Conditions Survey' circulated on social media. The bankers said that they worked an average of around 100 hours per week, with most saying that they considered themselves victims of workplace abuse.
Extreme working hours and poor work-life balance for junior bankers at major investment banks have come into focus, following the deaths of two Bank of America (BofA) employees. Leo Lukenas, a 35-year-old former Green Beret and associate at BofA who worked on transactions for financial-services companies, died of an "acute coronary artery thrombus,' according to the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Although the coroner's report did not directly link Lukenas' working schedule to his cause of death, an executive recruiter told Reuters in an interview that the banker said he was working over 100 hours a week.
Additionally, 25-year-old Adnan Deumic, a credit portfolio and algorithmic trader at BofA in London, also died of a suspected heart attack while playing soccer at a company outing, becoming the second young fatality for the big bank in recent weeks, according to Bloomberg. However, it is not clear that work was primarily related to his heart attack.
'The death of our teammate is a tragedy, and we are shocked by the sudden loss of a popular, young colleague,' a representative for Bank of America said. 'We are committed to providing our full support to Adnan's family, his friends and to our many employees grieving his loss.'
The intense competition, constant deadlines, aggressive atmosphere, high-stress environment and lack of work-life balance have been linked to mental health issues and burnout among financial services employees, with many considering leaving their jobs due to the impact on their well-being.
There have been instances of young bankers being hospitalized with heart conditions, Business Insider reported. Dr. Arjun Ghosh, a London cardiologist, said he has seen a 10% rise in cardiac arrest among bankers under the age of 30 in the last decade.
To cope with the immense stress and sleep deprivation, some employees may turn to substance abuse, further exacerbating their health issues. The detrimental impact on well-being makes it challenging for banks to retain talent, as employees seek better work-life balance and healthier environments elsewhere.
Following the deaths of the two BofA employees, Jennifer Piepszak, co-CEO of the commercial and investment bank at JPMorgan, told investors, 'There is nothing, nothing that is more important than the health and well-being of our employees, and we're aware of those stories and they are tragic and incredibly sad.'
In a heartbreaking situation, a Goldman Sachs analyst was found dead hours after complaining to his father of '100-hour workweeks. An article in the Independent told the story of the young banker. 'Officials in San Francisco are investigating the death of a young analyst at Goldman Sachs who complained to his father of working '100 hour weeks', hours before his body was found in the car park next to his apartment. The authorities have said they believe Sarvshreshth Gupta, 22, killed himself after working through the night and struggling to match the demands he felt under. The graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, who was born in New Delhi, told his father, Sunil, 'This job is not for me. Too much work and too little time.'
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson said about the matter, 'We recognize that our people are very busy, because business is strong and volumes are at historic levels.' The company's representative added, '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.'
JPMorgan's executive management met with the head of human resources to address this issue, according to CEO Jamie Dimon, as the bank focuses on work-life balance initiatives for its own staff, Reuters reported.
In response to growing concerns about the demanding work culture in investment banking, industry giants JPMorgan and Bank of America implemented new measures to curb excessive working hours for junior bankers.
JPMorgan introduced an 80-hour weekly cap for most junior investment bankers, while BofA offered a new timekeeping tool to monitor work hours more closely, according to the Wall Street Journal.