09.13.24

JPMorgan and Bank of America Restrict Junior Staff’s Hours Amid Concerns of Grueling Work Culture

by: Jack Kelly

JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America plan to limit and more closely track young bankers’ hours in response to concerns about the demanding work culture in investment banking. JPMorgan will now cap junior investment bankers’ hours at 80 a week in most cases, people familiar with the matter said. Meanwhile, Bank of America is implementing a new timekeeping tool that requires junior bankers to go into more detail about how their time is spent. Junior bankers often find themselves caught in a cycle of extreme working hours and poor work-life balance, putting in upward to 100 hours per week, in an effort to get noticed and climb the corporate ladder. While senior dealmakers enjoy more flexible schedules, their younger counterparts are frequently burdened with tedious, time-consuming tasks that keep them tethered to their desks late into the night. Bank of America recently unveiled a new tool in the company’s timekeeping software that requires U.S.-based junior investment bankers to log their hours daily rather than weekly. They will also be required to detail which deals they are working on when, and which senior bankers are overseeing the assignments.

Read the full article on Forbes