After Complaints Of ‘100-Hour’ Workweeks, Goldman Sachs Is Allowing Bankers To Take Off On Saturdays (2024)

FAQs

After Complaints Of ‘100-Hour’ Workweeks, Goldman Sachs Is Allowing Bankers To Take Off On Saturdays? ›

In a magnanimous gesture of empathy after hearing the complaints of its junior bankers who were tasked to work 100-hour workweeks, Goldman Sachs is now enforcing Saturdays off for its bankers, in what has deemed the “Saturday rule.” In case you think you're reading the Onion or Babylon Bee by mistake, sadly, you're not ...

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has announced overworked junior bankers will have Saturdays off after complaints of “terrifying” work conditions.

Investment banking requires a high level of adaptability, and you're required to respond quickly to new projects and needs of clients. In some cases, a client might require immediate input, even late at night or during weekends.

Working hours at Goldman Sachs

People at Goldman Sachs work a lot. WSO didn't include Goldman working hours figures in its report this year and it didn't meet our sample size threshold, but for the last year that WSO data was available (2022), GS' people worked an average of 87.5 hours a week.

The company has been criticized for lack of ethical standards, working with dictatorial regimes, close relationships with the U.S. federal government via a "revolving door" of former employees, and driving up prices of commodities through futures speculation.

Under the new policy, more than 1,400 senior bankers will no longer have a cap on their time off, while Junior employees will get two extra days off. However, according to the Bank, all employees will be expected to take a minimum of 15 days a year beginning in 2023.

Business and Banking Days

Even though a bank may be open for regular business on a Saturday, that day is not considered a banking day for purposes of Regulation CC because Saturday is never a ''business day'' under the regulation.

How Many Hours do Investment Bankers Work? Investment bankers work notoriously long hours, with the typical work week filling in 60-80 hours per week, and the occasional high-intensity work week that can push a banker to 100+ hours.

The Goldman Sachs 15-Minute Rule You have to respond to an email within 15 minutes, no matter what. Even if that just means acknowledging the email and saying "Will be back shortly on this". It's an unspoken rule.

Seniority plays a big role in vacation time as more experienced bankers are typically given more time off to recharge and take a break from the grueling demands of the job. Typically, entry-level investment bankers, for instance, can expect to receive around 10-15 days of vacation per year.

How stressful is working at Goldman Sachs? ›

If working conditions at Goldman do not change, most respondents said they did not expect to remain at the company in six months time. The stress and pressure of working at Goldman has greatly reduced the respondents' mental and physical health, they said.

The days of free lunch are over at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The investment bank said Tuesday that it's transitioning back to “paid-for-meal” service for breakfast and lunch on April 25, scrapping a pandemic perk.

How much does Goldman Sachs in the United States pay? The average Goldman Sachs salary ranges from approximately $42,891 per year for Customer Service Representative to $192,700 per year for Vice President of Human Resources.

The bank also got caught up in a Malaysian investment scandal involving billions of dollars. Most recently, Goldman's venture into consumer banking has bit the dust, failing to gain traction with potential customers. The bank has closed most of the consumer operation after spending billions to get it off the ground.

Mohammed Zina, a former analyst at Goldman Sachs, departs Southwark Crown Court in London, UK, on February 12, 2024. London — A former Goldman Sachs analyst was sentenced to 22 months in prison Friday for using inside information to buy shares in listed companies and make more than 140,000 pounds ($175,650).

The main competitors of The Goldman Sachs Group include Morgan Stanley (MS), Charles Schwab (SCHW), Raymond James (RJF), LPL Financial (LPLA), Stifel Financial (SF), Evercore (EVR), Lazard (LAZ), BGC Group (BGC), Piper Sandler Companies (PIPR), and Oppenheimer (OPY).

"While there is flexibility when needed, we are simply reminding our employees of our existing policy," Jacqueline Arthur, Goldman's global head of human capital management, said in a statement. "We have continued to encourage employees to work in the office five days a week."

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