Real Hours in BB IB?
To be honest, I feel like people here sometimes skew/inflate hours in IB. Maybe just people get off to telling other people that they work xyz hours?
I have heard multiple instances at my BB that AN1s in some industry groups are putting in 60-70hrs average. Obviously depending on staffing you will have those shitty 80, 90, 100 hour weeks, but have also heard they have plenty of 50-60 hours weeks especially because of better use of time with a hybrid wfh model.
Those hours seem pretty light for a top BB or top group with good deal flow. Worked at top BB and a group with strong deal flow, and average hours were probably 80-90 per week. Don't think hybrid WFH has made analysts more efficient (probably less) besides the lack of commuting. However, virtual work has made senior bankers MUCH more efficient. No more flights to Europe / Asia / random US city filling up time on their calendar that cannot be used for client meetings. Workload has increased significantly with COVID. If you're consistently logging out before midnight, you are going to be staffed ASAP.
tell me where, and are there jobs open?
I'm at a JPM/MS/GS and I'm doing 90 hrs/week, like really..
Haha I feel your pain. This is at a JPM/MS/GS BB, most week are in the 70-80 range but on down weeks like 50-60.
The 80-90 hours I mentioned were at JPM/MS/GS. Monday-Thursday was usually 9am-2am. Friday 9am-7/8pm. Saturday checking emails. Sunday 10am-10pm.
Don’t know any group that was doing less that 70 hours. Groups with good deal flow were 80-100 usually.
When I was a 1st year analyst at a BB IB I would track the number of hours I was physically at the office. The average hours were around 80 - 90 at the office, not counting any time logged in from home or on mobile. I probably had the toughest hours in my group, but there were teams which had worse hours on average.
Something to keep in mind -- the effort required from hours is highly non-linear. The 91st hour is much harder than the 61st. And those hours will in the early AM of weekdays and long slogs on the weekends. Easier said than done
Those hours make sense for a 1st year Analyst. Not a shot at you by any means but most Analysts first hitting the desk really aren't worth anything for the first 6-9 months. Analysts typically have a good sense of things and get into a groove after 9-months allowing the hours to get better through efficiency.
Yeah but getting better is immediately offset by being put on much more complex and sensitive staffings haha. Especially with the first years being slow to come up the curve with WFH.
Agreed on easier said than done. Once you past 60 hours, each hour is exponentially harder. Even exponentially harder is when you’re on hour 100 and you haven’t taken a single day off in a month (you stop counting hours in terms of weeks because there are no longer distinct blocks of time, every day just rolls into the next).
Are hours actually as bad as some people here are saying for non-EBs? Like I’m a first year so I may be wrong but our hours don’t seem this rough at all yet or there is always several hours of downtime in the day.
I talked to an alum who left banking recently who worked in BofA M&A and he said hours were on average 70 hours with 60 hour weeks too. Said the hours suck but not as bad as people make it out
People tend to always seem more busy than they are. Had plenty of nights where I looked at teams and see less than half the analysts logged in after 10 PM. Can’t say I blame them for playing the game well...
Had weeks I did basically nothing and had weeks I was locked in a lawyers office praying the guy next to me would go home and at least shower.
For an analyst 70ish hours seems realistic if not counting time at the gym, walks for coffee and dinner.
I'm in coverage at a MM (Baird/Piper/RayJ) and typically log about 60-70, typically closer to 60 and plenty of 50-60 weeks.
Mon-Thurs: 9AM-9PM
Fri: 9AM-6PM
Weekends: 40% of the time nothing, 50% of the time under 5 hours, 10% of the time I'm workin all weekend.
Where are you located?
I'm in NYC but I'm in a chill covg group.
Now this is the type of lifestyle I like to see. Any team with an efficient process should be able to work like this. Good for you, there really is diminishing returns working past 9pm in a day and getting solid sleep cannot be overstated. Doesn't matter how much science is thrown at the people in this industry though they all think they're the exception to biology.
Why can’t you share the firm? It’s not like you’re the only person there.
Im at a BB in a coverage group - I work probably 50-60 hours when light, 70-80 when heavy. I really do think people inflate the hours they work because they just sit around waiting to turn comments and have to do that in an office. I have heard of some companies letting people leave in the evening and work the night remote which sounds super convenient.
I'm also wondering about the waiting in between comments. I don't understand are people including this waiting time as their hours because they were traditionally in the office beforehand? Now I can just pop on netflix in between turns and my hours aren't even bad right now. Or are there just so many simultaneous projects? Also wouldn't having people be able to head home in the evening and be remote just be a no-brainer. Like it's just going to be a bunch of juniors in the office anyway at night...
Agreed - I think if you can like go home at like 6 or 7pm and work remote the rest of the night this job would be much more bearable, even if you have to stay up til 12 or 1 to work. It just lets you do things you'd never be able to do pre-covid (groceries, laundry, haircut, etc). I hope banks can just implement this across the board if theyre going to make people come in every day.
At ubs and the hours were horrific last year. Worse than I could have ever imagined. Nov 2020 to May 2021 feels like a dream to me since I was no joke working 90 to 100 hours a week, week after week after week. Some of you won't believe me but it's true. Never went under 80 hours EVER.
The gs13 emails were very very very accurate.
How are people saying this year was 60-70. My SA hours were 90+ at eb
Shit lol I'm an incoming SA there for next summer. What are the best groups to target and do you know when group placement is? Does networking have any effect? How is M&A group
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