A recent survey found that many junior Wall Street bankers are battling burnout after working 100-hour weeks, with some even risking their health or sleeping in the office.
Concerns about their grueling work schedules come as debate about the industry’s work culture intensifies following the death of Leo Lucenas, a 35-year-old Bank of America associate who reportedly worked 100 hours a week before suffering a heart attack on May 2.
There is no evidence that Lukenas’ shocking death was connected to his work.
But Overhard on Wall Street, a popular social media platform for bankers, spoke to young bankers last month who said the demanding workload was taking a toll on their health.
In a survey, 200 junior bankers said they were only able to get four hours of sleep each night because of long working hours.
“Going into banking means making a conscious decision to give up your lifestyle,” Hamilton Lin, co-founder of Wall Street Training & Advisory, told Bloomberg, which first reported the study.
“You’re selling your soul to the devil, but it’s a fair trade.”
That trade-off could have serious consequences for their health.
One banker who left Lazard last year said she continued to work long hours despite symptoms of cardiac arrest. Fearing retribution from her boss if she missed deadlines, she chose to stay at her desk. She left the company a few months later as her health continued to deteriorate.
Another former Houlihan Lokey trainee said the program was so tough that he brought a sleeping bag to the office.
Overall, employees asked about their physical and mental health gave an average of two to three out of 10, according to Bloomberg.
As financial institutions recover from a post-COVID decline in M&A activity, managers are struggling with already overstretched teams, according to survey participants.
Wall Street has long been characterized by grueling hours and the promise of big pay that can’t be matched anywhere else.
Experts say that even though many employment contracts now offer perks like gym memberships, the culture still prioritizes contract signing over employee well-being.
“The culture of banking has not kept up with the times and the needs of junior bankers,” Stephen Meyer, a professor at Columbia Business School, told Bloomberg.
“Instead, managers continue to make the mistake of viewing trainees as a resource to be utilised or wasted. Companies try to squeeze as much as they can out of junior bankers, which is good for business; not doing so will hurt organisational performance. It’s the wrong mindset.”
This lack of work-life balance was infamously denounced in 2021 by Wall Street’s “meme king” Litquidity, who helped air the frustrations of Goldman Sachs bankers who work more than 100 hours a week.
The social media account, now revealed to be Deutsche Bank investor Henry “Hank” Medina, shared an internal analysis of how long working hours are affecting employees’ physical and mental health.
The issue of employee benefits also came up at JPMorgan’s annual investor meeting last month, when a shareholder grilled Jennifer Piepszak, co-head of commercial and investment banking, about how the bank treats junior associates.
“We can’t just sit in an office and do operational reviews,” she said. “We have to get out there, all of us have to get out there, so we can understand where the pressures are building and we need to give people the resources to address them.”
