Swept Under the Radar

Uncover the Truth of Wall Street’s Working Conditions

Bill McMahon
English 138T
04/15/2024

Background:
One of the most famous areas in America: Wall Street, a part of New York City
(now expanding beyond New York) which holds large financial institutions and trading
floors. The media has spent decades portraying the area as a place to earn a large
salary and live a care-free lifestyle, giving prospective finance undergraduates all the
motivation they need to try and earn a placement there. In reality, young employees on
Wall Street operate in some of the most inhumane working conditions. Investment
Banking, a common practice on Wall Street, is a title known by many yet most are
unaware of how young workers in this field are treated. Investment banks prey on
prominent undergraduates every year, taking them in for 1-2 years and working them
until they burnout1 or find an exit opportunity elsewhere.

What Are These Conditions Like?

Wall Street’s unbearable work environment flies under the radar every year. Institutions
normally do not allow for their employees to talk to the media, and their conditions aren’t visibly
horrific, like a broken down factory or unsanitary restaurant kitchen. Quite frankly, the facilities
are always appealing from the third party. Analysts, the bottom of the investment banking chain
and a role given to fresh undergraduates, experience unrealistic expectations and work hazing

1
Gura, David. 2021. “As Burnout Culture Weighs down Wall Street, Young Bankers Are
Rethinking Their Career.” NPR. May 6, 2021.
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/06/994376666/as-burnout-culture-weighs-down-wall-street-young-b
ankers-are-rethinking-their-ca.
every year. It is a culture that is unregulated by any third party. This first came to light for the
public in 2021 when Goldman Sachs, one of the top banks in America, launched an anonymous
survey for their analyst employees. Some results included:

The workers, on average, worked 105 hours that week, and have worked like this
consistently since the beginning of that year3. That is almost 17 hours a day during a 6
day work week. Analysts get little to no sleep and some have reported sleeping in the
office due to time constraints with their amount of work. Analysts have an unpredictable
work schedule. They can think they have a small amount of work due, then a new deal
can be given to their bank and their predicted hours for that week will triple. Currently,
we see that the work-life balance of an investment banker has worsened compared to a
decade ago. The Covid-19 pandemic allowed for institutions to adopt practices which

2
Sachs, Goldman. 2021. “Working Conditions Survey.”
https://biws-support.s3.amazonaws.com/Goldman%20Sachs%20Working%20Conditions%20Su
rvey.pdf.
3
Working Conditions Survey, Goldman Sachs
helped analysts complete work from home. As the pandemic simmers, we see
employees being asked to work remotely or join meetings from home. This new aspect
of work has made employees feel that they are always on the clock, even after they get
home from a long work shift. 4

Current Status: Why Should We Act Now?

Through the implementation of technology and other external factors, our country
is currently experiencing a mental health crisis. Mental illness and reports of poor
mental health are at an all time high, and these working conditions are further
contributing to this crisis. In the Goldman Sachs survey, they reported:

Overall, there is a 60% average decline in their mental health, which is simply
unacceptable. Furthermore, this is how analysts described their current lifestyle:

4
“Understanding Investment Banking Hours: A Detailed Guide for You.” 2023. Where to Invest
Money. October 22, 2023.
https://wheretoinvest.money/understanding-investment-banking-hours-a-detailed-guide-for-you/.
5
Working Conditions Survey, Goldman Sachs
 Workers unanimously agreed that their job has negatively affected their
relationships with family and friends, which is a key factor in one’s mental health. An
absurd 77%6 feel that they are victims of workplace abuse, as well as needing to seek
third party help to manage their stress.
Policymakers can no longer allow this culture to be okay. Investment bankers are
clearly struggling, and they lack support from outsiders since there many activists are
less educated in this field, or assume that it is okay since bankers are well
compensated. Internally, managers lack any initiative to change the culture, as they
had to experience these long hours as well. Some describe it as a “hazing” culture7 and
refer to the idea that if these older workers had to deal with the hours, then the new
workers should as well.

How Can We Address This Issue?

6
Survey, Goldman
7
Dzhanova, Yelena. n.d. “Goldman Sachs Has Reached a Settlement with a Former Intern Who
Accused the Investment Banking Firm of Fostering a ‘Fraternity Culture.’” Business Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-settles-former-intern-accused-frat-culture-2021
-10.
 There are multiple changes and potential policies that can help ease the stress
on this work style. This Issue Brief will give concise summaries of each proposal and
how it can be potentially implemented.
80 Hour Work Week Maximum:
No banker in America should be allowed to work 100 hours a week consistently.
There is an abundance of scientific evidence that proves this to be the case as well. In
a Stanford Study8 lead by John Pencavel, it was found that work weeks that exceed 50
hours see a sharp decline in productivity in their employees. After 55 hours, any work
done is considered “useless”, says Pencavel. Pencavel even goes as far to say that a
70 hour work week is “as productive” as a 55 hour work week. Considering there is
other research that backs similar claims, how can this not be a concern for investment
banks? These long hours seem to only hurt the mental health of their workers and in
return, less quality output. Therefore, it is realistic to ask financial institutions to work
their analysts no more than 80 hours a week, and this can be done through multiple
ways:

Proposal for Tax Cuts:

As we know, our government takes a considerable amount of time to pass laws,
and creating a law that regulates these hours could take decades to agree upon.
However, financial institutions are built upon making a large profit, and this can be used
as an incentive to get these large institutions to agree to follow a work hour cap.
Contracts signed between these institutions and the government can be incentive
based. If a bank like Goldman Sachs follows a strict 80 hour cap, then they can be
rewarded with tax breaks, something that is appealing to all companies everywhere.
Not only is this a much easier process than setting a federal law for these institutions,
but it also makes up for the potential problem of not being able to work on as many
deals due to a loss in hours since they have funding to hire more people.

8
Kabir Sehgal. 2019. “Stanford Professor: Working This Many Hours a Week Is Basically
Pointless. Here’s How to Get More Done—by Doing Less.” CNBC. CNBC. March 20, 2019.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/20/stanford-study-longer-hours-doesnt-make-you-more-productiv
e-heres-how-to-get-more-done-by-doing-less.html
 This can be accompanied by a media campaign that highlights the concerning
factors that come with long work hours. This can be not only commercialized, but sent
to management roles within these institutions to bring awareness and further sway them
towards following the tax cuts agreement. This campaign will include the findings in the
Stanford Study9, which brings to light the sharp decrease in productivity once 55 hours
or more have been worked in a week. It can also consider other studies as well. The
National Library of Medicine published findings which show that consistently long
working hours will significantly reduce cognitive functions in workers10. Workers have
trouble remembering specific content they have worked on and are prone to making
small mistakes, whether that is grammatical error or other issues. This is a problem for
an industry that hyper focuses on attention to detail
A compilation of these findings can be created and sent out to management, as
well as given access to by reporters, which could then be used in media outlets and
create a better public understanding of what these workers are going through. Which,
in return, could increase pressure on these companies to follow a work hour limit as
public support grows.

Existing Policy
There is a wide range of regulations federally when it comes to labor. One of the
most relevant to our everyday lives is the Wages and Fair Labor Standards Act.11 Also
known as the FLSA, this federal law covers a broad range of labor concerns. It sets a
federal minimum wage and specifies that a worker needs to be paid 1.5x their salary for
every hour worked after 40 hours a week.

9
(Kabir Sehgal 2019)
10
Leso, Veruscka, Luca Fontana, Angela Caturano, Ilaria Vetrani, Mauro Fedele, and Ivo
Iavicoli. 2021. “Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions:
Current Evidence and Future Research Needs.” International Journal of Environmental
Research and Public Health 18 (12): 6540. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126540.
11
U.S. Department of Labor. 2024. “Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act.” U.S. Department
of Labor. 2024. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa.
12

For policymakers looking to regulate the weekly hours for Investment Banking
and similar jobs that work their employees an inhumane amount, this would be a law to
target for amendments. A subsection of the FLSA can include the maximum amount of
work hours an employee can work for a company in a single week. It can be titled
“Hours Regulation” and can be placed under the FLSA Overtime subsection. This
subsection can establish that workers can be paid overtime after they’ve passed 40
hours of work in the week, however no employee can work more than 80 hours for a
single company within a week.
How Do We Solve This Internally?
While we have talked about third party resources for these investment banks,
how can we help the actual investment bankers combat their “hazing culture”?

Anonymous Submissions to the Department of Labor

A perfect way to crack down on this culture is to set up a communication service
between Investment Banking Analysts and Compliance Directors in the U.S.
Department of Labor. Here, analysts can report any work abuse, which is prevalent
when over 75% of Goldman Sachs Analysts surveyed said that they felt they were

12
“Gig Workers Need Updated Employment Law, House Panel Chair Says | National GIG.” n.d.
Nationalgig.org. Accessed April 15, 2024.
https://nationalgig.org/gig-worker/gig-workers-need-updated-employment-law-house-panel-chair
-says/
victims of workplace abuse.13 While there are similar communication services to this in
our country, having an Investment Banking specific service for this particular abuse
could put pressure on older directors to regulate how hard they are pushing their new
workers. This can also allow for any extreme cases to be investigated and even held
liable legally, which would regulate this hazing culture and potentially eliminate it as
workers see the cons of their negative actions. More importantly, it can lessen the
workload for analysts and may even empower them enough to reject work that they feel
is unrealistically demanding, giving some fair power to the younger workers.

Summary:
Policymakers have an urgent responsibility on their hands. While Investment
Banking has been known as a demanding job, the increased workload post Covid-19
pandemic and a growing hazing culture has made the working conditions for these
young, vulnerable analysts unbearable. There is simply not enough regulation when it
comes to investment banking and directors have spent decades increasing the
workload and hours for its newest employees. With conditions only worsening, we need
action from our policy makers now. An important first step is setting a limit to the
amount of hours an analyst can work in a week. The most effective way to do this is
through government incentives. Potential tax breaks can be given to financial
institutions that agree to follow this limit, which will not only help the analysts but also
drive profits for the institution, which benefits managers. Something that can assist this
initiative is the media campaign, which compiles valid medical studies that show a
decrease in employees productivity, cognitive function, and mental health when given
long hours. Not only will this show directors how their policy affects people emotionally,
but will show them evidence that these hours hurt their productivity and efficiency. The
FLSA can be amended to accommodate to this new need. As for the internal “hazing”
culture that young investment bankers receive, there can be an anonymous
communication service designated for investment bankers that allows for reports to be

13
Survey, Goldman Sachs
submitted of workplace abuse, which can hold older employees accountable for their
harmful actions.
It is time for change. We must protect these vulnerable workers from these
unbearable conditions that have gone decades without proper regulation or even
awareness. If these policies are followed, future generations of finance undergraduates
can experience a challenging yet fair beginning to Wall Street and not experience a
significantdecline in their mental or physical health.
 Works Cited
Leso, Veruscka, Luca Fontana, Angela Caturano, Ilaria Vetrani, Mauro
Fedele, and Ivo Iavicoli. 2021. “Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours
on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research
Needs.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
18 (12): 6540. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126540.
Sachs, Goldman. 2021. “Working Conditions Survey.”
https://biws-support.s3.amazonaws.com/Goldman%20Sachs%20Working%20
Conditions%20Survey.pdf.
February 2022, Sarah Butcher 22. 2022. “Ex-JPMorgan Analyst on His
72 and 100 Hour Weeks.” EFinancialCareers. February 22, 2022.
https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/2022/02/working-hours-jpmorgan.
“Understanding Investment Banking Hours: A Detailed Guide for You.”
2023. Where to Invest Money. October 22, 2023.
https://wheretoinvest.money/understanding-investment-banking-hours-a-detail
ed-guide-for-you/.
Kabir Sehgal. 2019. “Stanford Professor: Working This Many Hours a
Week Is Basically Pointless. Here’s How to Get More Done—by Doing Less.”
CNBC. CNBC. March 20, 2019.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/20/stanford-study-longer-hours-doesnt-make-y
ou-more-productive-heres-how-to-get-more-done-by-doing-less.html
Hirsch, Lauren. 2021. “JPMorgan Chase Pledges to Improve Working
Conditions, and This Time It Hopes the Changes Will Stick.” The New York
Times, April 21, 2021, sec. Business.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/business/jpmorgan-chase-pledges-to-im
prove-working-conditions-and-this-time-it-hopes-the-changes-will-stick.html
Gura, David. 2021. “As Burnout Culture Weighs down Wall Street,
Young Bankers Are Rethinking Their Career.” NPR. May 6, 2021.
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/06/994376666/as-burnout-culture-weighs-down-
wall-street-young-bankers-are-rethinking-their-ca
U.S. Department of Labor. 2024. “Wages and the Fair Labor Standards
Act.” U.S. Department of Labor. 2024. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa.
“Gig Workers Need Updated Employment Law, House Panel Chair Says
| National GIG.” n.d. Nationalgig.org. Accessed April 15, 2024.
https://nationalgig.org/gig-worker/gig-workers-need-updated-employment-law-
house-panel-chair-says/.
Dzhanova, Yelena. n.d. “Goldman Sachs Has Reached a Settlement
with a Former Intern Who Accused the Investment Banking Firm of Fostering
a ‘Fraternity Culture.’” Business Insider.
https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-settles-former-intern-accuse
d-frat-culture-2021-10.