Reports say Bank of America is stepping up its junior bunker workload scrutiny after the highly publicized staff deaths last year.
The Charlotte-based lender gives senior bankers the responsibility to ensure that their junior colleagues are not overwhelmed by excessive time demand. According to the Wall Street Journal.
The change came after the death of 35-year-old Leorkenas III last May, renewing concerns about the harsh culture of Wall Street.
Historically, the responsibility to assign workloads to junior bunkers has decreased to mid-level employees serving a one-year rotation.
However, bank insiders told the journal that these mid-level staff often lack the right tools or incentives to effectively implement workload limits.
To mitigate these issues, Bank of America is currently reassigning this responsibility to senior banks.
“We hope that every junior bunker has the best possible experience and learns from the teammates they work with and benefits from the career growth and development that this role brings,” a spokesperson for the company told the journal.
This post is being asked for comment from Bank of America.
Separately, the post reported over the weekend that US Bank CEO Brian Moynihan is considered “bringing the bank back” within the company, largely due to tensions in relation to President Trump.
The change in surveillance comes just after the bank's decision to eliminate positions of around 150 junior investment banks last week.
The layoffs thrust concerns about an increase in workload for those remaining on the affected teams, the journal reported.
A Wall Street Journal survey last year revealed that young bankers at major companies often face extreme times. Some people work up to 120 hours a week, and are under pressure to downplay their actual workload.
Lucenas, who supported the $2 billion deal, reportedly endured consecutive weeks of 100 hours of workload before he died.
The autopsy later determined that his death was caused by a blood clot in his heart.
After Lukenas' death, further investigations revealed that junior bankers are frequently encouraged to misrepresent their time to avoid violations of corporate division restrictions designed to regulate excessive workloads.
These restrictions were established in 2013 after another young employee who worked through multiple vigils died.
In response to these revelations, several financial institutions, including JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, have placed caps on weekly working hours.
JPMorgan said junior bunkers will be capped at 80 per week with exceptions that occur in certain cases such as live trading.
Goldman Sachs, that I have been suffering from employee complaints for a long time Burnout syndrome, refused to provide formal caps on weekly times. Instead, we offer a “protected Saturday” policy and allow junior bunkers to rest from 9pm on Friday to 9am on Sunday, with certain exceptions.
Bank of America has also introduced a new time tracking system that requires junior bankers to provide more detailed accounts of working hours.
A source close to Bank of America told the Journal that executives are investigating additional measures to reduce workload pressure.
One idea being considered is to utilize artificial intelligence tools to help prepare pitch decks and financial forecasts. This is a process that traditionally requires a junior bunker for a long time.
Recent reductions in junior investment bank positions have impacted analysts and peers from various locations, including the US, Europe and Asia.
Many of the people affected were analysts in their first year of starting their banking careers.
According to insiders, some were offered opportunities in other sectors within Bank of America.
