When do the perks start coming back?

They will probably come back around 720 days after you began your analyst stint on average...enjoy

The perks will come back at every bank but your own within 1 month of you starting. Your own bank will start them again 2 days after you sign up with another firm because you dislike the cheap environment and low pay at your own shop.

When the recession that we arent in yet ends. But that means we have to enter it which they will never admit, so the answer is never.

"Oh - the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion?"

Perks do not make a difference really. In fact, the free food etc. just makes you more unhealthy. In some ways I'm almost glad perks have gone away.

"Meager living" is also a stretch... you get paid a ridiculous amount for a recent college graduate with no experience and although $150K is not much for NYC, it's still a lot more than most recent graduates living in the city make.

But to answer your question, perks will come back when hiring picks up again and deals start coming back. So probably not for awhile.

dosk17, what analyst is making 150k these days?

I was always under the impression that your taxis from work-to-home (after a certain hour and on weekends) as well as dinners were covered by the firm, no?

And last year analyst base was $60K and bonus was $90K at the high end. You're right, this year it will be down.

And yes, dinners and car service are technically still covered but they're more restricted now and you have to be more careful about how you use them. Dollar amounts covered have also gone down.

so I suppose analysts now fly economy to recruiting events?

I think to a large extent GameTheory is correct. However, perks (e.g. meal allowances and black car use) will still ebb and flow with the market. When the job market is good and when banks are making lots of money again then they will start raising perks.

"EDIT: I should note that I was flying to New York for an interview a few years ago and ran into an MD at JPM, who was seated next to me. We were both in economy. The market was good and obviously on the rise."

My uncle is an MD and is now sitting in economy...he's a very reasonable guy, but this was a tough bullet for him to bite.

I don't think the meal allowances will go down (there's a minimum threshold to get decent meal in NYC plus delivery fee), but they may go up with inflation. However, the expensing of meals outside of Seamless, I don't see that trend ever reversing itself. As an analyst the markets were doing as well or better than they ever had before, yet the perks continued to fall by the wayside, just a function of overall cost cutting, even with banks making record profits.

As for flying economy, it's not the actual experience of flying economy that makes it terrible, but the practical perks of flying first class that makes traveling bearable in this day and age. Being able to skip ahead of long check-in and security lines, have guarunteed overhead space (without ever having to fear a gate-check). Those are things that can save you time and stress.

On the more serious side, compared to the previous post, most banks have for the past 2 or 3 years seriously pared down perks outside of meal allowances and taxis/blackcars home. Most banks over this time period have switched to Seamless only policies where possible. Also, I know a few banks that will only allow blackcars (they have negotiated rates) to make sure people are only coming and going from work.

In terms of flights, at every bank I have worked at and based on information from my friends at other banks everyone has to fly economy if the flight is under a certain time. However, most MDs will upgrade with their own funds or miles if they feel its necessary for the flight. I have flown everywhere you can imagine (NY to Sydney, NY to Greece, LA to Singapore) and not one flight has been first class.

These cutbacks are, as GT suggested, just do to fiduciary responsibility. Its the same reason why even senior bankers don't try to expense client events at strip clubs anymore. You'll still get your meals and cars no matter how bad the recession gets, they just might make it harder for you to abuse the system.

If analysts travel on international assignments, do we get to fly business or first class? Do we get to stay at the Ritz/Hilton or a lower tier hotel?

Apparently analysts don't travel international at all, but the ones that do for reasons such as office relocation or something like that usually fly economy, not economy or first. They stay at a good hotel though, probably sheraton. Flying business class can cost upwards of 5000 dollars and thats a months salary for an analyst and flying first can cost 10,000 at times, which is as an associates monthly salary

At my former bank, international flights were always first class, even for analysts. I don't know if that's changed recently. I remember deals in Peurto Rico were always toss-ups, though since it was technically a U.S. territory (stupid technicalities) and the flight was under 5 hours.

Not true about analysts not flying international - we did several deals in South America (specifically Brazil), analysts flew with the deal team (first class). Delirium, there's a huge discrepency between the Ritz and the Hilton, but I'd say your accomodations would never be below the Hilton.

Thanks. What Gametheory said sounded reasonable. When I did my summer, there was an analyst who flew to London with her associate when they were on a deal, and she stayed at a very posh hotel (Ritz equivalent) but I don't know whether she flew business or first though. I have flown business before but never first...first is sweet.

Indian banker, Sheraton? maybe for office relocation but certainly not for deals. I will quit if a bank makes me stay at the Sheraton for client-related travel.....

Marginal difference between Sheraton and a Ritz isn't that much. However, agreed for travel business/first is huge.

I wonder what training will be like for new analysts this summer. We had sweet perks during training, open bars 3-4 nights a week for 5-6 weeks and I know it was pricey. Plus "social events" on the weekends. Much of it was unnecessary - it will be interesting to see if the new class gets the same treatment, during a recession.

which banks cut back on the perks?