Goldman Sachs subordinates have been complaining about their grueling work-from-home routines for longer than previously known – in fact, since the start of the pandemic.
Last spring – nearly a year before a group of freshman analysts created last month’s viral PowerPoint presentation begging to work 80 hours a week instead of more than 100 – a group of Goldman rookies put together a similar deck just weeks after the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
While the February slideshow cited the deteriorating physical and mental health of freshman analysts as they grappled with “ inhumane ” working conditions, last April’s recently leaked presentation focuses on the basics – computers and food.
“I find myself looking for time to prepare food, which usually involves late-night sandwiches or scrambled eggs as I work all day,” wrote one subordinate. “Management needs to renew meal spending policies as it will reduce the stress of food preparation concerns while working to meet deadlines.”
Specifically, entry-level bankers said they missed the $ 25 allowance they received for meals when they had to work after 8 p.m. at Goldman’s posh headquarters in Lower Manhattan at 200 West St.
“All analysts reported working five or more days of the seven-day week after 8:00 pm,” the presentation lamented in a series of bullet points. “The median analyst also worked five days a week after noon.”
While some employees pleaded for daily meal allowances, others lobbied for a weekly allowance to cover grocery or frozen food delivery, citing another set of concerns.
“Coronavirus can be spread by poor kitchen hygiene and I wouldn’t order that from restaurants even if it’s covered,” the employee wrote.
Elsewhere, subordinates complained that they were not being reimbursed for the laptops, monitors, and mice they had to buy to do their work at home. According to the deck, which was first obtained by Business Insider (paywall), analysts fired an average of $ 1,000 for tech equipment – an expense for which rival companies were offering workers compensation.
“One of the biggest challenges is the lack of a proper office environment (high-quality monitor, keyboard, telephone, reliable Internet, etc.),” said one analyst. “To solve this, I invested in equipment to continue to deliver the same throughput and quality as in the office.”
According to the presentation, food and computer costs were a painful bite to the finances of freshman bankers, who earn about $ 85,000 from college, not including their bonus, which pumps up their annual salary to $ 140,000 a year.
According to our analysis, the cost of WFH equipment was about 35 percent of the analyst’s average remaining money after non-discretionary spending, leaving him $ 600 at the end of the month (excluding travel expenses, credit card / student loan refund, etc.) ), ”Said the presentation.
The presentation reached a higher level at Goldman, including Will Bousquette, chief operating officer of the bank’s global markets division, according to BI. Bousquette spoke directly with junior bankers, and sources said company executives vetted their complaints. However, according to the report, nothing has been done.
A Goldman Sachs representative declined to comment on the content of the card game or why the bank has not taken any action.
“We are delighted to have built a culture where employees regularly visit management and share their ideas and concerns,” said Nicole Sharp, Goldman’s chief of corporate communications.
“We had in-depth discussions with teams across the company about these and other measures as we moved to working from home last year,” Sharp added. “We continue to engage in an active dialogue with employees about what steps we can take to address specific concerns and requests in these complicated and unusual times.”
A media frenzy over February’s slideshow spurred Goldman Chief Executive David Solomon to leave a voice memo for staff on Sunday night, pledging to reinforce “enforcement” of an anti-works rule on Saturday.
Nonetheless, Solomon – who was criticized earlier this month with a report on his recent habit of taking the company’s private jet to the Bahamas at the weekend – added that things were on the rise lately, and that “If we all had a Going one step further for our client, even when we feel like we’re reaching our limit, it can really make a difference in our performance. “