Working less than 70 hours a week?
Hey all,
Currently an analyst at a BB working typical IB hours (as most would expect).
Typically work until 2 or 3AM during the week (Monday to Thursday) with weekend work on Sunday (maybe 6-10 hours depending on deal flow).
Have a friend who is an analyst at a lower tier MM bank (based out of NYC) who claims to work 70 hours a week, maybe even less during some weeks, with almost no weekend work. Seems like he is able to log off before midnight almost everyday.
What type of banking experience would allow for or warrant this type of lifestyle? Would imagine it would perhaps be more common at shops with less deal flow?
Curious to see if this is typical or if it truly is far from the standard experience of an analyst.
Common in ECM/DCM if you have decent seniors who are respectful of your time and tell the coverage officers “no” when they try to boil the ocean.
But those groups aren’t really “banking”
Editing to add: I work in ecm/dcm. The “banking” comment was sarcasm and was based on what prospects on WSO think. It doesn’t matter to me if you consider them banking or not.
Appreciate the input — friend is actually in a coverage group though. Kind of sucks to see him working much less but guess there’s always some type of trade off
Any group that doesn't work until 2am isnt real banking, you've heard it here first folks.
.
You are an idiot
You are an idiot
Not as uncommon as you think. Similar situation here in a coverage group. Almost never past midnight.
It is very common fyi. It was like that at my old bank. Barely any weekend work in two years with very decent money and it is still banking. If you are looking for more WLB it us definitely doable.
What type of bank was your old bank? (BB, EB, MM, etc)?
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If you somehow think working 70 hours a week is "chill", I think you've come to the point that banking has caused serious issues regarding your mindset.
What are you doing during the 70 hours+ ?
I'm working in the phys commodities trading i know it's not a BB/MM , I really don't get the point why someone is working more than 70-80-90 hours a week
* I didin't said anything bad about people doing that, i know it might be your boss or the culture but ....
You play with financial assumptions (the implied growth rate should be more of a 8.5% instead of 8.4%), edit PowerPoint slides (please global change font to Stunning Chihuahua) or doing some "industry analysis" because your MD thinks you should provide extra support for the client.
I'd very much consider it chill if it comes with banking comp.
I work in a BB coverage group and typically work 60-70 hours, if that. It really depends on managing your time, luck with who you are being staffed with, etc.
Totally agree. IB is all about time management albeit not always your own ability at doing so but also your senior bankers. VPs who struggle to be proactive with deadlines and associates who aren't efficient at dividing work and giving comments is often what leads to the grueling hours. A group that is able to time manage should be working 60-70 hours given you can maximize "normal" working hours/days and not sit around until 8pm waiting for your VP to finish his commute home and finally give work.
The problem is it’s hard to define accurate hours when there are random pockets of downtime during the day (waiting for comments) and sometimes it’s waiting until 9pm for comments for your day to really start and you end up working until the late hours of the night but the total hours actually worked that day are far less than what you actually feel. Part of the issue is also with waiting in the office during these times so it really does feel like work and I argue it is.
However, with WFH I find it hard to believe many are consistently doing 70+ hours of ACTUAL work.
Principal here doing 40 hrs per week. I don't want my staff working more than 60. My all in is 700k/year pre carry
Is your title correct? IB?
UMM PE principal
I'll tell you what. You show me your pay stub, and I quit my job right now and I work for you.
During the initial interview my boss told me he made $1MM/year and to come work for him. I quit my job and joined him two weeks later.
Don't fucking tell Susan , it's none of her business
What shops take this approach and have reasonable hours?
Groups with great hours exist, but there are very few of them.
I work at a European bank that has a niche in several spaces in finance. Hours avg 45-55 hours a week.
My friend at JP also works around 50 hours a week on average in banking. However, the teams around him that that cover the same industry but different asset classes work 8am-12am almost every day. Comp will be identical for both analysts. Friend got super lucky.
Which group is your friend in?
Certainly possible. First-year analyst at boutique and everyone is usually out the office by 7. $200k+ all-in comp.
Strong deal flow as well. I have two $1bn+ transactions about to close.
bank name?
Which bank? Are you in a regional office?
Can't share name, but not a very well known bank. NYC office.
Point is, I was pleasantly surprised by the hours and I now do expect my superiors to treat me like a human.
Foros, MKlein or Dyal?
I think a lot of it boils down to junior staffing. Quite simply, the more analysts and associates a group has, the more bandwidth juniors will have. Senior culture definitely plays a role as well. If you have VPs and MDs that are hyper-anal and constantly requesting unnecessary changes, then that will lead to some late nights.
When I think about the structure of an IB group, it honestly makes sense to have more analysts and associates. It costs about the same to pay a single VP versus 3-4 analysts. And not to shit on VPs, but junior folks are often more crucial to execution work. There’s definitely benefit to having a “lean” structure (more experience + responsibility), but in every other sense having a big junior class simply makes the lives of juniors better while still allowing them to learn plenty.
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