VSIt is on Twitter that the alert was launched in March. Thirteen young Goldman Sachs bankers were on the verge of hysterics. Since the start of the year, they had worked an average of 98 hours a week, slept 5 hours and did not go to bed until 3 a.m.
The juniors imitated a presentation at Goldman Sachs, full of statistics. On a scale of 1 to 10, they self-rated their mental health at 2.8; their physical well-being at 2.3; and finally estimated their level of job satisfaction at 2. “At a certain point, I no longer ate, I no longer showered, I did nothing other than work”, testifies one of them on condition of anonymity. “I knew the orphanage, said another, It’s worse. ” ” It’s inhumane “, adds a colleague, while his suffering comrade admits to having “Dark ideas”.
The wail of the newbies on Wall Street is not new. For many observers of the prestigious financial institutions of the place, it is reminiscent of the tragedy of 2013, when a young intern of Merrill Lynch in London, aged 21, died of exhaustion.
“No more comradeship”
Eight years later, nothing would have changed? “The Covid gave them even more work”says Daniel Beunza Ibanez, professor at the City University of London business school. This financial expert has been following the evolution of the profession for several years. In the midst of the crisis, the banks have not hired and always ask more of the beginners, supposed to prepare the files of mergers and acquisitions or IPOs … of their superiors.
This part of the preliminary work has continued to increase. “The experienced banker found himself at home. No more travel, no more office, says Karen Ho, anthropologist at the University of Minnesota. What to do with his free time? Use his [fichier rotatif] Rolodex, chain meetings on Zoom and offer new business to its customers. “ The little hands who intervene upstream had to ensure from home and react quickly when their manager or the client requested clarification. Hence the extra work, without the extras of the past, which made the job more acceptable. “Gone are the evenings with the boss when a file closes, free taxis, golf outings, camaraderie between young bankers”, details Mr. Beunza Ibanez.
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