Friday, March 29, 2024

Stop complaining, former banker tells young professionals

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London – The former boss of the London Stock Exchange says the younger generation of bankers should stop complaining about long working hours or find another job.

Xavier Rolet, who ran the LSE for eight years, said banks should hire “poor hungry kids who managed to put themselves through college” instead of “entitled” graduates.

This year, a group of young Goldman Sachs bankers asked for their working week to be capped at 80 hours.

They said conditions were “inhumane”.

But Rolet, who worked at Goldman Sachs in New York and in London early on in his career, told the Mail on Sunday: “It’s a free world. If you don’t love what you’re doing or think the hours don’t suit your lifestyle, by any means do something else.”

It has subsequently emerged that first year investment bank analysts at Goldman Sachs globally will get a pay rise this year to $110 000 from a previous $86 000 according to the Financial Times.

The pay increase does not include bonuses and be rolled out globally. Basic pay will rise to $125 000 in the second year.

Goldman Sachs, which recently reported a sharp rise in second quarter revenue, declined to comment.

Rolet previously commented on LinkedIn that he would regularly work 130 hours a week, seven days a week in the 1980s.

He claimed: “We’d work the whole New York trading day in the office, have dinner on the desk then trade Asia and Tokyo from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m., go home during the half-day recess and trade the Tokyo afternoon session from home from 12 p.m. to 2 a.m.

“Grab some shut-eye until 4 a.m. to put our orders in the European markets in time for the opening . . . quick commute to 40 Wall to be in the office by 6:30 a.m. to continue to trade our European orders in time for the pre-opening in New York. Tokyo was open on Saturdays and half day every other Sunday in those days.”

In February, a small group of first year US-based investment banking analysts at Goldman Sachs told management they were averaging 95 hours of work a week and sleeping five hours a night.

In a survey conducted among the group, one said: “The sleep deprivation, the treatment by senior bankers, the mental and physical stress . . . I’ve been through foster care and this is arguably worse.” Another remarked: “This is beyond the level of ‘hard-working’, this is inhumane/abuse.” (BBC)

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