9-6 investment banking (lol)
Theoretical situation: you're analyst, it's a Monday and 5:55pm and your associate says, let's start building this CIM, should go till midnight, and you just say "nah, I'll catch you tomorrow at 9am"? Legally you aren't required to work outside of 9-6 M-F and if you are pulling your weight during work hours how can you be fired?
I worked in banking and always did like 70-80 hours a week but am just curious if someone took a different tact and somehow didn't get terminated?
Bro. What.
You can be fired at any time at a bank because its at will employment. There's no law stopping work from happening after 6pm. A bank can absolutely fire an analyst for not working late.
However, this can get nuanced. Say an analyst refuses to work past 1am. Bank fires them. They then produce a doctors note that working past 1am consistently was causing catastrophic health issues and the analyst was at risk of a heart attack etc. They then make a big deal on linkedin about this and talk to the media and a lawyer. Bank DOES NOT want this situation and they likely will not fire people for refusing to work late, but will merely stop staffing them on deals, give them annoying work to do, and will give them a zero bonus ("Quiet Firing")
We have an analyst in my bank that refuses to work past 9pm claiming sleep issues that require rest/sleep time past 9pm. (100% serious). Like will tell their associates/VPs this. Bank has not fired the individual, but they have been "shunned". Likely don't want a nypost article "Greedy Investment Bank Fires Analyst for Not Working 100 Hr Weeks".
Ya was the same treatment when I was in IB.
So bottom line, if some analyst was simply working 9-6 and doing his job during those times but never working past 6 he can't be fired but he can certainly never be given a promotion, be given constantly bad work, and probably be compelled to quit.
I've also heard of someone refusing to work past 9pm at my bank and from how the seniors described the guy, you really don't want to be known for this. Midnight or 1am is a little different but it seems like this guy is straight up unreachable and it causes friction. We don't even end up working late that often so it's more noticeable
Go work in Securitization, then you'll do 9-6pm hahahaha
I’m in securitization and sometimes this is the case, but unfortunately it mostly is grinding till like 11-12
How are you a second year assoc in pe and think there is a work hour legal cap? Apologies if you’re European not sure what rules are outside us
I said it's a hypothetical question. No need to be salty. I am genuinely curious what would happen if someone legit tried this
I know of someone who did this. Second year analyst who was over it and did not want to do PE. He got paid salary and $0 bonus, obviously no third year or associate offer, worked exclusively on non-urgent pitches and profile type work. Went to work somewhere outside of finance.
They definitely can fire you, and maybe might in this questionable market environment... but realistically an analyst is gone in 2 years and they'd probably just keep you and avoid any bad PR.
I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you are 100% sure you want to leave finance and not come back as people will remember this. if you are totally done with banking, better to phone it in (i.e. give 60% effort, miss a few non-urgent emails after midnight but still get your work done) while you recruit, or even take a few months off while you find a new job.
i know someone who did this.
he was basically left alone doing shit work like filing claims, getting coffee & meals, arranging meeting rooms, flights and accomodation etc. with minimal to no bonus
needless to say, he quit.
I would suggest not pulling this stunt unless you are extremely well connected at a C Suite level. (i know a girl who's sole purpose in her firm was to keep her daddy and clients happy so she got off to eat dinner at 6/7pm, also helps to have a pretty face at drinks with the client and pretend like he has a high chance to bring her home)
In the UK all finance contracts state that by law your working hours are 9-6pm. They then add a separate, very explicit, clause where you agree to disregard the above.
Haha, legally the firm isn't required to continue your employment
In Germany, the firm can‘t fire you if you do that after probation is over. Contracts usually state that you have to work 40h but if urgent things arise, you must work late / on weekends. However, if I recall correctly, you cannot work more than ~48h per week, no matter what.
Yet as mentioned above, if you do that, you‘ll likely kill your entire (finance) career. No bonus, shitty stuffing and most improbably, mental abuse. Pretty sure that most analysts will hate you as their workload increases, and they will let you know.
In some European countries (not sure about the US) there is a clause on your employment contract - right after the total hours and days of work clause - which goes something like that "However, those hours and days are not applied to the employee if circumstances require so". And circumstances can literally mean anything as long as those are work-related and applied to all the employees equally.
This is allowed because mostly it follows the same logic as public service i.e. police, doctors or firemen, where they need to be ready for any emergency. Signing the contract removes your right to go afterwards and say that you work more than the law allows.
Just out of curiosity, take a look on your contract and let me know if you have a similar clause in the US.
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