London: Tell me about your IB's Culture
Hi everyone,
Looking to learn about London offices' culture; specifically the concept of 'facetime' and how much it plays into the culture. What I mean by this is what an acceptable time to go home may be (and continue to WFH) at your bank, and see how it differs across everyone's experience & understand which banks tend to value it highly/not so highly.
Aside from this, would love to learn about the aspect of volunteering, team-building events & similar concepts within the banks. I feel like this aspect seems a largely empty promise from what I can see, and it makes sense as the role is naturally quite busy & long - but it doesn't seem entirely empty. For example, I came across a boutique named AGC Partners with what looks like a great, comradely-based culture (as you can see here).
So feel free to let me know what your experiences are. Would love to hear.
Thanks in advance.
It's very difficult to make a general statement for a specific bank - teams will differ even within the same bank, and even MDs could differ within the same team.
At my own bank, and in the team I'm in, I'd argue that the culture is very strong, and what I mean by that is (A) MDs that are sensible about deliverables (not requesting unnecessary analyses or decks for no reason, (B) adequately staffed, (C) respectful of holiday time or compassionate leave, and most importantly (D) supportive of personal and professional development - the best juniors will get exposure well beyond their levels.
That said, there's generally a view that people should be in the office (yes with some WFH flexibility) and juniors should demonstrate the same degree of common sense. If there's an urgent deliverable and it helps to have people on calls, or working on weekends, etc., step up. Essentially, those who demonstrate that they get stuff done and take the job seriously, get a huge degree of flexibility. And I think that's right. There's a lot of antagonism on these forums about junior quality (rightly or wrongly - I'm not taking a stance), and I think that comes an attitude of entitlement which a few demonstrate. At my bank at least, nobody "deserves" respect (in the corporate sense; obiously everyone deserves general human respect), but you earn it.
Interesting, thank you for your comment.
Can I ask what your typical days look like when working towards a deliverable vs not working on one. Trying to understand what your day looks like. What time would you typically leave your office to then go WFH (and how long would you WFH etc.), would you even have that option on a live deal etc....
Thank you!
It's difficult to make a general statement. I'm mid-seniority (VP / D) and have been with my firm for many (5 - 10) years, and have very strong internal reviews. So I can come and go as I please, and am trusted to meet deadlines. I actually value this highly and is a reason I've stayed with my firm so long.
On the other hand, a fresh Analyst with no background with the firm might not get the same freedoms. In theory we have an in-office policy, with flexibility to WFH 4 days a month.
In terms of deliverables / live, it depends on the Client and situation. Yes, there are times when we work tremendous hours when there are live deals. That comes with working in this industry, and we can't avoid it. M&A auctions are highly competitive and we aren't doing our jobs if we don't equip our clients with the tools they need to submit offers to buy an asset or manage a sale. That said, my own firm is sensible about deliverables for pitches (I mean we aren't going to move a meeting scheduled with a client because someone needs to work past 9pm, but neither are we doing to pull an all-nighter to meet an arbitrary deadline for a 70 page pitch). It's a good balance.
I fw whoever you are
Currently at GS London. Culture is pretty good when comparing to other US BBs in London. WFH is not encouraged but you will see a good portion of the office switching to home office at 8-10pm and some analysts come in after lunch. There are some team-building events such as offsites and drinks. However, you need to pay from your own pocket to join some of the events so many people skip them. Never heard of any volunteering.
I would highly recommend speaking to people rather than using information in job advertisements / websites. Such information is often handled by HR and they are totally clueless. I had a catch-up with HR during my first week and they asked me how it was. I told them it had been a busy week and that I had left at 3-4 every day. They told me 9-4 was better hours than they had and that they also wanted 7-hour work days...
Keep in mind that culture is VERY group dependent at larger banks.
Interesting perspective. I was under the initial impression that GS London was very hardo-centric, especially so in the likes of TMT - but your take doesn't seem AS awful as some put it - I read sometimes it's as bad as 6/7am and there's no point even going home because you're just about to start another day. Even at 3-4am, if you don't mind me asking, how do you maintain a social life or generic life outside of the role?
Also, would you mind me asking what group you are? (I understand if you do not answer).
And yeah, I've found HR (for the majority) quite useless when asking about this, hence I made my post on here. I reached out to some across EB/BB and the majority seem to talk like someone trained to give out PR answers and tick off generic buzzwords (I guess it makes sense, they wouldn't inadvertently hurt the rep of their company).
In hindsight, I realise the group dependency is key when discussing various cultures. Thanks for pointing that out.
The hours are indeed horrible. I leave at maybe 3am on average and put in 10+ hours each weekend. Average is around 100 hours per week and I'm not in one of the absolutely worst groups. I would say that 4-5am is very usual (will happen 2-3 times a week maybe) but I've only had ~10 times until 6-7am during my 2 years at GS. However, there is not a toxic culture that is present at some other banks such as MS. With regard to the question on how you maintain a social life or generic life outside the role, the answer is that you don't. In practice, the only time you are free is during late Friday nights and during most Saturdays.
By Friday night, I am so tired that my body is on the brink of collapse after having gone the entire week sleeping 3-5 hours per night. As such, I don't have the energy to go out with friends. On Saturday I usually catch up on some sleep and wake up around noon. After that I try to meet up with friends / family / hit the gym or whatever but there are weeks where I don't have the energy to do anything at all on Saturdays.
With this said, you really only have one day a week where you can do something so having interests / social life / time to exercise etc. is extremely difficult. Many people also use the free Saturday to catch up on random chores like shopping, washing, cleaning etc. because there is no way you have the time for it on weekdays. You could try to squeeze things in during your workdays such as having lunch / dinner with a friend or similar, but it depends a lot on what type of bank you're at. I've had breakfast, lunch and dinner at my desk for the past 6 weeks and there's no way I could disappear for lunch for an hour with a friend.
HR said they want to work 7 days a week?
The funny thing is that they were so clueless about banking hours that they didn't understand I meant 3-4am but instead thought I left at 3-4pm
JEFF - very fratty bro culture, a bit of a jungle. Some seniors describe it as a small Lehman Brothers
Have heard they've good dealflow and some element of consistent WFH (1/2days per week) but bad hours (2/3am occassionally) as well.
Could you expand on what you mean by a fratty bro culture? I assume the UK equivalent would be 'preppy' cricket & rugby players programmed to visit the south of France frequently.
For reference I’m UK too, but I would be very confident in saying the closest thing to “frat” here would be the university rugby team. Potentially slightly more intelligent than the university rugby team, but that same closed-door sense of comradery.
At MS, it is brutal...
In terms of culture, hours or both? Does this differ across teams at MS and if so, which ones are the best / worst?
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