Those who exited to corporate, is this normal?

I am now in strategic finance after being in EB. Sometimes there is large sprints on big projects and I end up pulling almost IB hours, but 70% of the time, I feel like I work 2-5 hours a day. I constantly message my boss and ask what I can take off his plate, what else I can do for him, etc. But nothing. I am completely fine with this and is what I wanted, just curious if I am "navigating" this correctly. I already have good reviews and stuff but don't want to seem useless lol. 

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I mean, isn't better WLB the entire reason to exit to corporate? Sure the sprints might be difficult still, but I would challenge you to ask if you can spread that work out a little more so maybe that 60+ hour weeks turn into a more even 40hr week across the board. If you are in this spot, I would try and find a few hobbies, that allow to leave the office early once or twice a week. "Oh I have this Run Club, Networking Event, Intermural sport, etc." Its easier to dip out when you actually have something as opposed to convincing yourself you need to stay. 

 

Appreciate it. I was more so focused on if I am 'navigating" this new WLB correctly. I constantly ask my boss and team what more I can do or what else I can take off their plates but its always nothing. I think that is just the norm and expectation - there just is not a lot to do compared to IB workstreams and was hopefully just looking to see if others in corporate development / strategic finance / strategy (post IB) had similiar experience in their roles. 

 

I recently moved from ER to a startup and yea its incredibly different than working in research (even more so for you). Some days I feel like I clock 1 hour of work and there might be days where I haven't moved from my seat in 8 hours. I think there's a broad spectrum of experiences, and agree that with the time we gain would probably be best spent doing something we had a hard time doing (working out, going outside more) 

 

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