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19 March 2024

Revealed: Banks that make their employees work the hardest

Increased competitive pressure in the UAE is making companies try harder to keep their client numbers. (Dennis B Mallari)

Published
By Shuchita Kapur

Investment bankers have it all – a cushy job, fat paycheques, fatter bonuses and lavish holidays.

That, however, maybe just one side of the coin, with the other being long working hours, high-stress work environment and the resultant health damages.

Those outside the investment banking industry often equate the ‘insiders’ with fat pay cheques and annual bonuses that can put most other sectors to shame.

Undoubtedly, salaries in investment banks are mostly handsome, but they do come with their scars and moles.

For the more money they earn, people employed in this industry work long hours, much more than what average employees in other industries or even commercial/retail banks would do.

Unlike the 40- or 45-hour week for most employees in other sectors, investment bankers’ work week looks like never-ending – going up to 90 hours for some banks.

This means missing weddings, social dinners, family get-togethers, children’s sports day, parties and other social events. Many in the industry, in fact, correlate the long hours to working in the army.

In the list of investment banks, there are some that fare slightly better than others. Website www.wallstreetoasis.com has released its picks – the worst offenders with draconian hours and those that may seem slightly less harsh.

The best banks in the list are Morgan Stanley with 67.6 hours and UBS at 68.4 average hours worked in the week – notice that even the ‘best’ is much worse than the average work-week of 48 or so hours.

It only gets worse from there on.

Employees at Deutsche Bank work an average 70 hours; those in Citi work about 70.7 hours whereas it’s even higher in Barclays (71.4 hours) and Credit Suisse (72.1 hours).

Bankers at Lazard, Rothschild, Perella Weinberg and Evercore regularly put in 80 hours plus, with employees at the New York-headquartered Moelis & Co working an excruciating 88.9 hours on an average. Wonder how long a ‘bad week’ will be for Moelis staffers!

Here is the full list of the banks with average hours worked

1. Morgan Stanley: 67.6 hours

2. UBS: 68.4 hours

3. Deutsche: 70 hours

4. Citi: 70.7 hours

5. Barclays: 71.4 hours

6. Credit Suisse: 72.1 hours

7. Goldman: 72.4 hours

8. Nomura: 72.9 hours

9. Blackstone: 75.8 hours

10. Jefferies & Company: 79.3 hours

11. Evercore: 81.4 hours

12. Perella Weinberg: 82.2 hours

13. Rothschild: 83.1 hours

14. Lazard: 85.3 hours

15. Moelis: 88.9 hours