Working Hours in Banks: A Closer Look
So, working hours in banks are falling? While this may make a good headline, I am afraid that the analysis is highly flawed.
In this analysis, everyone on Wall Street is grouped together. But Wall Street is not homogenous.
Different Working Hours Across Banking Sectors
Working hours are dramatically different among investment bankers, commercial bankers, and people in sales & trading.
In sales and trading, for example, people may be in a few hours before the market opens, checking their positions, reading news feeds, and having morning calls. They may still be in the office a couple of hours after the market closes, reviewing their positions and looking at risk reports, etc.
When you work in sales and trading, there’s not much difference in overall hours you work throughout the year, except perhaps during earnings season and special events that move markets.
Excepting this, S&T hours are roughly stable. Hours in sales and trading have probably improved somewhat with technological advancements.
This is not the reality in investment banking. While there are some technological advancements adopted in investment banking, I would highly doubt that the average week in investment banking is less than 60 hours, including travel time.
Apples and oranges are not the same fruit. S&T hours are intense/stressful, but generally much fewer. I-banking hours might be slightly less intense (emphasis on slightly, and largely due to less noise than on the S&T desk), but they are spread over a much longer period.
Grouping people together produces a figure that’s meaningless.
Jerry Whitaker is a pseudonym
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Conclusion
While headlines may suggest that working hours in banks are decreasing, a closer look reveals the nuances across different banking sectors. Investment bankers, commercial bankers, and those in sales & trading all have varying work hours, with sales & trading potentially benefiting from technological advancements. It’s important to recognize these differences rather than generalize the entire industry.
