Finessing worklife balance in banking

Currently an EB SA and putting in as much work as I can (as the SA, that's evidently what I am supposed to do). Something a bunch of older mentors I have in the industry told me is that learning to finesse work is very important. There are bankers who work a ton and never get appreciation for it. Then there are bankers who do the minimal but are able to maintain a strong balance in terms of doing the minimal work while maintaining good impressions with all the seniors.

This got me thinking: from your perspectives as full-time analysts, what's the least you can reasonably pull hours-wise while still not being bottom-bucket/disrespected throughout the firm? Obviously this is going to differ firm-to-firm, but I am just curious from your experiences what happens to those analysts that try to do the minimum and whether negative repercussions were incurred.

 
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