Hi WSO community,
Long user of WSO - mostly reading other’s posts. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give their view on my current situation.
After spending a few years in IB, I moved to an internal strategy team at a BB in the hopes of a better WLB (I have a young family and would like to see my child during the week).
Whilst WLB has been slightly better than IB, it hasn’t been great, especially relative to the comp (took a slight pay cut when moving from M&A). That being said, I find the culture pretty awful. In fact, worse than anything I have experienced during my time in IB.
I’m considering moving on, however I have a slight catch. If l leave before a certain date, I’ll have to repay the gross amount of a sign-on bonus I was paid when joining. Bearing in mind, I only received the net amount so paying back the gross amount would be quite difficult.
Additionally, I’m a single-income household supporting my family so it’s not like there is a lot of spare funds at the end of every month.
The way I see it, I have three options:
1. stick it out to X date and then look for something new (probably the most logical option but I’m really on the edge at the moment)
2. look for something new now and try to get a future employer to buy me out (i.e. repay the bonus)
3. leave before x date and repay the full amount (this would be difficult and would put quite a bit of strain on my family)
It would be great to hear your views and what you think you’d do in my current situation. Secondly, if anyone has experience in how likely banks are to chase you to repay a sign-on, that would also be great.
Thank you.
If you do leave, don’t proactively reach out with the money. Make them hound you a bit before you pay it back (if you do decide to at all). There’s a chance they don’t mention it. Also, I believe the difference between the net and gross amount can be recovered on next year’s taxes.
Thanks. That’s helpful. Have you heard of people who’ve had to pay it back?
All I’ve heard are the various anecdotes shared on here. This question gets posted at least once a week; just look through some of the older threads.
Left BB and they sent me a physical letter about it. Didn't see it until a month later since they sent it to old address and I had since moved. I tried emailing them back since it was past the deadline in the email and got a auto response that the person had left the firm. Nothing ever happened after that. Was 4 years ago. I'd prob just do what po_6 said.
Quiet quitting sounds like the best option. It would suck to find a role that's a good fit, only for them to either not buy you out, or you being unable to negotiate appropriate comp due to pressure from buy out. Stick it out a bit longer, giving only half effort, and recruit with full energy once applicable. In fact, should you get laid off meanwhile - that translates to extra compensation for you!
You're not a banker anymore. If they want to make work so demanding, toxic and inflexible, it's your right to take a stance. It goes both ways. Good luck and take care of yourself & family.
Thanks for reply and insight! That’s probably the most logical option and what I’m leaning towards.
Appreciate the insight and all the best!
when i quit i lied and told my bank that they sent me to the hospital due to overwork in hopes that they wouldnt claw back my signing bonus and it worked lmao fucking morons
Hahaha brilliant. I’ve heard a few people doing this so maybe banks are reluctant to pursue in fear of what that would look like?
Anyway, well done to you. Must have made that sign-on even sweeter.
Curious as to how the culture in your internal strategy team is worse than pure IB?
Great question. Perhaps I’ve been lucky in the IB teams I was in but most people I worked with were generally nice, smart folks (of course there was the occasional douche). The difficulty of the job, in my experience, generally stemmed from the client side and the unpredictable nature of their requests.
My current team is full of ex-MBBs so maybe it’s a consulting thing? Not too sure. Either way, it’s extremely bureaucratic (more so than IB), they have expectations of staying late in the office consistently (not sure why - it’s strategy) and the levels of micromanagement are insane.
Hope that’s insightful.
Thanks, Blake03. Kinda surprised they want to work y'all so hard, maybe on the higher levels trying to compete with their peers on the IB/Trading side.
How late are they pushing you all to stay in the office?
How much is the buyout? $10k most firms will pay back; $50k you may need to stay / take the foot off the gas a bit. If you can time it so you're not also asking the firm to also buy out a bonus that will help.
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