Last week, JPMorgan Chase wealth management boss Mary Erdoes invited her young charges and those to come to consider what they were getting in exchange for two years of the prime of their lives aside from misery and less money than they could make elsewhere: an invaluable, accelerated education in the way things work. Well, those charges and potential charges have done so, and the increasingly common response is, “fuck you.”
New college graduates are increasingly unwilling to put themselves through the strenuous two-year analyst program, despite starting pay that can reach $160,000. That’s especially so as careers in technology and other parts of the finance world promise better hours and more flexibility. The pandemic, which forced many to reassess their work-life balance, has only underscored that thinking. Others, like [Vince] Iyoriobhe — who put in 90-hour weeks at Bank of America, sometimes going home only to shower — are willing to do it for the minimum time necessary to put it on their résumés. He now works at a private equity firm.
And why wouldn’t he?
Aquiline Capital Partners… is putting all employees on vacation, people familiar with the matter said…. The firm has canceled all internal meetings for the week and told employees to refrain from calls, emails and chatroom messages, the sources said….
Everyone switching off at the same time means people will be able to relax fully, knowing that developments at the office will not interrupt their vacation, the first source added.
“The [banking] industry is not as attractive” as it once was, said Rob Dicks, a consultant at Accenture who specializes in recruiting in financial services. “Employees want a hybrid model, and the banks are saying no,” he said, referring to a combination of in-person and remote work. “The message is: ‘The bank knows best, we have a model for doing this, and you will conform to that model.’”
Rookie Bankers Sour on Wall Street’s Pitch of Big Pay and Long Hours [NYT]
Everybody take the week off, Wall Street firm tells staff [Reuters]
