Large financial firms, like Goldman Sachs, PJT Partners, and Arma Partners, require near total devotion from their junior bankers in mergers and acquisitions departments. They have almost zero downtime during the first years of their careers. In addition to administrative duties and analysis, they will work with trading turrets as they negotiate deals with multiple parties. These advanced telephone systems come from specialized companies, and some companies will specify trading turrets from Market Communications be used at their operations.
How Many Hours Do Investment Bankers Actually Work?
Goldman Sachs currently holds the title of the company that works its investment bankers the hardest. Surveys of their first-year analysts reveal that these people work an average of 95 hours per week. Most other firms around the world expect rigorous hours as well. Industrywide, 70 to 85 hours per week is the average for investment bankers regardless of where they work.
To keep these bankers consistently connected to businesspeople and investors, banks may choose to run their telephone systems with turret as a service. This approach frees the financial institution from managing the system and software because it is run by a specialty company operating a hosted trader platform.
People in this occupation split their time between research and presenting information to superiors and clients. They might spend as much as half of their workday preparing presentations on PowerPoint. The rest of their time is divided between administrative tasks and working in financial software as they value companies and model financial proposals.
The Impact Of Work From Home On Work Hours
The pandemic shifted many white-collar workers into a work from home environment. This situation did not reduce the amount of labor put in by investment bankers. Hosted trader voice technology allowed them to remain connected from locations outside of the office. With cloud hosted trader voice technology, bankers access advanced communications by connecting to it externally instead of relying on a system tied only to a single office location.
Investment bankers in senior positions generally expect their junior employees to be available on demand. When senior bankers switched to working from home predominantly, the expectation of constant availability increased for junior employees. Day or night, they are supposed to respond to requests almost instantly. The small relief that they might have previously gotten when away from their desks has ceased to exist due to constant connectivity.
Compensation For Investment Bankers
People pursue this demanding career because of the promise of high compensation. With demands on these employees soaring in 2021, Goldman Sachs increased pay for top-performing junior analysts to $180,000 a year. Once people gain four or five years of experience, their pay can rise to roughly $500,000.
Even so, the crushing work hours contribute to a high turnover rate. People who thought that they could produce good work without any rest run into the reality of burning out. Hours that leave them with only five to seven hours for sleep per day wear down their mental and physical faculties. They cease to be as effective in their roles due to exhaustion. Many of these employees leave within the first year or two. They switch to jobs in sales and trading. In those positions, they can keep hours down to about 55 and still make well over $200,000.
Company cultures at investment banks perpetuate this system of overwork. People in higher positions see the long hours as the price for advancing in the company. They worked the grueling hours to receive their rewards and expect the up-and-coming workers to pay the same dues.