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Thanks for sharing, I wasn't aware that the graveyard shifts I did during my formative years in NYC were still a thing.
Don't think the hours are that bad in Chicago anymore but it's crazy how much time was wasted in that office by higher ups who couldn't win business.
I would have an axe to grind too if I had to work those 2021 hours, but the implication of "leaving" after your third year as an analyst in an office where A&A promotions are handed out like candy are fairly obvious
Unless there is some strictly enforced legislation passed that says you can't work for more than X hours a week, sadly nothing will change.
Gary Howe is still employed if that tells you anything about BofA is handling things
thanks for sharing. this forum was a big help in getting this article published.
Thanks for your work in shining a light on this
Very well-written and thanks for bring attention to this.
thank you both. for anyone who wants to talk about what they're going through at work, my DMs are open, and you can find my email on my author page at WSJ.com.
Thanks for sharing - more people need to hear about this.
Just disgraceful honestly... Nothing more to say about these practices
People are missing the biggest twist in the story. Leo had a freaking twin brother, whose IB internship at GS started just weeks after his brother died. That is insane. Can't imagine what was going through his head.
Seriously, poor guy. Also a former Green Beret too (what are the odds two twin brothers make it into that?!), his first corporate job is in IB... and with MBA loans to pay off, that's a seriously hard call to figure out what you do next. Hope he is okay
This whole story is nothing but sad, but a big thank you to Alexander and WSJ for sharing. This is incredibly important!
bump
Glad it was made mainstream, hope it leads to lasting change
Paywalled. Can someone post the full text?
I highly recommend you get a subscription to WSJ if you plan on working in finance. It’s truly a must-have.
Nerd
Who tf doesn't have WSJ
If you copy the link into www.archive.ph you'll skip the paywall
Does your company/school not offer a free WSJ subscription??
https://www.wsj.com/finance/bank-of-america-tells-bankers-to-report-bos…
update to the article with BofA making a statement
thanks to alexander.saeedy for the writeup
In my experience, the more incompetent the MD/VP, the worse the hours were. Nothing like working under an MD that kept all the information without sharing it, then let you know last second about something that he wants asap, without giving you any context. 1 deal under this MD would result in long hours and a lot of stress. Somehow I could work 3-4 deals with another MD where everything was clear, and my hours were significantly better and there was no stress at all.
If MDs had 40% of their bonus tied to how well they managed internal projects, which was driven by junior employees, I promise you culture would improve overnight.
Sadly that’ll never happen because of the misaligned incentives, but I agree with you. All banks care about are fees and they’ll pursue at any cost, unlike normal companies that value management skills, training & development, efficient use of resources, etc. No one in banking cares at all about these things, because there’s no incentive to do so (due to the high turnover).
The best junior bankers can do is request to not work with the crap MDs, so the crap MDs keep getting stuck with the new hires who don’t know what’s going on yet.
Unfortunately, nothing will change.
Also, it’s ironic to see finance meme pages post their concerns of modern IB junior work conditions while simultaneously posting memes glorifying the “old” days of finance where this type of work abuse was even more common and was directed at the analysts who have since turned into today’s MDs who then relay it back to the analysts in a vicious cycle.
It is illegal for an employer to have you undercount your hours like that.
lol, their entire internship program revolves around this practice
I am not surprised by that.
I assumed this was normal in all banks (in First World countries that are woke/entitled enough to monitor hours at least)
I have a lot of issues with how BofA runs things but IBD summers are completely useless, had even more restrictions (done by 12 AM) and so most full time staffers don’t bother giving them any real work. Any summers clocking 90+ hrs are doing it to themselves and sitting around for facetime, which honestly hurts their candidacy bc it’s stupid and could blowback on staff
Friend of mine during his medical residency was told to only log in 80 hours worked a week. Most of the time, he worked around 90-95 hours. Because the med admin had power over your recommendations to fellowships, he had to oblige. It's a fucked up world.
So much of long working hours stems from poor communication. It’s baffling to me sometimes how people will simply not send an email or pick up the phone to save hours of work. It’s almost like they do it on purpose.
1000%… some MDs won’t go 5 minutes out of their way to save you 20 hours
Was in the FIG group this summer. I can report nothing has changed other than massive exodus of juniors from the group. The MD in the banks team who ran the UMB deal is still driving people with unreasonable work and last minute changes late into the night. Heard many associates quit because of that account over the past 7-8 years. So many warning signs…no changes. Unfortunate and sad. BofA needed to get rid of those people and because they didn’t - I am frankly not going to accept FT offer.
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