When sleep becomes luxury

GOLDMAN SACHS- Q&A : (from FT)

Dear Sir,

I heard that Goldman's employees are living in a lifestyle known as swap the health for the wealth in the first half of the life, and use money to buy health in the second half. Despite this, I guess Goldman can always receive large amount of CVs that are more than enough, right?

My question is, why don't you hire more people if all your employees are having such a heavy workload? If you do so, I guess the employees won't have to retire early due to health reasons. But of course, their salaries might be reduced to some extent?

Best Regards,
Zi Jin

GS's Response
I've never heard this expression before, and don't think it's an accurate example of what goes on at a firm like Goldman Sachs or others in our industry. It is definitely true that people at Goldman work hard, but generally people don't retire due to health concerns. If you do well at a place like Goldman you likely have the financial freedom to retire earlier than people in other industries, but the firm is well known for people pursuing exciting careers in government and other industries after "retiring." It's also true that the longest hours tend to be put in during the early years of a professionals' career, and that workload will decrease as an employee has more people beneath them to leverage. We also offer a variety of health and wellness services at our facilities, excellent medical coverage and sports facilities, and vacation time that matches or exceeds that of other industry employers. Because of these amenities and the need to remain in peak form in a demanding and competitive industry, I might say that Goldman Sachs enployees are healthier than the average professional!

In terms of your question as to why we don't hire more employees if everyone is busy, there are several things to consider. Many of our businesses experience cyclicial work surges, so not all periods are equally busy. In client service oriented businesses like investment banking our professionals may have heavy workloads and work longer hours to meet deadlines and remain accessible to clients, but other businesses are more market focused and the workload is more consistent and balanced. The demand on our professionals also has a good deal to do with the economy. There were several years recently where the banking business was not as robust due to a decline in M&A and IPO activity, and our staffing levels reflected what was happening in the industry. As business grew more robust, staffing increased, but hiring across investment banking firms is now more cautious, and most professionals would rather be consistently busy than worried if a downturn occurs. We also have the ability to quickly adjust the numbers of interns and temporary employees we bring on to meet dramatic upturns in business.

My Point

I had heard that the yourself-less life belongs to those staff in the investment banking department since long time ago when I heard "investment banking" first time. I love life and work. Without own life or work I would find the other one meaningless. But how to balance these two items seems not easy to me. The work in SCB is busy, tired and even boring. I learnt that the business in commercial bank is limited. (Maybe the job in IB will be much more exciting and busy and tired but never boring.) Every night I am back home I am deficient in energy to do noting and fall asleep. Now the graduate thesis and the work come together. I can not find out any other time to have my own life! Yes, my request is not hard to catch. I want to walk in the sunshine, have a shopping, do a good sleep, read some interesting books or magazine, watch several excellent movies, the most important thing is to spend some times with my dear Lorence and family. However, in fact, frankly, honestly, I have no time to even think about these plans.

I admit that IB is attractive and the crazy work is fresh to me. And I still want to operate everything well including my own life.

Nevertheless, old saying tells us "You cannot eat your cake and have it.”