- David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, has responded to complaints from junior bankers.
- Solomon said in a message to staff that the firm will work harder to lay off junior bankers on Saturdays.
- In a survey circulated on social media, 13 junior bankers described ‘inhuman’ circumstances.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Goldman Sachs chief executive said the firm was discussing issues raised by a group of junior bankers, who described in an internal survey “inhumane” working conditions, poor mental health and sleep deprivation.
“This is something that we and our leadership team take very seriously,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said in a voice message sent to staff on Sunday, according to a transcript viewed by Insider.
The investment bank will apply its “Saturday rule” more strictly, which stipulates that junior bankers are not expected to be in office from 9pm to 9am on Sunday, Solomon said. It will also accelerate the hiring of employees and move to the busiest sections of the firm to ease the workload for junior bankers.
In an informal survey published on social media, a group of 13 first-year investment analysts at Goldman described being so overworked that they had almost no time to shower, eat or sleep.
The analysts said they have worked an average of 98 hours a week since January and slept an average of five hours a night. All respondents said that their working hours negatively affected their relationships, and that they rated their satisfaction with their personal lives at one in ten.
“The sleep deprivation, the treatment of senior bankers, the mental and physical stress … I went through foster care, and it’s probably worse,” an analyst said.
Read more: Some Goldman analysts are fed up with 98 hours of work weeks out of their bedroom as a year of WFH forces Wall Street to reevaluate the workload of junior bankers.
All 13 respondents said they regularly experienced unrealistic deadlines, and 83% said they regularly experienced excessive monitoring or micromanagement. Seventy-five percent of respondents said they had sought or considered mental health counseling due to work-related stress.
At the end of the survey, the analysts suggested several solutions for management, including limiting working weeks to 80 hours and providing junior bankers on Saturdays, unless notified. The first-year analysts often get a quick job on Saturdays, and it’s incredibly hard to push back, ‘they said.
Solomon attributed the high tensions to a boom in business amid the pandemic. He also said that working from home makes it more difficult to strike a balance between work and privacy.
“Customers are active and the volumes in many of our businesses are at historic highs. The combination of the pandemic and all of these activities is putting stress and strain on Goldman Sachs,” Solomon said. “We realize that people working today are facing a new set of challenges. In this world of remote work, it feels like we need to be connected 24/7.”
Although grueling hours and heavy workload are expected on Wall Street – and this is usually offset by hefty salaries – the junior analysts have indicated that they are unlikely to stay at the bank if working conditions do not improve.
“Unemployed is less frightening to me than what my body can succumb to if I maintain this lifestyle,” said one analyst.