Goldman Sachs junior bankers complain of job exhaustion amid SPAC-fueled boom in Wall Street bids

According to an internal survey conducted by a group of first-year analysts, Goldman Sachs junior investment bankers are suffering from exhaustion for 100-hour workweeks and demanding bosses during a boom in deals fueled by SPAC.

The increase in activity has severely affected analysts ’mental and physical health since at least the beginning of the year, according to slides posted on social media and authenticated by people with knowledge of the issue.

“Sleep deprivation, senior bankers’ treatment, mental and physical stress … I’ve been through foster care and that’s definitely worse,” a Goldman analyst said in a survey. February of 13 employees.

“My body hurts physically all the time and mentally I’m in a very dark place,” another analyst said.

The slide show, full of color-coded graphics and formatted in the official style of an investment banking presentation book, was created after a group of disgruntled analysts from various teams came together to survey to his colleagues, according to people. First-year analysts are usually recent college students and occupy the lowest tier of the Wall Street hierarchy; on top are associates, followed by vice presidents and CEOs.

The Wall Street model involves hiring thousands of entry-level workers each year, often graduates of top-tier universities, to create a talent channel and a workforce dedicated to the more mundane aspects of investment banking. Minor bankers exchange a grueling workload for a salary higher than the average American salary and eventually earn multi-million-dollar compensation packages as CEO.

Working conditions on Wall Street became a hot topic in 2013 after the death of a Bank of America inmate in London after a sleepless nights. The industry then began adopting sheltered weekends, where minor employees could not work on Saturday or Sunday without the manager’s approval.

However, despite the changes, the culture of the industry remains. Goldman respondents called the conditions “inhumane,” saying working 110 hours a week usually leaves four hours a day to sleep and take care of oneself.

Although the survey corresponded to a small sample of Goldman employees, the bank took its concerns seriously, according to people. Goldman executives met with employees last month and told them they would increase the hiring of junior bankers to deal with the workload, they said. The bank has also transferred employees to bolster busier teams and has been working to automate aspects of its jobs.

The 13 employees were not punished for creating the survey, a segment of which was posted this week on their Instagram account Litquidity, according to people.

“We recognize that our people are very busy, because business is strong and volumes are at historic levels,” said Nicole Sharp, a Goldman spokeswoman. “A year after COVID, it’s understandable that people are tight and that’s why we’re listening to their concerns and taking several steps to address them.”

With a record year on Wall Street, the IPO market is on fire, driven by an insatiable demand for new businesses. This demand is being met by SPACs, or blank check companies that used to make companies public, and the $ 164 billion SPAC mergers so far this year have already surpassed the 2020 total, according to Dealogic.

The pending deal reached a record high during the first quarter, Goldman chief financial officer Stephen Scherr said at a conference last week. Goldman is the world’s leading merger advisor, eliminating JPMorgan Chase for total trading volume and number of transactions.