The boom in operations, in SPAC and IPO, has unleashed a new crisis on Wall Street. Not a stock market bubble, but an insurrection against super-work in the lower ranks of the protagonists of high finance. An army of young bankers and analysts, often enlisted just out of university, are paying the price for the boom. If their wages are above average and the dream is to make a fortune in the future, this “unskilled” on Wall Street has now denounced intolerable working conditions and rebelled. A self-managed survey by recruits from the quintessential investment bank, Goldman Sachs, has been circulated these days on social media with the provocative look and graphics of a real banking report. But it actually brought to light one of the dark sides of Wall Street: an internal crisis made up, for newbies, of punitive working hours, averaging 95 hours a week but also up to 110, with an average five hours to sleep at night. . Of mistreatment by senior bankers. And, after all, a serious deterioration in mental as well as physical health.
“Inhuman” work
The specter, in short, is to come out burnt in a short time from the Wall Street meat grinder. The working climate is referred to as “inhuman” and characterized by “abuse”. Made of unrealistic deadlines and unsustainable workloads. While junior employee instances are ignored during meetings. Conclusion: the young rebels are definitely dissatisfied. And they made their poll public: it first appeared on Instagram, on an account called Litquidity, was then quickly picked up by multiple mass media.
Loading…
The slogan: the 80-hour work week
The sample that took part in the poll was limited, 13 Goldman employees in the United States alone. But it is seen as revealing a broader situation and goals shared by many. The 13 indicated that if things don’t improve they will leave the company within six months. And here are the requests or recommendations: an 80 hour work week. Always free on Saturdays, after a stop at work on Friday at 9pm. Also asked for a reduction in deadlines and workload.
“It hurts everywhere”
Numerous testimonies emerged from the document that have the body of the complaint. “The sleep loss, the treatment by seniors, the mental and physical stress … I went through adoption programs as a child and this is worse,” writes an analyst. Another: “My body hurts all the time and mentally I’m in a bad state.” Again, a third: «Here we go beyond hard work. Here we are dealing with an inhuman and abusive reality ». To be exact, 77% said they had been the victim of workplace abuse, 17% reported being subjected to screams and insults and 88% complained of “excessive monitoring and micro-management”. Banker-analyst physical and mental health measures, in response, plummeted: they averaged 9 and 8.8 on a scale of up to 10, respectively, before joining Goldman. After that they dropped to 2.3 and 2.8.
Goldman promises breakthroughs
From what has been leaked, the protest has not fallen on deaf ears. Goldman took the rebellion seriously, despite the fact that the survey involved a small number of employees and therefore less than scientific. The results have been brought to the attention of executives since February. In recent weeks, the bank has organized meetings with employees. The thirteen who took part in the survey were not scolded. Rather. The bank has promised new hires in the junior staff. The teams most under pressure in the meantime would be strengthened by transfers from other lines of business. Outbreak of protest: tech, telecommunications and media. The protest was triggered by one of the teams overwhelmed by surges of deal. The one that deals with technology, media and telecommunications, which has been the victim of high turnover due to excessive pressure. “We recognize that our employees are very busy,” Goldman spokeswoman Nicole Sharp admitted. The business is at historic levels. And after a year of Covid, people are pretty exhausted. This is why we listen to their concerns and we are taking action to address them ».