Affect of the sector you cover on work/life balance for ER Associate?

Question

While I have heard that the most significant factor impacting an ER associate's work/life balance is the analyst that they work under (their style, etc.), I was wondering if covering certain sectors vs. others can cause an ER associate to have to work more/stranger hours, whereas others allow for a more predictable/normal lifestyle. For example, I've heard that those covering retail are more likely to have to work weekends (I'm not sure why though; maybe because of when they tend to report earnings?). Does anyone have firsthand experience of covering one sector vs.

sl55amg · Accepted Answer

I don't think that some sectors are inherently more intensive than others. That would essentially mean that some ER professionals would be expected to work more while not earning more money.  Otherwise, we would all be aware that some sectors result in higher pay than others.

Little quirks like what you're talking about for retail companies reporting on weekends is normal, every sector has stuff like that.  Biotech coverage guys sometimes have to be in on weekends because doctor days where data are published occur on saturdays.

ThatOtherGuy · Answer

FIG, particularly large cap banks, can have... interesting schedules. Earnings are always in the morning with some starting at 5:30/6am.

IntlBaller · Answer

From my time in equity research a few years ago, my observation was that those in TMT generally had better hours than the other groups, certainly better than the O&G folks I knew. The culture in the TMT group was just a bit more easy going. The number 1 factor on hours is going to be the senior analyst, but certain groups may tend to be more chill than others. This could differ from bank to bank but there was a very noticeable difference in hours worked for those in media, telecoms, network infra, consumer retail vs O&G, chemicals, machinery, etc.

ThatOtherGuy · Answer

I guess it's an analyst-specific thing but I had attributed it to my sector coverage. Large cap banks have MASSIVE 10Q/K's that get released with a bunch of information like VaR numbers, potential litigation outcomes, etc so I guess some clients find value in having us sift through those things to find changes from last quarter.

To be fair, when Wells Fargo was going through all that drama with how terrible they were to clients, watching the 10Q's was incredibly important as small details could indicate big things.

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Affect of the sector you cover on work/life balance for ER Associate?

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Affect of the sector you cover on work/life balance for ER Associate?

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