What is the “tolerable” threshold for abuse in ER?
Ignore the “intern” label, I’m actually a first-year associate.
I understand that sell-side finance, in general, is tough. I’ve seen the headlines about BofA, know people in IB who routinely work 80+ hour weeks, and am aware that long hours and inconsiderate and disrespectful management are par for the course.
My question is: when does this, by consensus of the ER community (not IB), cross the line?
Are things like routine Saturday night “do this immediately” emails for non-emergencies, non-earnings 70 or 80-hour workweeks with some regularity, no real “ability to unplug” from 7am-10pm during the week, no protected (or even “gentlemen’s protected”) weekend time, a de facto ban on taking any vacation, and a culture of constant (and sometimes profane) scolding over trivialities to be expected?
Or is ER culture usually less “IB-like” than this?
FWIW I work at a BB, not with an II-ranked analyst.
What you described is probably worse than average but not unheard of. It depends how much you value the progression at your role vs. the negativities of it.
Yeah, that’s the sense I get. ER is usually better than this, but a “worst case” (especially on a team in an initiation phase) can be pretty atrocious. Of course, I have friends in IB who have it a bit worse, but the other ER teams at my bank are generally in at 8, fully checked out by 7 … so I was wondering whether my experience was “normal bad,” or straight-up crazy. Seems like the former.
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Never experienced any of that and neither have 90% of my peers. Though I'm in Europe, also at BB.
I had a unique circumstance where I was routinely working ~70-80 hr weeks non-earnings. (Without going into details there was a lack of resources). At some point you have to just walk away for a couple hours to let your brain get back to a steady state.
You also have to enforce boundaries at times because no one else will do it for you. Sometimes you know that your senior is sending you shit on a Friday afternoon/evening not expecting it til Sunday but recognizing that you can wait to do it is something that comes with time as well.
You need to figure out where your boundaries are and what point is enough, at the end of the day it's a job and there are millions of those. What you can control is passing your exams, if you want to switch analysts/firms or even industries. You're allowed to also hate research, it's not for everyone, but it's valuable to realize that you don't like it too.
Also some seniors are just raging cunts and you don't know until you start working for them, there's a reason they have higher associate turnover.
I worked out a really good schedule with my analyst that gave me a great breather. Would work until the market closes. Wait 30 minutes for any additional press releases. Commute home. Have dinner with SO. Take about 30 minutes to watch tv or do an errand. Get back on the computer from home and work until 8 - 10 pm.
Bump
My experience which I think was pretty standard was 60 to 70 hours per week with almost every Sunday off (not protected but usually the work was done). During earnings, you might work a single week that was 100+ hours.
That said, when I began to transition to my own coverage, I did do 80 hours per week. 60 to 70 hours of my analyst's works and then squeezing in another 20 hours of my own names.
Also, got a question for you OP. Where does your lead analyst rank? Is he a #1 or #2 guy in the whole industry or is he a middle of the road analyst. If he's really a top top guy, just be happy to be there for the ride and do the 80 hours per week. If it's a middle of the road guy, 80 hours per week sounds like much.
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