JPMorgan Establishes Position to Monitor Junior Bankers' Wellness: Internal Directive
In the world of high-stakes investment banking, the well-being of junior bankers and analysts has become a topic of increasing concern. Recently, banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have taken steps to address employee retention and mitigate burnout among their junior staff.
Bank of America has implemented a policy requiring junior bankers to disclose any future job offers. Those accepting external offers face internal redeployment within the bank, a move designed to discourage early departures to private equity firms and rivals. Similar policies are followed by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase.
JPMorgan Chase has appointed Ryland McClendon as its global investment banking associate and analyst leader. McClendon's role includes overseeing junior bankers and analysts, with a focus on their wellbeing and success. He has served in numerous roles in talent and career development, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and campus recruiting at JPMorgan.
While McClendon's appointment and JPMorgan's new policy to limit junior employees' workweeks to 80 hours have not been officially announced, they are expected to target the investment banking division specifically. The policy, if implemented, would follow Bank of America's lead in introducing a time-tracking tool for junior bankers, allowing for daily rather than weekly tracking of hours.
The time-tracking tool at Bank of America is designed to help the bank's team serve investment banking clients more efficiently. A spokesperson for Bank of America confirmed the accuracy of reporting about the improved time-tracking tool to our website via email.
However, the search results do not specify direct recent measures JPMorgan or Bank of America have taken to limit extended working hours or improve wellbeing beyond these policies. Historically, investment banking junior staff have worked around 70-85 hours per week, sometimes less than the previously common 90-100+ hours, with some downtime and occasional protected weekends.
The deaths of Leo Lukenas, a 35-year-old Bank of America investment banking associate, and Adnan Deumic, a 25-year-old credit portfolio and algorithmic trader at Bank of America, who both collapsed while playing soccer at industry events, have sparked renewed debate on the long working hours in investment banking.
JPMorgan has acknowledged the accuracy of reporting surrounding a memo about work hours this month. Thirteen junior bankers at Goldman Sachs presented a survey detailing "inhumane" working conditions and spiraling self-care in 2021, further highlighting the need for change in the industry.
In conclusion, while banks are taking steps to address employee retention and wellbeing among junior bankers, more explicit policies on reducing working hours or implementing wellness programs are yet to be announced. The current focus seems to be on retention through job offer disclosure and redeployment rather than directly tackling extended working hours or well-being concerns.
- The focus of JPMorgan's new appointment, Ryland McClendon, is on the wellbeing and success of junior bankers and analysts, aligning with the growing concern for workplace-wellness in the investment banking sector.
- In an attempt to improve mental health and health-and-wellness among junior bankers, Bank of America and other leading banks have implemented policies like daily time-tracking tools and job offer disclosure to limit job hopping and retain talent.
- Despite the recent efforts, there is a need for explicit finance-backed policies from banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America to effectively reduce extended working hours and implement comprehensive health-and-wellness programs for their junior staff.
