Goldman Sachs analysts expressed concerns over the bank's lack of reimbursement for tech equipment and meal expenses, which they began racking up in spring 2020 as a result of the shift to remote work, according to a leaked presentation viewed by Insider.
The presentation illustrates the strains that those analysts were feeling as a result of working from home, including a line-by-line budget that depicted the heightened out-of-pocket expenses that they had incurred in paying for meals and new work laptops.
Those costs, analysts said, might have otherwise been covered by Goldman Sachs had they been in the office. For instance, the firm has a policy of issuing junior talent $25 stipends for meals they order if they are working at the office past 8 p.m. That policy did not carry over after the shift to remote work.
The seven-page document is a mixture of analysis, survey responses, and anonymous first-person perspective that was created in late March 2020 and circulated extensively throughout the bank the following month. Multiple sources, including current and former employees of the investment bank, told Insider that a group of 15 first- and second-year analysts within the investment bank's industrials-coverage unit were behind the slide deck.
The presentation was eventually viewed by senior investment-bank executives, among whom it sparked a dialogue about how to respond, several people said. But no concrete steps were taken at the time to implement measures to accommodate the analysts' requests, nor have such measures been taken since, sources said.
Sources spoke with Insider on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. Insider verified their identities.
A separate survey from February of 13 first-year Goldman analysts came to light earlier this month. It highlighted long hours and analyst concerns about work-life balance.
Both presentations highlight the growing discontent among junior bankers across Wall Street. While long hours for young bankers have long been seen as a rite of passage, working from home has presented new challenges.
Goldman's lack of WFH reimbursement was compared with competitors' plans
In the April presentation, the junior bankers, all of whom are in the US, said they had spent hundreds of dollars buying equipment and paying for food to accommodate the switch to working from home.
The analysts said they had spent a median of $300 on out-of-pocket equipment costs, such as monitors, mice, and laptops, with the initial shift to working from home.
As many as one-third of analysts surveyed said they did not own a laptop for the purpose of doing remote work before the pandemic. And about 90% said such a device would be essential for their ability to get work done from home.
The median amount of money spent by those analysts who had bought a personal laptop specifically to do company-related work was $1,000, according to the presentation.
One former analyst interviewed by Insider said that when a colleague at Goldman had asked an investment-banking vice president for help with shouldering the technology costs, that exec questioned the analyst and told them that with their salary, they shouldn't need help from the firm to pay for the equipment.
The analysts also constructed a detailed table that contrasted Goldman's COVID-19 policies — namely, the lack of reimbursements for meals and tech equipment like laptops — with the policies of other banks as of March 25.
A mixture of bulge-bracket and boutique firms had implemented equipment and meal reimbursements for employees at the time, according to the analysts' research, with some firms offering hundreds of dollars in reimbursements.
Similar to the February presentation, the April slideshow also detailed the long hours put in by junior bankers. About 70% of survey respondents said they worked past 8 p.m. six nights a week. And 50% said they worked past midnight five nights out of the week.
One source specifically characterized the industrials-coverage group as having a reputation within the bank for being "extremely grindy" and work-intensive.
The presentation quickly began to circulate inside the bank, with employees sending it to one another via email as a PDF attachment. But at some point in early-to-mid April, the survey was found to be blocked on Goldman Sachs' servers, two sources said.
One person said that when they attempted to forward the file to a colleague in the form of a PDF attachment, they were met with an error message indicating the file was prevented from going through.
Analysts also included a budget itemized line by line
Included in the presentation was also a line-by-line budgetary breakdown outlining the analysts' living expenses.
They indicated that their monthly income before taxes was $7,083, which would be in line with nearly $85,000 a year. After taxes and an average monthly rental fee for housing of $1,927, as well as other costs, the analysts said they were left with $873 by the end of a typical month.
With their median work-from-home costs reaching $300, that left them with about $573 in monthly discretionary cash before student loans and credit-card bills.
Goldman's first-year analysts have a base salary of about $85,000. But with a performance-based bonus, their total compensation can reach nearly $140,000 a year.
Execs saw the presentation but didn't take action
The presentation did reach higher-ups at Goldman Sachs.
Several members of the investment-bank leadership team, including Will Bousquette, who at that time was the chief operating officer of the investment-banking division and head of the cross-markets group, saw the presentation, according to sources.
Bousquette was among the executives who discussed its contents with junior bankers directly, several people said.
In February, Bousquette became the chief operating officer of Goldman's global-markets division.
At first, sources said, bank executives deliberated about what to do about the presentation. Bousquette is said to have intimated that he was receptive to offering a tech reimbursement.
Nearly a year later, no such financial assistance has come, sources said.
On Monday, a representative for Goldman Sachs confirmed the authenticity of the presentation and said in an emailed statement to Insider: "We are pleased to have built a culture where employees regularly go to management and share their ideas and concerns. We had in-depth discussions with teams across the firm on this, and other measures, as we moved to working from home last year.
"We continue to have an active dialogue with employees on what steps we can take to address specific concerns and requests during this complicated and unusual time."
Some analysts' mental and physical health has entered a downward spiral
The February survey painted a melancholic picture of sleepless junior bankers, many of whom said they felt they had experienced workplace abuse and were routinely marginalized by bank managers in meetings.
Analysts called the working conditions they faced "inhumane," according to the document. One analyst wrote in the February presentation: "I've been through foster care and this is arguably worse."
On Sunday, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon addressed the news about the leaked document from February in a voice memo to staff.
"I can imagine that many of you saw the presentation that a group of analysts shared with their management recently about their lack of work-life balance. This is something that our leadership team and I take very seriously," he said, according to a transcript of his remarks viewed by Insider.
Solomon added that when he was a cohead of the investment-banking division from 2006 to 2016, he helped implement a rule to block out Saturdays as a protected day when junior bankers would not have to come into the office.
He added that the bank was now taking "further action" to reinforce that protected-Saturday rule, recruit additional junior talent, and transfer reinforcements to "business lines where activity levels are highest."
But he added that employees would continue to be stretched in the demanding days that lied ahead.
"In the months ahead, there are times when we're going to feel more stretched than others," he said. "But just remember: If we all go an extra mile for our client, even when we feel that we're reaching our limit, it can really make a difference in our performance."
Are you a junior employee working at an investment bank or financial-services firm? Contact this reporter with your story. Reed Alexander can be reached via email at ralexander@bjinnox.com or via the encrypted app Signal at 561-247-5758.
