Best PE Employer Practices for WLB
Has anyone seen any good WLB efforts by PE firms that worked? I know banks had protected Saturdays, but unclear for PE firms. Does your PE firm track associate hours, staffing levels, etc.?
For context, I'm trying to figure out whether it is realistic to implement some guardrails in my group to protect people from burning out
Hey Principal in PE - LBOs, the following topics might be helpful:
More suggestions...
You're welcome.
bump
The best practices are being real and fair with your associates. I'll give some anecdotes because I generally don't think any WLB protections work. It's deal work, everyone knows that, we know we're going to get ground to dust, but it's how we get ground to dust, it's not that we get ground to dust in the first place. When you're on a live deal, everything is out the window in terms of WLB except maybe an hour to recharge on Sunday morning or your firm's equivalent based on IC cadence. When you're not on a live deal, there's some leeway. Hard to institutionalize a pattern around the unpredictability.
On to the anecdotes. I used to have a VP that threw me under the bus constantly, or asked me to do specific work that he would then never look at, or would schedule meetings at 6am knowing that I had been up at 2 doing slides/model, or would keep me in the dark on all decisions. I left the industry after two years of that.
I had moments working for other VPs where the hours were worse but they were people I admired, who explained their decisions to me, asked for my opinion, were respectful of my time, and didn't actively fuck me over to save their skin. When I worked with them, I worked myself to the bone, and had no problem doing so, because I was happy to work for them because I felt like a human being they appreciated.
Candidly, I'm not sure if they implemented any of my opinions - I like to think I contributed, but it didn't really matter, because I could tell they were actually listening. They'd do things like say "hey, do you want to take the lead on this call?" for something that was a stretch development goal, or would just come by and show appreciation.
Shout out those guys.
So accurate, worked in a group with 90% of mid-level people falling in the first bucket but worked with 1-2 people in the second and grinded much harder for them but enjoyed it as I felt like I was actually valued and they were investing in my skill development
I work at a fund that is famous for being sweaty, won’t say which but we came in the top 3 on a recent instagram poll of which the worst fund was to advise. We also barely have turnover, and the reason is what the advisors don’t see. In deal work it’s a given that you’re slammed and will have no free time, but if you’re not on deals/just doing v slow PortCo stuff it’s completely acceptable to leave the office at 3pm or even earlier.
Ultimately the best way to do this is just to treat your juniors like adults, if there’s nothing for them to do make it clear they are free to go home or you’re happy for them to go for a beer together. This will build more goodwill than a month of protected weekends.
What goes hand in hand with the above is to avoid staffing them on things that obviously won’t pass IC, the few times it’s happened there’s nothing I hate more than having to grind on a memo that we all know is going nowhere. Waste of your juniors time and yours when you give comments.
Labore eaque architecto voluptatem sint sint voluptas ut. Tempora maiores officiis eaque aut. Repudiandae sit dolores sed temporibus dignissimos adipisci.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...