Junior bankers at Goldman Sachs say they are facing “inhuman” conditions at the investment bank, including 100-hour work hours and “abuse” of colleagues that seriously affected their mental health.
The survey participants’ responses – 13 investment banking analysts in the US – shed light on the grueling demands of first-year analysts, a group with some of the brightest recruits Goldman hires annually.
The recording, which was presented to the bank in February as a slideshow, is now circulating on Twitter. Its contents suggest that at least one division of Goldman Sachs is still struggling with the long hours, high-pressure culture exposed when a 22-year-old analyst at the bank took his own life in 2015.
The 11-page presentation includes ‘Select Quotes for Analysts’, in which graduates describe an office environment reminiscent of scenes from the recent HBO fictional TV series Industry, which tells the lives of new staff at the London branch of a US bank depict.
One said, “There was a point where I did not eat, shower or do anything other than work from morning till midnight.”
“The sleep deprivation, the treatment of senior bankers, the mental and physical stress … I went through foster care and it’s probably getting worse,” another anonymous contributor to the survey said.
Sources in the bank confirmed that the survey itself was done by junior analysts and presented internally before it started spreading online.
This will raise questions about whether banks simply paid lip service to meet certain demands in the workplace. In 2013, Moritz Erhardt (21), a Bank of America Merrill Lynch intern, was found dead in a shower in his London apartment. He worked for 72 hours straight and died of an epileptic seizure.
The death in 2015 of a Goldman Sachs analyst was that of Sarvshreshth Gupta, who complained that he worked 100 hours a week and worked all night.
The analysts in the survey said they work an average of 95 hours a week, but until 105 hours in mid-February when the survey was done. The group said they only slept five hours a night after going to bed around 3 p.m.
The majority said they also experienced abuse in the workplace. A small portion were frequently sworn or shouted at, while at least half were ignored during meetings, or experienced unreasonable public criticism.
The whole group said the difficult circumstances had a negative effect on their relationships with friends and family, and it seriously affected their mental and physical health. Most said they would quit their jobs within six months if conditions did not improve.
“It’s beyond the level of ‘hardworking,’ it’s inhuman, abusive,” one said in the survey.
Regarding the survey, Goldman said: “We realize that our people are very busy, because business is strong and the volumes are at historical levels. A year in Covid, people are understandably quite stretched, which is why we listen to their concerns and take several steps to address them. “
Goldman reportedly worked with the analysts in the poll. It is said that they also relocate staff internally to assist its busiest departments, and that it does not apply a no-work policy on Saturdays.