I just found out I need surgery on my leg from a recent injury and am supposed to be non weight bearing for 6-10 weeks.
Has anyone gone through a surgery while working in PE? How did you manage / any advice?
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talk to your vp / md and ask if you can work remote for the 2 months following the surgery. if they push back (which they shouldn't) see if 1 day in office works and just take a taxi to from the office that day.
There is absolutely no way you’re going to get cut any slack no matter what they say. Find a PT place near your office and go in the mornings before work. They might say they want to be supportive, but when push comes to shove and there is an IC memo or data pack due in the morning, you’re going to be up all night and will be expected to skip PT. The blunt truth is you will not be able to rehab to 100% (which takes a shit ton of time in PT, working out on your own, sleeping well, and eating really well), while working in PE. Your partner and VP will not give a single shit about that reality either, no matter what they say to sound nice. You alone will have to figure out how to set boundaries / slack off at work to make sure you have time and space to rehab.
My biggest recommendation is get the doctor to write a note that says you are not going to be able to work for 2 weeks. Tell your partner and VP you’re on pain killers and won’t be lucid during that period of time. The first week post surgery is brutal, you literally feel like you have COVID because your body is expending so much energy to heal. Giving yourself two weeks to completely unplug and destress so your body can recover from all the trauma of surgery is the biggest thing you can do to increase the odds of a complete recovery.
FWIW - surgery rehab gave me the confidence to leave finance behind. It really shows you how unhealthy the lifestyle is and makes you ask some hard questions about what your health and mobility is really worth to you.
Yeah this is what I’m worried about… I was told it will be up to a 12 month recovery and I’m in the middle of a deal sprint right now.
Yeah the timing sucks, but guess what's more important than that deal, or your bonus, or your career? Your leg. Don't delay getting surgery or taking the time you need. Don't be a hero to people who will replace you in 1-2 years with a new fresh class of associates and never think about you or the fact that you're now a cripple ever again.
The fact of the matter is that it's emergency surgery - treat it like it's an emergency and give it the seriousness that it deserves. If you can pick the time of the surgery, communicate that ahead of time to your team, write a detailed email explaining where you are in all of your work streams, and what you think needs to happen over the next 2-3 weeks while you are out. If another associate is replacing you temporarily, get them up to speed and make sure they have everything they need to operate fully while you're out. Your sole focus should be minimizing the likelihood that anyone needs to bother you about anything while you are out. Stress while recovering from surgery (which is really traumatic to your body) can lead to a LOT of nasty complications (eg: a friend of mine broke out in shingles and has scars all over their face now).
After you get this surgery and you're non weight bearing, it will become extremely clear and obvious to you that no amount of money or prestige or professional success is worth more than your health. There's absolutely nothing cool about being a PE partner or a CEO or a multi-millionaire who can't walk or live without pain.
This comment might’ve single-handedly taken me off the PE path
It's not true though. Yes, they'll be a bit annoyed for two months but no one will remember or care after that.
I love how in all these posts that showcase the faults and issues with IB/PE, you'll see these bootlicking white-knights come out and defend the profession with all their life, but if anyone from outside our industry actually read this post, they'd think we are all literally insane.
I hate how these professions make us feel that this is a genuine concern.
Dude….prioritize your health. I promise you your team will not give a shit about any complications you may endure as a result of trying to be a good soldier.
You will be replaced and left to suffer the consequences of neglecting your health.
You get one body but can have multiple jobs over a lifetime.
I can't speak for PE, but...
I've worked across 3 groups that are consistently mentioned every time someone posts about biggest sweatshops or worst culture. Every single one of them, without question has given me as much flexibility as I've asked and much much more any time I've had surgery, or my wife has or any other family member.
Health always comes first and even the biggest hardasses in the industry have consistently emphasized that to me.
PE is far different culturally than banking that way. PE guys appear agreeable and vanilla friendly, but are far far more transactional people than bankers are. In PE you are more disposable at every level (why two and out associate programs exist) vs. in banking there is relatively more value in growing and retaining talent. I could imagine bankers cutting their rock star analyst / associate / VP some slack, but that is far less likely to happen in PE.
Hey if you want, dm me. I also had a similar situation (but this was in 2nd year of banking and during COVID so I was WFH). Can give you details on my experience. Also the guy above that you replied to nailed it as well.
The guy above that you replied to nailed it. The deal cred / bonus will be meaningless ten years from now, but if you don't recover 100% from the injury that WILL affect you for the rest of your life, especially in the later years.
You need to work with your care team in order to get documentation for HR (dr's note) so that you can get the maximum amount of leeway to recover from your surgery. I had a similar ankle surgery (1+ year recovery time to return to sport) during COVID while in banking and only got 1 week off because I didn't go to HR.
Also, you might want to look up what proper nutrition and supplementation looks like pre and post surgery. For example, you might want to buy a bunch of premade protein shakes (post surgery while you are immobile your leg muscles atrophy extremely quickly), collagen, vitamin C/D.
EDIT: Also, I'm not sure if you're in New York, but the chain PT's SUCK. They are incredibly incompetent, each PT treats multiple patients at a time and don't really pay any attention to you. I'm talking about places like Spear PT. I've gone to them during my recovery and they will not produce optimal results. You want to go to the most expensive PT you can (obv trying to solve for location proximity, whether they take your insurance or not, etc), but DO NOT SKIMP on it. Post-surergy, the PT will be one of the the main levers for whether you properly rehab, and how quickly you do it (obv nutrition + sleep is the other part).
I went to Finish Line PT near Chelsea, they do 1-on-1's and my PT was way more competent. Also, post-rehab I continued to pay for PT ($150+/hr) to work on everything else. It's a great investment.
Associate at a MF. I’ve had 2 close friends go through similar situations - users above are correct, your VP/Principal/Partner will not give a single shit about you or give you any slack at all, so would try to prioritize your health as you deem fit and manage expectations accordingly.
Genuinely not trying to say this in a cynical or overly pessimistic way, but I don’t think there is a single VP+ in my firm who would be bothered even if I died for more than a few hours. Interestingly enough, was in a notoriously sweaty IB group before this and the folks there definitely did show more empathy towards health issues.
Likely just a result of the more collegial nature of IB + PE tending to have a significantly higher concentration of sociopathic individuals.
Completely depends on where you work and the culture. Some places will completely lack sympathy, others will be accommodating (particularly if they’ve gone through something similar themselves). Only you can best assess what the reaction will be.
Note that if you’re a rockstar and established at the firm, they are much more likely to be lenient. If you have a reputation for being an under performer, you won’t be cut as much slack. Inconsistent and ridiculous, but that’s usually the way it works.
You have two legs but only one career. I would pick working on the deal.
Extremely surprised by what others are saying. You should just say you need 2 weeks no work to recover, then two months wfh to finalize. Multiple people at my shop have gone thru the same thing, no issues. Don’t create an issue in your head that doesn’t exist.
The harder you work, the better your leg will feel. Buckle down and chase that carry
Is this your first reconstructive surgery? Do not underestimate how much it sucks. For the first few weeks there is 0% chance you would be productive with work - you're going to be in a lot of pain, brain fog with the meds, and rehab sucks. Surgery is a totally valid excuse to take time off and then WFH. I would try to leverage it as much as possible.
People in finance overestimate how much quantity of work matters when it comes to reputation, quality of work is more significant. Take some time off (and use it as a break from PE) and come back stronger.
I was an Associate at a MF and something similar happened to me. Obviously everyone is going to be supportive in your face and say they’ll do everything to accommodate, but the experience was pretty difficult. Started getting double staffed on everything and taken off emails (not because they cared about my WLB but to get someone on the team that was 100% focused on work 24/7 and they didn’t want giving me work to weigh on their conscious)… it was just a disheartening experience and made me realize PE just requires so much more sacrifices than I previously expected. I knew the latter and I had no issues working 24/7 for the several years leading up to that point, but when a life event / injury / diagnosis happens, you start to realize there are better ways to live.
I'm exactly in your position..I got surgery on Friday and hope and pray it all works out.
Good luck. Take the full two weeks off post surgery to completely decompress and rest a lot so your body can heal.
When you get back, be aggressive about rehab. Single leg bike, single leg row, lift upper body to keep the rest of your body from atrophying. Get a pouch for your crutches so you can carry things around. Make sure you’re getting abundant protein, cut out alcohol, and prioritize sleep. Do your PT exercises religiously.
Surgery is a big, permanently life altering (but not life ending) thing. Approach it with the priority it deserves and you’ll come out the other end okay.
Yall need to find better firms vs just chasing prestige lol. Am also surprised by some of these responses and thankful I went the growing MM route with better culture vs optimizing for marginally better short term comp and getting the fake pride of posting on LinkedIn just to hate my life
Since when do you need a leg to run excel or make a PPT?
Have a similar situation with an arm injury. If I get surgery, I wouldn’t be able to type on one hand for at least 2 months. Not sure how my firm would react to that and if anyone has been in similar situations?
I know someone this happened to… they were expected to work at normal and full efficiency with their one arm. You will not get cut any slack at all. You could potentially go on short term or long term disability but assume you’ll get fired as soon as you get back (kind of like the EA at my firm who got into a car crash and was out for a few months) or at minimum get a $0 bonus (like the associate who took off 2 months after his mom died).
You’re disposable labor. If they gave a single shit about having a long term relationship with you, you wouldn’t be on a two year contract and they wouldn’t have already hired your replacements during on cycle.
Wow
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