WLB / weekend work - is this normal?
My WLB has suffered significantly over the past 6-12 months - constant weekend work (5 hours or so every Sunday, sometimes working on Saturdays too), not being able to log off on Fridays till 6:30-7pm or later either (had to blow off several dinner plans in recent months), and during the week I’m typically plugged in from 7am - 7pm. This isn’t due to a lack of efficiency based on my reviews, but nonetheless, it made me wonder: is this considered normal for others or am I just working under a workaholic analyst? And how does the schedule I outlined above compare to those working at HFs? Thanks in advance
There is no norm in this business. Each analyst runs the franchise whatever the heck they want. "7-7 on weekdays and some weekend work"-type analysts definitely exist. Some are worse than that. Some are better.
WLB at HF or other buy-side is a misconception: you can work 40 hours, but you will produce 40-hour quality insights (which ensures NO longevity and progression in this profession), while the folks at Viking Global work 80 hours a week trying their very best to generate alpha. And I am sure the Viking Global folks aren't told to work long hours, but they just want to be best at the game (think every GOAT athlete and their training regime) and have the self-discipline to put in the work to be great
OP here - thanks, that’s a helpful perspective as always Dick. I should’ve phrased my first question better. I was curious more so about the base rate of this happening because it’s hard to gauge what it’s like for others with my job still allowing associates to WFH a few times a week.
And I hear you on the second point - I assume it’s also very pod / boss dependent too. Personally, I’ve found that my best stock ideas typically come at times when I’m not focused on work at all and my brain is just connecting the dots in the background (e.g., cooking, hiking, working out, etc.), so I think there’s probably some diminishing marginal returns to the total number of hours worked (at least in my experience).
That’s an interesting point about your best ideas not coming from working directly. I’ve read that a lot of super successful and smart people would take walks to think casually. Nicholas Nassim Taleb would walk slowly enough to not even think about walking so his mind could wander. I think he said that Einstein would just stare at the ceiling lying down when he came to difficult problems he couldn’t solve.
Seems like it allows you to step back and not miss the forest for the trees or whatever that saying is.
Well put. Sure, there are seats on the buyside where you can earn big bucks while working less hours but those are extremely hard to come by and there's usually some sort of catch.
Right now, I spend maybe 40-50 hours in the office but I'm reading material, writing things down, etc in the evenings and over the weekend. Maybe that's because I love competing and have an awesome wife also in the industry but nonetheless, don't fall in the trap of thinking buyside is less stressful/hours.
Is this for a sell side or buy side research role?
Excluding earnings season (which can be 12-16 hour days depending on reporting time/team resources),
I’d say 7-7 + weekend work is probably top quartile in terms of hours.
Based on my experience (BB), the median team works 8 - 6:30 outside of earnings, no/minimal weekend work, and comes into the office 3-4 times a week.
The best team I’ve ever heard of probably works 8:30 - 6:00 + full autonomy to work remote, for reference. But again, this was the most chill team ever (in my sample size).
Again these figures are all non-earnings. Once you throw in earnings season, industry conferences, and client events, a true regular week is less common than you think (I.e., 40% of the time you’re actually working more than your typical schedule)
You can find better, thats too many hours
Not totally unusual, some shops/analysts provide better WLB, some far worse than what you’re going through.
N = 1, but for me I usually get in around 8:30AM and finish around 5pm no later than 6pm in office. No weekends at all, not even a ping. Even during earnings season, we usually take the call at the office and then go home, eat dinner and then hop on for an hour or so for the follow-up and to finalize the note.We get two days of remote in but honestly since my analyst is remote now, there's no strict rule to be in office. I think my boss is pretty chill about hours/vacations(no limit to how many we take as long as it's within reason and not at bad times) as long as work gets done in time. My team is really nice and encouraging, and the pay is competitive with the street.
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