Protected Saturdays
Many banks have recently implemented programs where analysts are given protected Saturdays off from work. How has this change in policy affected analyst life? Is it easier to date/schedule events/have a life? Does the increased workload on Sunday completely offset the benefit of having Saturday off?
It's just a PR move. If there is a live deal, the protected Saturday policy flies out the window.
What if it's not a live deal. Like say just some discussion materials or a pitch or something of that ilk. Do the senior bankers respect "protected Saturdays" enough to put off asking for that next turn? Or does basically no one care about the "protected saturday" policy.
At my bank, the protected Saturday policy only exists when there is nothing that has to be done. If the senior bankers want something completed on Saturday, they ignore the policy. Honestly, the hours at my bank are great compared to others, so no one is complaining. I cannot speak for other banks as I do not work there.
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Not sure where these guys get their info. Have friends at these banks and they've only worked a handful of saturdays since the policies came out. They'll often be working all day sunday though so pick your poison.
Maybe from actually working at these banks and not relying on second-and information from friends?! C'mon, man.
Not sure who actually works in banking here (at a BB) but Saturday policy is working well across the board. Senior management across the board seem to be very focused on improving the lives of junior bankers. And lives have meaningfully approved.
Examples at three banks --
GS is extremely strict on ensuring analysts don't work Saturdays. Your staffer / bum is notified if you enter the building on a Saturday. Exceptions are made on live deals and even important pitches but requires senior approval.
CS has the policy only for pitches. It's followed pretty well and senior bankers tend not to ask for work to be done on Saturdays, even on live deals, whenever possible. Your staffer / coo will have no idea if you're working on Saturday though. Some MDs ignore the policy on important pitches but if the analyst / associate want to, they can simply refuse to work until they receive an email from their group head confirming the exception, or escalate the issue to the group coo.
Citi also has a strict policy for Saturday's. Lots of MDs break it though but the good ones are organized and will ensure analyst don't work through Saturday.
None of those descriptions seem to indicate that the policy is working well. All three of those BBs basically say "You cannot work Saturdays unless we need you to". It's just a PR move. Tell a staffer or senior banker about the policy, and see what happens come July/August bonus time.
It may work slightly differently at bulge brackets, but from the MM teams I've talked to, the analysts don't like it. If there's work to be done, it's going to get done at some point, and they're more likely to get slammed some other day of the week and be miserable.
Yes I agree with this
Saturday policy is taken very seriously by senior leadership (think the guys who group heads report to) at my bank.
Firm is tracking who enters the building or logs on remotely. Know for a fact that groups with high numbers of unapproved junior folks working on Saturdays are being reprimanded. Also have heard a few stories of analysts who pulled full days on Saturday without telling anyone / for no reason getting into trouble with their staffer and group head.
So, yes, protected saturdays are for the most part 'real' and not a PR move. Some love it, some prefer we didn't have the policy, but as far as I can tell nobody hates it. And senior bankers have come to accept it is not going away any time soon.
Again, disclaimer that it's from another industry but I've seen similar policies work well in other industries with similar workloads. The regional manager during my "internship" (a semi household name), had implemented a strict policy that managers had to empty their office at 5PM on certain days of the week. He also had a reputation for personally checking around offices to make sure that the policy was being followed, and if violations were caught the supervisor responsible would get his ass chewed by said area manager. The mid-level managers bitched up a storm every time the policy came up predictably.
A funny thing happened. In spite of how much they bitched about there "not being enough time" to get everything done, they mysteriously managed to get done by 5PM things that I later saw take until 9 or 10 PM routinely. Now obviously there are a lot of people who actually do have so much to do that 80 hours plus is the norm (especially business owners who can't push off responsibilities), but you'd be amazed how often "business" is simply the result of inefficiency or people not giving a shit about wasting others time.
This is an honest question: In case of such policies is there no way to work remotely without getting noticed? I don't wanna be the sucker newbie who doesn't work when everyone is working and as a result is ranked lower
You're missing the entire point of the protected Saturday, aren't you? It's people like you that make the protected Saturdays not work.
Do these protected weekends / Saturdays apply for associates as well?
Except that I knew full well what I was getting into when deciding to pursue this career path. One of the reasons was not work-life balance or guaranteed Saturdays
You must still be in school...
One of the reasons joining an investment bank is violating their work policy? You seem like a fun guy ...
My EB doesn't have protected saturdays, but have you guys found that the same amount of work gets done? Just over 6 days, so you either ruin Fridays or sundays?
Doesn't seem like any of the boutiques have protected weekends.
Have a no-work Saturday policy at my bank, but it doesn't seem enforced, i.e. you definitely have to work if it's a live deal.
Saturday rule is followed strictly (Friday night - Sunday morning) at our MM shop. Has forced senior employees to take more initiative with their own work, increase efficiency/reduce turns & and overall assume more responsibility. When jammed, I'll work 14-18 hours on a Sunday, and when slow it can feel like I unplugged for the entire weekend (2-4 hours on Sunday). The hours definitely find their way of getting worked into the week, but overall they are down 5-10 hrs/week compared to my first year at another MM firm.
My bank has protected weekends every quarter or month depending on group. It's really more of a "feel good" move more than anything, though some groups really do respect that policy. One of my friends was told Sunday morning that he had to do something during his protected weekend. He mentioned it was his protected weekend and the senior banker goes, "Oh enjoy the rest of your weekend! Just have it on my desk Monday morning".
How well enforced is the policy at BB? During SA recruiting, most of these banks heavily emphasized the policy as a key differentiator between BBs and EBs.
Jefferies Protected Saturdays (Originally Posted: 02/01/2016)
I am going to be interning at Jefferies this summer and was wondering if anyone had any insight into their work/ life balance. I know how challenging the internship will be and how I will usually be up till the early hours of the morning most nights, but since most banks have begun to adopt some form of protected weekends for their analysts and interns, I was curious to know if Jefferies has any similar policies.
I will be interning there in the summer as well and talked to my friend who was a SA last summer there. As far as the NY office goes, it sounded like everything is group dependent. Some interns never had to work weekends because they were on slow deals, or you could work a lot of weekends. He also said that facetime is not important so if you don't have work to do, you can leave the office. But since you never knew when you'd be staffed on a new deal or when more work would come in, you just had to be on top of your shit.
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