As a ex MBB consultant (now in RX) I always wondered about this. Interestingly I had some talks with HHs from RX banks (I am in Europe fyi) and got interested when I heard comp packages.
I am just wondering how much worse lifestyle is? From M&A colleauges I heard stories where Sunday can be 10am - Midnight on a regular base depending on the bank and Saturday anything from 3-5h.
However, I am not sure how much of this is LARPING as various banker friends of mine love to exaggerate hours to show how tough they have it.
They are correct.
This is just one data point.
Highly dependent on firm and sector / product team, but my team (top sector coverage team in Mid-tier BB) has roughly weekend work once every two/three weekends.
If need be, Saturday's can be booked from 10am to 4pm. Was exceptional according to my team though (IB Sector head driving the project).
This fluctuates depending on deal workstream tempo (imminent deadlines = RIP weekends) of course.
Agree.
Base case is you will work 8-12 hours every Sunday. Expect every other saturday to get busy too. The difference between working on Saturday is that usually when you do it is to get ahead of something that needs to be done by Sunday/Monday so you have more control over what time you work. On Sundays people immediately above you are online all day and it will feel like a work from home day but you will be expected to answer emails and messages immediately and to be in front of your computer.
Thanks. Even as Assoc/VP? This explains why I never saw bankers in my gym in Frankfurt Sunday afternoon while I was based there.
Good bank with deal flow - every weekend like clockwork
Bank of America - enjoy your Saturday!
A2 at an EB in London with decent deal flow:
1/3 of the weekends free
1/3 of the weekends c. 10h across Saturday and Sunday, sometimes it’s 11 - 4 pm both days , sometimes it’s only Sunday 10h
1/3 of the weekends - full weekend work (20h+) but usually while deal is very active or close to NBO / BO deadlines
out of curiosity what are you typically doing during weekends? are clients active on emails / are you running models & DD?
When deals aren’t live it’s typically a request from clients that comes on Thursday / Friday - anything from new scenarios + slides // requests. There is always a minimum 1-2h daily due to admin / processing stuff for the DD streams
It depends heavily on your seniors - even if the deck is due on Wednesday, some might want to see a first version on Monday
When deal is live and especially when clients are sponsors, you pretty much have daily catch ups on weekends
Highly dependent on the firm and group, and really driven by the MDs there. But in general, yes, most Sundays in most groups across bulge bracket and middle market banks--expect to work.
Agree dependent on firm and team.
Depends. If capital markets and not so junior likely not so much weekend work. Regular way IBD likely weekend work though a lot of places protect some of the weekend.
In group, 90% of weekends involved work, usually 6-10 hrs Sunday, sometimes more sometimes less. Probably worked 25% of “protected” Saturdays as well, when that happened 6-10 hrs of work.
crazy. But was this like real work, work, or more like doing something to get ahead without someone explicitly demanding that you work?
When I worked weekends at MBB it was like fixing a model for 2-3h to not get cranked Monday morning.
Do VPs work a lot on weekends too? Is this then basically almost like a normal workday where you respond to mails and chats?
Real work, most VPs would work Sunday and expect you to as well
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