Banks with the BEST hours

I currently work for a 2nd tier boutique (think Sagent, Lincoln, Needham etc.) as a 2nd year analyst in the Midwest. The hours have gotten better as I am getting faster at my job, but I still pull 65-70 hours a week on average. Of course, when we're on a bakeoff or a live deal those go up to 100+ but that only happens a few times a month.

  • I was just wondering if this is as good as it gets for investment banking, or if there are shops where the average hours are closer to 55-60?

OP continued at bottom

IB Hours: Is This As Good As it Gets?

Everyone knows that hours are long in investment banking. However, hours/lifestyle/work-life balance and more vary by group, deal flow and firm. Reviewing stats in the Investment Banking Industry Report can give you a better idea which firms generally work longer hours.

According to 2018 data, the following firms worked the most hours a week:

Most WSO users in this thread commented that 60-70 hours is fairly decent for investment banking jobs and that any professional services job at a certain level is going to require more than the 40-hour work week.

Recommended Reading

Continuation of OP
The reason I ask is because I am actually considering a career in investment banking (Not ECM or DCM) and just wanted to get a feel for what hours at some other shops were.

tl;dr: hours at current shop are 65-70 hours a week for analysts. 60-65 a week for associates. Do better hours exist at other "reputable" shops? Looking to stay on as a career banker without killing myself

 

It is entirely group dependent. My bank, for example, has certain groups that work 90 hours every week and others that work 60. It just depends on how hot the industry or product that your group covers is.

That being said, 65 to 70 is very good compared to other banks, especially if you are making street. All professional services - law, medicine, finance - will required some level of commitment over the standard 40 hours.

 

I had this discussion with a friend the other day. We agreed that if you're a certain kind of guy, you'll always work 60-70 hours per week. Doesn't matter what you do: banking, consulting, HF/PE/VC, own firm, management in some firm, corp. dev., moving to your parents' business, whatever. If you go for the supercompetitive jobs, 60-70 actually marks a lower boundary for the hours you'll work.

Yes, I have read about the 4-hour work week also, but if you think about it, the implied "spending the other 66 hours per week by the pool" may not really be appealing for a longer period. Actually, a lot of the more senior people I work with now are financially independent, but still work hard, for reasons other than compensation.

I think 60-70 is sustainable for the long haul. That may not be in line with western mainstream views currently, but who cares.

 
eggplantpower:

The hours have gotten better as I am getting faster at my job, but I still pull 65-70 hours a week on average (get in at 930am leave at 9PM M-F, and a few hours on either Sat. or Sun).

So that isn't "65-70 hours a week," You're staying for 11.5 hours on the weekdays, but unless you count the time you spend bullshitting, taking a shit and eating, you're probably doing around 10 hours of actual work (optimistic). So a few hours on EITHER Saturday OR Sunday means you're working maybe 55 hours a week. That's inline with any real job in finance. Not sure how much lower you expect to go.

“Elections are a futures market for stolen property”
 

The issue isn't really the average hours - the issue is 1) the ratio of hours spent / hours actually needed (ie facetime) 2) the predictability of the hours 3) the lumpiness of the hours

Being in the office for 65 hours when there's no deal flow feels almost as bad as working 90 'necessary' hours, in my personal opinion.

Life's is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
 

Aside from very busy periods where many deals are running almost parallel in the sales process, I typically work 9-7 (lunch hour not included). My team will likely end up closing 10-15 deals this year, and I will have significant touches (e.g., creating entire CIMs) on approximately 1/3 of them; will likely have slightly less significant touches on another 1/3.

Hours worked doesn’t necessarily mean much after a certain point. Most success in closing deals comes down to maximizing efficiency and team cohesiveness, two elements which are unfortunately lost upon many banks, it seems.

 
Won Jun:
hey guys, i'm kind of at the stage of deciding my dream and the working hour of IB comes to me as the hardest obstacle to me (well it might be same to others but) and i'm wondering if there's kind of banks with less salary but with less working hours and better working conditions. I thought the European banks would be the answer but found out to be wrong. I'll really appreciate if you help.

Check out the CorpFin groups at Accounting firms (Big 4 and other large CPA/Consulting groups). There is a thread on it if you want more detail, but you will make less (still decent) and work less (50-65 hrs/wk). Many required previous IB experience though.

 

@ Snapple - I assume you mean "exceptions to the rules" the comment above was general.

Exceptions to the rules are as follows.

Exceptions - lean toward IB 1. Crappy economy so you're still grinding doing useless work never winning any deals (recession periods) 2. Your group is a natural sweat shop (you got screwed) 3. You're bad with politics and are unable to play the "office games" and find ways to lower your working hours.

Exceptions - lean towards ER 1. If you work for a psycho analyst or your group/office tends to be insane 2. You cover an insane amount of stocks

Sales and Trading - ??????????? 1. You really got royally screwed times 10 billion. Have no idea how you're going to be clearing 80+ hours when the job is primarily market hours and there is really no weekend work

Hope that clears things up.

 

^^ Cleared this comment up above.

  1. Working for sweat shop
  2. Your group has next to no deal flow and you're getting murdered on many pitches, trying to stay afloat
  3. You're in M&A and getting crushed all the time

People who say they "average" 100+hours a week are generally straight up lying. If you're getting reamed like that in IB as a 2nd year (1st years always get killed because they are slow regarding all the excel, ppt and word stuff) might be smart to switch banks unless you're getting serious deal experience.

Eg. 80 hours a week and a few deals when you leave is fine However, would trade for 100 hours a week if all your deals were mega deals Would not do 100 hours a week for 2 years at any firm if it was 100% pitching

There are certainly weeks you work 120 hours but again, if you average it across maybe that should be edited to 75-85.

Finally 75-85 includes ALL banks, if we're simply talking about only hard core banks sure the average is going to be higher, but we're just getting into a pissing match at that point which i doubt either of us want to do.

 

You can't trust what's on glassdoor anyway. buddy is in London and the glassdoor total comp range for associate is £35K - £125K.... Of course HSBC doesn't pay as well as some of the BBs, but the difference isn't that big (at least at the associate level) and my buddy consistently works 50-55 hours a week vs. 90+ for my other bschool classmates that ended up at BBs / EBs. I am in no way advocating going to work with HSBC or any other global balance sheet banks (at the end of the day, you pretty much only get mandates because you are a lenders so it's not the most exciting work environment), but just pointing out that it's a great place lifestyle place if that's what you are into.

 

Et molestiae doloribus deserunt maxime dolore ut. Esse ipsa iusto dolor eveniet tempora assumenda. Dolores error beatae ipsum modi.

Impedit vel et impedit rerum. Aut autem accusantium sequi veniam dicta perferendis. Dolores maiores excepturi aut consectetur laboriosam. Quasi numquam ipsa unde iusto.

Unde deserunt voluptatum quo odio illo mollitia et. Reiciendis hic ullam dolorum in ut atque. Et est voluptas et corrupti eligendi inventore et consequuntur. Eos iste amet non quia dolor et ab neque. Aliquid asperiores sit porro id repellendus fuga voluptatum. Provident ut sint atque minus voluptatem doloribus voluptatem.

Ad ratione ut ut quisquam quibusdam tempore. Esse quis eum et sit consequuntur. Qui nesciunt porro iusto distinctio omnis velit ad. Sed alias quia nemo molestias tempora voluptatum asperiores. Dolor iusto voluptatem numquam odio et eum. Quasi officia a deserunt quae. Et ipsum natus corrupti.

 

Repellendus deserunt et laborum a alias iure officia. In voluptatem voluptate eos ut. Repellat saepe sequi non fuga ut omnis qui aut. Ut minus nihil pariatur aut et quia. Veniam accusantium similique ut quo.

Quia laudantium tempora eveniet incidunt eum. Quaerat illum ipsum quisquam. Et accusantium ut consequatur fugiat.

Laudantium hic atque dolore ratione. Sint nulla sint alias id. Rerum earum reprehenderit voluptas culpa. Nisi explicabo consequuntur officiis et laboriosam qui adipisci.

Modi dolorem aperiam ex repudiandae dignissimos. Voluptatem cum at aliquid voluptatem. Distinctio ducimus veniam mollitia quia nisi. Aliquid alias architecto accusantium provident veniam.

I AM THE LIQUOR
 
Funniest

Aut a non voluptatem vel. Et rerum ut labore sequi omnis. Earum ut quo consequuntur. Ut voluptatem excepturi dolorem dolore omnis alias reiciendis nihil. Iste vitae maxime iure ab similique qui.

Recusandae praesentium voluptatibus nesciunt. Cum quaerat quis voluptatem aut neque non. Nihil suscipit officiis repudiandae doloribus pariatur numquam. Non voluptatem exercitationem et. Voluptas non tempora doloremque itaque illo est sed perspiciatis. Libero et occaecati nihil eveniet excepturi illo placeat. Facilis eos est consectetur quae ipsam corrupti repellendus.

Quo odio error qui ipsam. Cupiditate dolore nemo omnis deserunt.

Saepe deleniti necessitatibus perferendis ad consequatur ullam incidunt. Voluptas et officiis esse mollitia aperiam ut omnis non.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”