So been on the desk almost two years now.
My team is a typical small group with 6-7 MDs, 5-6 directors, 5-6 VPs (understaffed here it seems), 10 associates and 20ish analysts.
and having been here almost 2 years I’ve noticed that literally no one VP level and below takes their vacation. It’s kind of insane. I actually did a calculation.
I’ll include VPs here too so in past 20 months, from the let’s say 35 junior team members; only 5 have taken more than 3 consecutive days of holidays at any point in this period. And only one took a vacation/holiday that was more than 10 days and he had some life threatening condition and had to have a surgery. I still think he came back on the desk earlier than he should have.
is this normal? Or is this totally insane?
and I would say only the dec 23rd to Jan 1st period was ‘free’ in these two years.
we get 22 vacation days each year so from the almost 40+ I had in the bank I’ve taken a grand total of 2. I know an analyst who joined with me who has taken zero in same period
that's SMALL?
Lmao I thought that too
With all those bodies I'd take every other Friday off religiously.
Yeah seriously lol, my entire team including admins was far less than their # of analysts.
AN1 here, we get 15 days a year and no AN1 has taken a day yet (though we have been WFH to be fair). Don't think I know any VPS or below who have taken a 2nd vacation in the 10 months since I started
Couple of things.
im talking about one vacation in 20+ months. Not a second one in 10 months
plus 90% of the VPs and below have not taken a single vacation in this time. At most they took an odd day off for a doctors appointment
Terrible data.
Are you in NYC?
Yea. I’m miserable. It’s the hardo VPs and one of them is the staffer. He Even makes it seem like asking 3 hours off for a freakin covid test is a huge ask and doing us a favor.
one of the analysts worked while he had covid. His idea of giving him respite was not to staff him on new things...
one of the Associates (pre covid) wanted to take a holiday to Columbia for a week (had told 4 months in advance) and a 3 days before his flight; a recently promoted director was like ‘you’re in a business end of a live deal but it’s your career after all.’
Analyst here - grow a pair tell your MD you are taking vacation and own it. Be available on cell, but in an industry where everyone is scared “but what will my VP think about meeeee” people respect someone who can say I’ve worked very hard XYZ time here, I am taking 4 days to travel. Same goes for saying no to more work when at 100% capacity. Respecting yourself (tactfully) is a great way to show your seniors that you have the EQ and self respect to grow in this biz. Being a monkey following everyone else who ain’t taking there vacation doesn’t make you “top bucket”
Maybe that shit flies at your “boutique” IB but some of our groups actually win shit and have work to do
Yes the firm will only function with you there. Imagine being away for a week, revenues will be down, people laid off, clients will all leave you, and you’ll probably be fired.
This attitude (we win shit so must work everyday all day) is one of the problems with finance, and is what is causing junior people to hate their jobs (and really their life). I’m not saying you can go tell your MD you need vacation, and partially because I don’t know your firm’s culture and because of responses like this, some people in finance view it negatively. I will tell you that I work very hard, staff my team so that I can actually hold up to my end of my promises (I.e. you have vacation, and you can actually TAKE vacation), and we get stuff done (aren’t extremely understaffed). Working responsibly and efficiently leads to a much better performing team.
Ew you fucking suck to work for huh
Oh yes, “VP”, I’m sure that baml/citi/cs are boutiques right?
And “some of us have work to do” said the no value add VP giving comments to analysts to assert his power that the MD will say make no sense when he looks in the morning - great work! Keep it up
Man you sound like a complete fucking loser lmao
Completely second this, fuck it. Am I not going to take a vacation because I’m worried my seniors will say no? Shooters shoot
from BB in london. even first years get 2 weeks off (a week off xmas and summer) and are fairly respected
yall in NYC have it rough huh
Gotta get to Europe ASAP lol
Europe pays like shit though compared to NYC
London EB, people usually take all their vacation. Actually since I’m 1st year I didn’t take all my allocated days last year (wasn’t aware) and it seems they’ve been brought forward to this year lol
London - all analysts I know took their holidays
It's tough for first year analysts to take 5 day vacations in the middle of the year but in general, they get the holiday season off. By the time they're in second year, they do take a 5 day stint off, our firm requires it in fact but it's not like it's heavily enforced. VPs not taking vacation? lol, as a VP, I am going to take vacation (unless I'm in the middle of a live deal that requires my input) and if they don't like it, I'll just leave and they can groove on not having a VP around for the weeks to months it takes to find a replacement as opposed to the 5 days I'd have taken off.
It’s your team and the toxic attitudes of some of the hardos in this thread. I’m at an EB (Evercore/Lazard/PJT) and everyone in my group, including analysts, are using AT LEAST two weeks of vacation per year.
Same. I work at a known “sweatshop” and all analysts take a week around Christmas / New Years and also another week sometime in the summer (stacked so all analysts don’t take it the same week).
If you’re an analyst, talk to the associate / VPs that are normal people. There are plenty of hardo mid-level folks that have awful mindsets on vacation you should not emulate
Ehh I wouldn’t call taking a week off during Christmas/ new year time to be a huge achievement anyways. That’s literally the one light week through the year
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