Is this toxic culture normal?

Recently completed an internship at a BB and I'm shaken by the toxic culture. Consistently worked >90/week, every single weekend. Team members gossip behind each other's backs. Every analyst seems to be battling depression and openly despises their job.

Received a return offer to start this summer, but I'm hesitant. The team is reputable in Europe and I had high hopes, but now I'm uncertain. Is this level of toxicity normal? Am I simply being naïve and should pull through, or are there better environments elsewhere?

6 Comments
 

Appreciate the honesty!

I do have another FT offer from MBB and did intern there a while ago. Honestly, I didn't enjoy the type of work in consulting as much as I enjoyed banking (content-wise), but the full package incl. respect, WLB and perks was quite attractive. Only issue is that I ultimately see myself in an investing role, and I feel that the exit is much more difficult coming from MBB as compared to IB. On the other hand, I have seen quite a few people leave IB burned out w/o any aspirations left to perform in whatever follows next, and that is particularly what I am afraid of: choosing IB for the exit, becoming desperate, and ultimately not doing the exit for which I did IB in the first place.

Any thoughts on that?

 

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