New York — Hundred-hour weeks on the job. Declining physical and mental health. The heightened chance of fleeing the bank in very short order.
Those are among the laments of 13 first-year analysts in Goldman Sachs Group’s investment-banking group who surveyed themselves, according to a presentation making the rounds on social media. They shared their findings with managers.
The grousing was serious enough that the Wall Street firm is enacting new measures, including forgoing some business, to help keep the workload more manageable, according to a Goldman executive with knowledge of the matter.
Wall Street has earned its stripes as the industry of choice for those who can tolerate long hours, and that’s proven even more true during the pandemic. But complaints of not having time to eat or shower, appearing in the deck, are at odds with the softer, kinder Wall Street that senior industry executives have presented in a bid to attract and retain talent.
“We recognise that our people are very busy, because business is strong and volumes are at historic levels,” said Nicole Sharp, a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs. “A year into Covid-19, people are understandably quite stretched, and that’s why we are listening to their concerns and taking multiple steps to address them.”
The analysts even suggested solutions for the bank, such as maxing out their workweeks at 80 hours and avoiding last-minute changes to presentations for client meetings — a notable dig at Wall Street’s constant “pls fix, thanks” culture.
“Junior bankers should not be expected to do any work after 9pm Friday or all day Saturday without a pre-approved exception, as that is the only safeguarded personal time we get,” they wrote in the presentation.
Diversity fund
The group is also doubling a commitment to investing in companies run by women and people of colour to $1bn.
It has poured $450m into qualifying under-represented entrepreneurs and investors since the “Launch with GS” programme began in 2018, according to a statement on Thursday. Among them are BentoBox, which hosts websites for restaurants, and Burst Oral Care, a California-based seller of dental products.
The bank’s original $500m commitment was intended to funnel venture capital to women-owned companies but expanded to include people of colour in 2019. Initiatives for black women and diverse-led businesses have “overlapping goals”, and returns on such investments are supported by data-driven research, said Suzanne Gauron, the Goldman Sachs MD who is spearheading the effort.
Earlier in March, Goldman committed $10bn to assist 1-million black women by 2030. The bank announced a board of high-profile black women to decide how the funds will be dispersed, including Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Rosalind Brewer, former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, and actress, writer and producer Issa Rae.
Working from Florida
The group’s plan to move part of its asset-management unit to Florida is also gaining momentum, as it discreetly seeks volunteers for the first wave and prepares office space.
In recent weeks, executives overseeing Goldman Sachs Asset Management and its merchant banking operations have asked managers to identify people willing to be relocated to West Palm Beach, according to people familiar with the matter. The initial group could comprise a couple of hundred people, including investment professionals.
Meanwhile, the firm has been in talks with developer The Related Companies to arrange offices and explore the possibility of eventually expanding further in Florida, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are confidential.
Depending partly on executives’ interest, Goldman could also send some employees from other divisions to West Palm Beach as part of a longer-term effort to cut expenses, the people said.
A year of pandemic has spurred conversations in the highest rungs of the financial industry over shifting more workers from high-cost cities such as New York to places such as Florida, where taxes are lower and the weather is warm.
For years, Florida developers and promoters have ploughed money into high-end office space and private schools, only to score incremental wins luring small hedge funds and family-wealth managers. Some don’t even stay.
But under CEO David Solomon, Goldman is leaning harder into a strategy taking advantage of cheaper locales, or what it calls “high-value locations”. The bank already has beefed up its presence in Utah and Texas with thousands of jobs.
Stephanie Cohen, Goldman’s co-head of consumer and wealth management, is working on setting up a second base for herself in Dallas as the region becomes a more prominent centre for her division, the people said. The city has long been a destination for the firm’s back-office roles.
It’s all part of broad deliberations over where employees will work in the future, once vaccinations are more prevalent and outbreaks subside. Among Goldman managers, one takeaway of the pandemic is that the bank can function efficiently from disparate locations.
Bloomberg
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