Best "Culture" Groups on the Street

This is just for fun- curious to get peoples opinions. Whether a specific group within a BB (from direct experience or experience working at that BB in another group) or maybe a boutique. Lets hear it. I know GS Healthcare is supposed to be pretty relaxed, and obviously most of us have heard about their newly implemented weekend policy. Of course culture is also very personal (and depends on your fit in the specific group), but I think we can still track down groups that are widely thought of as being relatively relaxed. Will be interested to see what sort of responses this gets.

49 Comments
 

i know everyone says EVR is a sweatshop, but i think that's more as a result of dealflow. in terms of people, i was really impressed with everyone i met there.

 

I actually missed this about a 'weekend policy' at GS. Care to link or elaborate anybody?

Thanks.

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be”
 

Hopefully my bank does this. At least one guaranteed day off would do a ton for morale and the quality of the end work product

 

Does anyone else find it ironic that the healthcare groups are giving people time to rest?

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for freedom of thought which they seldom use.
 

Does this "saturdays off" policy actually help you guys that much? Doesn't all your weekend work just get log jammed into Sunday. Maybe it's just not being present and doing Saturday facetime that helps?

I haven't ever worked at a BB so this idea seems a little strange to me. At my smaller IB shop we never had to be in the office per se but we needed to get work done through the weekend usually for a Mon morning deliverable.

 

I work in a group that does this. We were previously considered a sweatshop, but I think the Saturday policy has made it significantly better. Granted, we probably work later on the weekdays than others in the same industry group by an hour or so, but having 1 day guaranteed off is great. I made plans with my friends/family on Saturdays and they never fell through. On Sundays I work 12-6 or 7 on average. Sometimes later. We also have a policy that people need to be out of the office Friday nights. I think it helps with morale a lot. Hours are the same compared to other groups though. just less on weekends and more on weekdays

 

I don't work in a BB but generally speaking we have Saturdays off or just a few hours of work from home.

It makes things so much better. I'd rather have Saturday off and work 12-8/10 on Sunday than work both days.

MM IB -> Corporate Development -> Strategic Finance
 

i'm talking about what are decent BB groups with great culture and humane hours. Focus more on grea culture and humane hours over "prestige"

 

GS Healthcare is run by Robert King, he's a great guy. The culture in the group is phenomenal. Their 'blackout' period is 9pm Friday-9am Sunday, 36 hours where you're not supposed to be in the office. It doesn't crush the weekdays; the mantra is 'get your work done and go home.' Not a facetime culture at all.

Both groups at Blackstone are great. M&A because they don't have brutal dealflow, Restructuring because of the environment. Both groups recruit amazing people and it shows.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Healthcare at GS is the only group to have the blackout period. That group does not have bad hours whatsoever, particularly relative to others with comparable dealflow within the same firm.

I know that healthcare at JPM is implementing a monthly free period, but I don't know to what extent. I know people in almost every group there but that is not one.

Heard rumors from juniors in BAML healthcare that the seniors are considering a similar lifestyle initiative, but who knows how well it may go over.

Per your question, "good" is subjective. I think anything under 85 is very reasonable; that's 10am-midnight five days a week with another 15 split across your two weekend days, or 10am-2am five days a week with 5 across the weekend. Some people might disagree.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

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