MD sends emails at 8am on weekends.
For those of us with… energetic MDs, does that mean we need to be online by 8AM or are we clear to login at 10am to knock out a few hours of work.
Asking for a friend.
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Yes.
Unless there was mention of needing to be online early the night before, 10 am is completely fine.
I set my own schedule on the weekend. Unless it's live deal critical, I get to it when I have time.
“MD,
So I can manage other work streams—when would you like this by?”
Its that easy bro. Alternatively,
“MD,
Currently grocery shopping—can complete this task by noon. Let me know if that timing doesn’t work and I can head home.”
I wouldn't offer up the second one/to go home. As far as they need to know, you're an hour out of town at IKEA shopping for a new sofa. Pad your time margin as much as you can.
Offering to go home at the drop of a hat is how you build a reputation as the guy MDs and others can hound for unnecessary shit and expect it within the hour. The minute you violate that expectation, you're no longer viewed as someone that's dependable under the standard that you yourself set.
Completely agree here. No reason to no just communicate that you are away from your computer a bit and will get to it as soon as you can.
Depends where you work—I think it’s more lip service than anything. Unless it is something actually urgent in which case you prob shouldn’t have gone shopping, all the MD’s I’ve worked with would never be so unreasonable that they would ask you to leave shopping for a deliverable. My place has decent culture though.
F that, unless they said something that merits a response such as "I need this by..." or "when can I see a draft?", there is no need for a response otherwise and you get to it as you have time. This job does not own your life, I wish more Analysts understood that.
It is tough as an analyst trying to build up social capital though.
I've gotten 5-6AMs from my boss on weekends. Man up OP.
What's life like with a perpetually sore throat?
lol
It's up to you to set lines. If you respond to non urgent things at the early hours on a weekend then you are setting the precedent that you will continue to do that. Idc who it is, if its not urgent and it's the weekend, I'm not answering you and everyone so far has been respecting that. No MD has ever asked me why or what's going on. I get to it when I get to it. Honestly, 8am on a Sunday, I'm still sleeping so not seeing it anyways. Dont let the job and your bosses control you. Still finished top bucket and have never ever rushed to do anything that wasn't live deal urgent on a weekend and never will.
Just last night at 10pm on a Saturday night an Associate pinged me on something. He didn’t get a reply till noon on today (sunday).
Sounds like you are all over how to manage these things, but I did laugh. Have told similar stories to my friends outside of banking and they think I am crazy when I boast about responding to an email 14 hours later on a weekend.
This job seriously warps your perception of what is normal.
It makes you believe that banking is normal after a while. Sometimes friends of mine outside of banking go out during the week or are partying it up at a bar for brunch on a Sunday and I’m like “do ya not have jobs or something?” How do you do get to do this? Lol
Glad you’ve got a better wlb than many in banking but damn, seeing someone state that they didn’t respond to a 10pm Saturday email until lunch on Sunday, as if it’s the best thing since sliced bread, is surreal. No wonder the industry is bleeding talent to tech.
Yea it’s insane to think that in banking thats ballsy or a while to respond to someone. But hey, it’s the path we choose.
Its also why we are paid 2.5x as much as consultants
Just respond when you wake up or finish what your doing. It’s not that complicated…
Quit, no way to live like that. There are endless girls who want dick, and you're spending time getting dicked by your MD.
what would happen if you ignored until Monday? Provided that it wasn't a live deal.
Yeah I was wondering this too... I just lateraled into banking but at my old job I would get emails and pings from VPs over the weekend but just wouldn't respond until either Sunday night or Monday morning. No one ever said anything and I still got good reviews from my VPs.
if its a big deal they can motherphucking call me direct on my cell.
not staring at outlook all weekend to get passive agressive emails from seniors too beta to ask you to do something through spoken language\
Underpromise, overdeliver. That simple.
Thanks to everyone who pitched in. I’m not quitting, since it’s not a total shock to me that I might have to work on weekends lol, but I did end up responding and working at my own pace without issue. Seems like weekend emails don’t have urgency at my shop.
Just because he sends an email doesn’t mean he/she expects you to reply
a lot of my MDs shoot off emails early AM bc it works w/ their lifestyle and commitments, not bc they expect you to do it right them. good ones explicitly say the last point but almost all of them will tell you when it’s urgent in that second. biggest lesson i’ve learned in 2 years is your behavior informs expectations of you. if you’re always immediately available and dropping everything it becomes expected. emphasis on immediately though. still need to be responsive and available in this job.
Replying quickly and choosing to be responsive on weekends does not mean you a little bitch or that you'll be abused for your whole time in banking.
However, you need to decide early which type of subordinate / colleague you are going to be, you can't switch halfway.
If you're committed reply now, then start pounding your chest over martinis at lunch.
Agree with the comments. For most MDs, it's about getting stuff off their plate which is why they send stuff over the weekend. Best practice on a weekend email on their part would be "for Monday" or "urgent". If you don't get a timetable, the "so I can manage other work streams-when would you like this by?" is a great response. Would not recommend not responding until Sunday as for most they just want to know someone is on it.
Sounds like your MD is just knocking his own to do list off on a weekend morning. Unless he’s saying it’s urgent it might just be when they can get work done / are most productive.
If you have already established social capital you can just coast and respond to him like few hours later during the weekends (unless he says its urgent or give specific deadline). Even if you don't have social capital, you should chill more in responding in the weekends to set the precedent that you at least control the working hours in the weekends (but make sure the deliverable is flawless, so he doesn't chase in the future)
Can you just ask him face to face what his expectations are next time you see him? At my previous two jobs (granted neither were IB) our team would regularly ping each other at night and on weekends with the understanding that replying the following morning / after the weekend / during normal work hours was totally acceptable like 90% of the time (unless specified as very urgent in the email). We weren't trying to be hardos or anything by sending after-hours emails, it was more that we all liked to check off to-do list items on our own time (and its often easier to focus on certain tasks during peaceful weekend mornings with no inbound distractions) or get ideas down in writing as they occurred, and we had a discussion early on to set these boundaries/expectations with each other.
Don’t worry about it. Some people just love to progress on early morning weekends (sometimes have senior meetings at 7 or 8am weekends). It’s not your problem. Let them work while you sleep in.
On weekends, i wouldn’t try to wake up early to check emails. If they needed you they should have said so beforehand.
Same for 11pm+ Sunday emails. If something was really urgent, they wouldn’t send it in Sunday late night.
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