It wasn’t until March 2021 that a newly graduated analyst at Goldman Sachs caught the public eye by exposing harsh working conditions at the company. The company’s CEO David Solomon promised to improve the working environment, butApparently, the employees have continued to work 100 hours a week since then.
New analysts at Goldman Sachs work an average of 98 hours a week, according to a new survey of more than 2,500 new graduates in the financial industry by recruiting firm Odyssey Search Partners. It became clear that there is
That’s 18 hours more than the survey’s average of 80 hours per week. in short,The working environment remains the same as it was in 2021 when young employees filed complaints.
Insider has estimated how much young Goldman Sachs talent is getting. That turned out to be $22 an hour, assuming two weeks of vacation and not including bonuses.Young bankers who have achieved brilliant results in the field of M&A and IPO earn almost the same compensation as Starbucks store managers.That’s the calculation.
When Insider emailed the findings to a Goldman Sachs spokesperson, they said, “The data don’t match what we know.” The company declined to share the results of an internal survey of junior bankers’ working hours.
Odyssey conducts this survey every year, and in 2022 it was conducted from September to November of about 2,500 newly graduated analysts working for more than 50 investment banking companies in the United States. The survey asks about things like how much you make, what you like (or dislike) about your job, what employee perks are available, and more.
Of course, the findings are not definitive, as different teams within the same company have vastly different experiences. Nonetheless, it is undoubtedly a valuable resource that gives a glimpse into the life of a 22-year-old young man working on Wall Street.
Below are some of the most interesting slides from the survey obtained by Insider. Why the work environment remains harsh even though M&A and IPOs are not booming? What part of the job do analysts find attractive (or dissatisfied) with? Which company’s employees are satisfied with their compensation? You can catch a glimpse of why.
Surveyed by analysts from various investment banks
Odyssey’s research divides investment banks into three categories (pictured above). The target of this survey is mainly analysts who have completed an internship at a company in the summer of 2021, graduated from university in 2022, and started working as a full-time employee from the summer.
The pie chart above shows where 2,500 new analysts work. About 44% work for “bulge brackets,” 18% work for “top boutiques,” and 38% work for “others” (middle market and smaller boutiques). including).
Goldman has the longest working hours in a bulge bracket
The bar chart above shows the average number of hours analysts work per week for nine bulge bracket companies. Goldman Sachs topped the list, with new analysts working an average of 98 hours a week.
After a young Goldman Sachs employee leaked harsh working conditions to the media in 2021, the company’s CEO Solomon has urged a rigorous review of the company’s culture and stepped up measures to ensure employees have a good rest on Saturdays. I swore.
But the survey suggests that at least some employees are still working 98-hour weeks. Is it because Solomon’s promise has yet to materialize, or is it because young people are working overtime for fear of losing their jobs at a time when there is a growing trend to cut costs?
Anthony Kaysner of Odyssey, who is in charge of the study, says it’s hard to change Wall Street’s bad culture.
“They say, ‘We’re going to reform this way,’ but the person responsible for the reform grew up in this system and was asleep under his desk at work.” (Kaysner)
Employee compensation is the biggest expense for most banks, Mr. Kaysner said. So it is no surprise that the momentum to reduce working hours, especially in the current environment, will be undermined.
“As deals fall and revenues fall, the first thing people look at is employee labor costs,” Kaysner said.
Even companies that work shorter hours than Goldman work an average of 80 hours a week, double the hours of a typical full-time job.
Bankers, of course, receive six-figure salaries, various perks, and bonuses equivalent to double their salaries for taking on long hours. Almost no one talks about work-life balance, and it can be frowned upon.
Credit Suisse’s work week averaged just 65 hours a week, but Odyssey’s research said it could be due to a decline in deal flow due to corporate disruptions. The company recently announced that it would spin off its investment banking division due to poor performance.
Keysner attributed the long working hours despite stagnant deals to (1) the impact of hiring difficulties in 2021, and (2) efforts to win the few existing deals. I would like to point out two points.
“Even though we have recruited quite a few people, the number of young people is still insufficient considering the amount of work expected by seniors.
Credit Suisse tops remuneration satisfaction
Before the recession hit, Wall Street was raising salaries for junior bankers as it was in short supply. A study by Odyssey found that the average salary of first-year analysts rose 15% from $85,000 to $115,000 in just two years.
But that doesn’t mean all young analysts are happy with their pay.
According to the same survey, Credit Suisse, which works an average of 65 hours a week, is the most satisfied (73 points out of 100 for compensation satisfaction), followed by Goldman Sachs (69 points). .
A 2021 study by Odyssey found that the base salary for a newly graduated analyst at Goldman Sachs is $110,000. The average weekly working hours is 98 hours, so if bonuses and taxes are not considered, the hourly wage is about $22, which is equivalent to Starbucks store manager wages (According to Indeed). For comparison, a Credit Suisse banker earns $110,000 a year, so after two weeks of vacation and without bonuses, his hourly wage is closer to $34.
The boutique type also wins in terms of job satisfaction
The survey asks analysts to rate their satisfaction with their current workplace experience on a scale of 10 to 10. Most of the top five highly rated companies were top boutiques.
Goldman Sachs ranked eighth out of 20, slightly ahead of JP Morgan and Bank of America. In the 2021 survey, it was fifth from the bottom, so compared to that, the evaluation has improved greatly.
It is unclear whether this change is due to a genuine improvement in the working environment, a decrease in job opportunities, or simply due to different respondents.
Some analysts who participated in the survey said they were satisfied with their roles and responsibilities. “It’s been a great experience working on a lot of deals,” said one Goldman Sachs analyst.
Other analysts complained about mediocre work and company culture. “There is no opportunity to learn technical concepts, just administrative work,” said another analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs stands out for benefits
(Note) As far as Odyssey knows based on survey responses, actual benefits may vary.
Goldman Sachs stands out for its generous benefits package in the survey, followed by Barclays and Citi. Benefits include catered lunches, happy hours, and complimentary transportation.
Goldman Sachs, which offered free gym memberships and “health benefits” to employees at the time of the survey, reportedly stopped offering free gym memberships in April 2022. . The company declined to comment.
All banks except Credit Suisse and UBS offer 401k matching contribution plans, and most offer mental health benefits.
Company meal allowance
(Note) As far as Odyssey knows based on survey responses, actual meal allowances may vary.
While many companies only pay meal allowances after a certain time in the evening or on weekends, Goldman Sachs says it pays $30 every four hours (provided the employee is in the office).
Citi and Deutsche Bank offer the lowest meal allowance of $25 and only pay out after 7 p.m.
Work from home at least one day a week
During the coronavirus pandemic, working from home has become widespread in the financial industry. Nearly three years into the pandemic, most banks appear to have maintained some degree of remote work as part of their office culture. At least out of the 53 banks included in the chart above, analysts spend an average of 4.1 days a week in the office, according to the survey.
Boutiques have the most hours working from home, while bulge brackets have the least. With firms such as JPMorgan sticking to face-to-face work and firms like Lazard offering greater flexibility, Citi sits somewhere in between.