Source: Roommate works at Baird
Apparently during last review cycle (July?) multiple first year analysts were fired. Didn’t see anything on this so thought I would post. Heard about this a while ago but wanted to wait to maintain anonymity. It no longer seems like analysts are invincible for two years, at least at Baird lol. Anyone have more info on this???
| +326 | UBS Tech MD hires Son (from no-name college) as an Intern | 57 | 11h |
| +241 | Evercore Intern Seizure | 35 | 2h |
| +90 | [Official] 2026 IB Analyst Bonus Megathread (with 2025 Consolidated Pay and Perks/Benefits) | 12 | 2d |
| +55 | Is DCM actually underrated ? | 21 | 10h |
| +54 | JPM M&A is Gone??? Purely Coverage Banking??? | 22 | 2h |
| +46 | Are all Tech / TMT groups sweaty? | 33 | 22h |
| +40 | Losing my personality in Banking | 6 | 33m |
| +38 | Am I behind? 31 Year Old Analyst | 9 | 1d |
| +38 | Associate & Above IB exits | 15 | 3h |
| +31 | Incoming IB Analyst: Best Ways to Prepare? | 8 | 2d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
keep anon but hearing a few first year analysts at Baird were fired
Delete delete delete
I work at Baird and can confirm that the analysts were fired for underperformance. To me, this leaves a sour taste in my mouth as these kids were only first years and allegedly did not get negative feedback in prior reviews.
My experience has been somewhat of a mixed bag. There are certainly people getting worked like you said, and others doing nothing. Some groups are crushing it rn and others are not.
My biggest gripe is a lack of oversight in how lifestyle policies are actually enforced. Some groups legit do not ever work from the office and have full autonomy over their wfh schedule, yet other groups are mandatory 5 days a week in the office. The firm has a protected Saturday and Monday/Friday WFH policy, both of which are a joke and are not enforced at all lol. I legitimately think morale would improve substantially if seniors actually endorsed these rules.
Also, Baird recently got rid of its $20 lunch stipend for all banking employees. Cheap ass mfers. That one really pissed me and the other analysts off.
Pay is solid. I’ll give them that.
Not surprising given some of the worst leaders of men and women I have met have been through meeting investment bankers. Do not want to make it a blanket statement but always astounded me how clueless a lot of investment banking leaders are in terms of managing the office and people.
The complete disregard for the "lifestyle policies" they have championed is the single biggest reason for morale being low. I would say my overall deal experience has been better than many peers, but to be sold on all these initiatives that turn out to be completely ignored is extremely disheartening
Pay is superb, deal flow is strong (generally) and the people are legitimately good, nice people. BUT, there comes a point when I'd almost rather somebody was a little bit of an asshole if it meant I didn't work my 12th straight 95+ hour week
Assuming you are in Chicago. Would you choose Lincoln over Baird if you had the option? Pay scale is the same and the culture at Lincoln seems great. I have offers for both
Lincoln historically hasn’t paid that well and has lower talent across the company. I’d put them in the KeyBanc tier - not in same convo as baird or Blair
A2A at Baird. I don’t know any analysts that were let go during July reviews, so it must have been very few unique cases or maybe certain groups / offices? Not widespread, and given some of the performances I’ve seen the leash seems reasonably long compared to my analyst stint
Revenue isn’t down 90%...that's just wrong, industrial group on track to have its second best year ever, obviously it’s down from last year but that isn’t unique
Fully agree with the point about some people working til 4am right now and others doing nothing. It’s quite a mix of things and for many the workload hasn’t slowed so it’s frustrating to have peers just chilling while you’re getting grinded. Not sure why doubling up staffing is considered a bad thing? I would welcome it. Why wouldn’t you want an idle person to get experience / get an extra set of hands on a project?
The lunch thing was such a silly move, it’s obviously minor but having something taken away is so much more annoying and agree there was a visible drop off in going into the office. Cutting lunch equates to a ~$4k pay cut and it was done pretty casually, it was a weird look given the circumstances of trying to get people back in seats
They have typically respected holidays and time off but that has been completely neglected recently and several deal teams in my group worked straight through Labor Day weekend despite it being one of the “sacred” protected long weekends. Don’t make up initiatives if you don’t follow them. Do they not understand how much more frustrating it is to be told you have protected time that isn’t respected than to have never been told at all?
Hard to believe people are jumping ship based on deal flow or pay…my friends at other banks are doing far far less than we are right now. Can see people jumping ship for better hours and fewer pretend policies though
TLDR: did not hear about any fired analysts, activity still high relative to other banks, morale is low because policies supposedly implemented on the heels of 2021 are routinely ignored, and we often work 10-15 more hours per week than direct peers which is very hard to reconcile