NEW YORK, March 28, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – A revolt by junior Goldman Sachs’
bankers over work weeks that can stretch to as long as 105 hours has inspired
both schadenfreude over discontent at the storied investment bank and wider
debate about the future of work after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The erosion between office and home boundaries during the pandemic means
many white-collar workers can relate on some level to the complaints, even if
the plight of elite young bankers seeking riches does not inspire sympathy.
The issues underlying the Goldman Sachs controversy are “reflective of a
broader problem,” said Temple University sociologist Kevin Delaney, author of
“Money at Work: On the Job with Priests, Poker Players and Hedge Fund
Traders.”
“People feel the boundaries have disappeared between work and leisure and
work and life. A lot of people are struggling with it because they are not
sure when they are allowed to take time off.”
In the wake of the dustup, Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon has
urged staff to respect a firm-wide policy of not working on Saturdays, and
praised the young staffers for speaking up.
The gripes were felt beyond Goldman’s corner of Lower Manhattan. Citi Chief
Executive Jane Fraser this week announced “Zoom-Free Fridays” and urged
workers to take their vacation time, adding that she planned a few days off
“knowing I will come back with a fresher brain.”
Jennifer Moss, a syndicated columnist who specializes in workplace issues,
praised the moves, but said employers will need to follow through if they
want to maintain their staff after the pandemic.
The upheaval of the past year — along with efforts to improve diversity at
top firms — creates the potential for improving work culture. But experts
caution change is not easy.
“It needs to be this mind shift, but this is a great start,” Moss told AFP.
“It’s a legacy of overwork that’s been institutionalized.”
– Beyond self-care –
Compared with other options, being overworked could be viewed as a
preferable plight during the pandemic. Government data show millions of
people in the United States remain out of work.
The coronavirus itself has also infected or killed many “essential” workers
such as supermarket staff, transit workers, nurses and others who cannot
telecommute.
But among those still with jobs, mental burnout is on the rise.
In a February article in the Harvard Business Review, Ross said the
disruption has been especially pronounced for younger staff.
One millennial quoted in the story said they encountered professional
roadblocks as well as negative health effects from diminished opportunities
to exercise.
A survey of 1,500 workers showed 85 percent reported their well-being had
declined and 55 percent said they felt like they had not been able to balance
their home and work life, according to Ross.
Possible steps to remedy the situation include establishing a manageable
workload and a mental health resource page for staff as part of a strategy to
destigmatize the issue.
Solutions must go beyond self-care steps such as yoga and meditation apps,
Moss argues, adding “we desperately need upstream interventions, not
downstream tactics.”
– Will it change? –
All of the young Goldman bankers felt their work hours had negatively
impacted relationships with friends and family and also created unrealistic
deadlines.
Most also reported feeling as though they experienced workplace abuse and
were shunned in meetings, according to an 11-page presentation complete with
statistics and graphs, not unlike what the bank would prepare for a client.
“There was a point where I was not eating, showering or doing anything else
other than working from morning until after midnight,” said one of the staff
members surveyed.
A Goldman Sachs employee who has been with the firm for about three years
told AFP that the pandemic had indeed made work more grueling, and that
first-year employees can suffer especially from the lack of opportunities to
interact with senior employees.
But the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said work weeks
of 95 hours or more are not a surprise.
“When you take a job in investment banking, you know that you’re going to
be working long hours,” the person said. “The hours get better over time, but
that’s a function of figuring out how things work and becoming more
efficient.”
That the staffers spoke up is characteristic of a generation who “were
encouraged to raise their hands,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive
director for human resources consulting firm Robert Half, adding that younger
employees expect a more collaborative work culture.
McDonald anticipates employers will be more open to flexible work formats
once the pandemic ends, including combining time at the office and working
from home.
“Employers are meeting the employees more today than I’ve ever seen,” he
said. “But they’re not making excuses for the work that needs to get done.”
But how much high-powered organizations like Goldman actually want to
change remains an open question.
Making money is Goldman’s core mission, an “ever-expanding” goal that
orients all of its incentive structures, Delaney, the Temple University
sociologist, said. Goldman is also a client-facing business with a 24-hour
global orientation, adding to the pressure.
“Change will be hard because there’s a lot pointing in the other
direction,” he said.