I'm starting a summer analyst program next monday at a pretty busy bank. I fully expect to work all seven days, but I'm curious how many hours of work people have actually been logging on saturdays and sundays lately. Any datapoints would be appreciated. Also curious on any timing trends - mornings, afternoons? I know it'll really depend on my bank so I'll have to wait and see for sure, but I want to get a gauge if possible.
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16-20 hours on average
24-28 on busy weekends
Usually get in at the office around 10am on Saturdays finish off around 10-11pm
bit less on Sundays 10am-7pm
God damn
I'm so glad to be out of this industry. Just insane.
has it been any better at your PE firm?
10.1.1Weekend work is very unequal, some times I don’t work at all, sometimes I put in full days and finish at 1am on Sunday. Probably 1/3 no work, 1/3 minimum work (couple hours), 1/3 heavy work
2-3 h per day
Analysts love to inflate their hours. At this point, most banks are giving you at least every other Saturday off even if it’s a sweatshop.
Realistically, Sunday is often like a school night in high school where you maybe have time to grocery shop in the am or get a quick workout and will work the rest of the day. Saturdays more often than not are free. The problem with assigning hours is how cyclical IB is—I’ve had 5 weekends in a row where I worked through the weekend. I’ve also had a month where I didn’t really work a single weekend. Sometimes weekend work will be—put a few slides together. Sometimes it will be put an entire deck together or finish a model. Overall especially as an intern I would assume you will not work on saturdays and work maybe a few Sundays.
I didn't think my bank would be that sweaty, but I've worked at least 60% of my Saturdays this summer. Granted, it was never for more than 5 or 6 hours. And I usually have at least half a day of work on Sundays. I only had one weekend where I didn't have to do any work.
You either haven’t been working long enough to have an accurate sample size, have an atrocious team/ bad leadership, or aren’t pushing back enough. Not all requests are urgent/ there are very few deliverables or tasks that are urgently needed to be complete Saturday during the day, no matter the deal or bank.
Overall I'd say weekends are pretty light relative to the week. Probably 3-6 hours each on Saturday and Sunday but there are definitely weekends where I put in 0-3 cumulative hours and there have been weekends where I've put in 20 hours. I think the 1/3-1/3-1/3 above is the best estimate even in busy groups
Some of these replies are shocking...I'm at a LAZ/PJT/MOE type sweaty place and don't work all weekend every weekend like some above posters are saying. Certainly have some weekends where I do, but I would say Saturdays are largely free while Sunday evenings (5pm to 12am) tend to be busier. As an intern, you should be shielded from most weekend work though.
Not sure why this shocks some people but I remember working at least 12 hours on both Saturdays & Sundays for nearly the entire duration of my 2-year stint (EB NYC M&A)
This actually is stunning to me. I have literally never heard of those hours for someone during the entire 2 year stint. Like bad several month stretches for sure, but that is not the experience I have heard from anyone EB, MM, or BB. Mind sharing which firm it was?
With all the new WLB initiatives that banks are pretending to pursue, your weekend should be pretty safe as an intern.
As a full-timer, I usually work anywhere between 8-14 hours per day on both Saturday and Sunday. One thing to note though, my group don't let people to work past 1am (our Head of IBD strongly believes junior staffs should get some sleep lmao) so I usually log-off around midnight-1am during Mon-Thu and Friday evenings are usually protected.
I truly believe if you are consistently working 15-20 hours on the weekend, you are doing something wrong
Yeah wrong industry
what's the general expectation for interns? are they expected to come in to the office even when they have no assigned work, or do FT bankers tell us to come in when they think they'd need us? If they do when do they normally tell us? Friday evening or Saturday morning?
bump
Over the weekend? You only go to office when you have work to do. Otherwise, stay as far away from the office as possible.
When I was in IB my Sundays were full days when WFH; our group head even emailed us instructing we should be online no later than 9AM on Sunday. Saturdays were like every other Saturday off, and only 4-6 hours of work when I did work Saturday. Pre-WFH Sundays were usually decently chill (usually 6 hours of work a day or so).
I have a question. At the bank I'll be working at interns get around $70 overtime. In practice will that actually be the case?
At the audit firm i interned at before, we were required to work overtime and weekends but were sternly warned by seniors never to put those times in our charge sheets so we never got paid for it.
In banking, while we are working weekends and overtime, will we actually get paid for this or is there the same pushback against getting paid for working overtime and weekends.
I am essentially asking how does overtime and weekend pay work for banking interns
Interned at Wells where we made $40/hr and we were told to make sure to log every hour accurately. Was making the same as VP1 on a biweekly paycheck basis for the 10 weeks.
You are absolutely expected to log overtime, and the accounting firm telling you not to is illegal FYI. Assuming you're in CA, interns often make like $40k over the summer (less if virtual since you're not working on the same stuff)
That said, with $70 an hour overtime your seniors will probably somewhat limit your work hours and HR will question you if you're there 70-80 hours every week. Don't stick around super late every night just to pull the overtime.
Are you guys expected to wear office clothes on weekends or can you come in jeans and a t?
You can wear whatever you want. But as an intern I would keep it conservative and wear business casual (jeans are fine too)
Right now even during the week you can pretty much wear whatever you want
OP, this is your shot. Make it count. Work every hour you can/need to if this is your career goal.
Thanks for the responses guys. I'm definitely game to put in the hours. Was helpful to see the range in the comments.
Jesus Christ these hours are brutal. How do any of you do this!?
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