What is WLB Really Like at MM platforms?
Pretty much title, was wondering how many hours you'd actually be putting in on a daily/weekly basis and if there's any improvement in WLB with seniority. Cheers.
From my experience at one of the large names, WLB got worse as you got more senior. Less time needed at desk, more time needed on the phone, managing upwards, recruiting, etc. Went from ~60hrs/week of desk time to ~50hrs/week desk time + 20hrs/week of other commitments. As an analyst never had to cancel a vaca and very rarely had to log in while off; as a PM have had to postpone/cancel a couple and am almost always available regardless of whether I'm at my desk or not.
Based on my experience at a big 4 - there are analysts that work 50-60 hour weeks. They just don’t last that long :)
All jokes aside, average is probably 60-70 hour weeks with some of that landing on Sundays.
I’ve seen some analysts that consistently put out 80+ hours, but interestingly performance did not correlate to hours at that magnitude (there’s also behavioral bias that underperforming analysts or ones that are about to get fired tend to work more hours out of anxiety).
50-60 is the average in my experience, closer to 60-65 during earnings season.
60-70 would imply people are still at their desk at 8-9PM. I have worked at several MMs and the office goes largely empty by 6-6.30PM. And no, it's not people logging in from home later, they are done for the day.
Very team specific and depends on coverage. Work for one of the MM platforms would say the jrs (associates) are usually still there until 8pm, and yes log in after as well. It is very team specific and not like anyone is forcing you to be there, there’s just always a lot to do. To me the more you move up the longer you work (ex PM)…. That’s based on what I see.
Calling BS on this.
The marginal return on the 70th hour of work in HF land is negative. Tired minds aren’t resourceful. This isn’t banking.
I work at a LO but I can say that I currently work fewer hours than I did on the sell-side but it feels like work life balance is worse because I have more stress and the work is more intellectually draining. I imagine its worse for MM guys. People always try to frame this in terms of number of hours but that isn't the only way of looking at it.
some people do 40
some people do >80
very team dependent
Deal flow super slow. Clients dragging their feet. Inconsistent wlb, I can do a 70/80 hour week and the next will be 10-15
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
Average? YMMV but coming from a pretty “normal” equity long/short MM pod:
I’d say 50-60hrs… in other words 8am to 7/8pm M-Th and then bailing at like 530 on Friday.
In 2 weeks of earnings season unfortunately the days are more like 7am-11pm and pretty constant grind, but during the part of the quarter when conferences slow up and before pre-earnings stuff I work more like 830-5 if I’m being honest. Gotta have a slow moment at some point and that’s generally a time when I can actually use my day to think things out rather than just process.
Compare it to banking? I’m pretty sure you age in dog years just from the sheer time commitment, based on my IB stint at GS/MS/JPM.
Just out of curiosity, out of your 8am to 7pm, how focused are you during this shift? Is it common to sometimes chill on phone or talk with colleagues?
I’m productive for that whole time basically. I will shoot a text to home or I’ll check scores or grab a coffee/water from the kitchen to power up, but it’s generally 10-12 hours of focused time. The job is very interesting and I find it easy to keep dialed in all day. Makes being home after feel like a real break.
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