Goldman Sachs is officially holding its summer internship program in the office, making it the first bulge-bracket bank to cement in-person internship plans.
In a memo sent to all of Goldman's incoming summer interns by the campus recruiting team, the firm said it plans to hold its summer internship program in person for everyone who can safely travel to its offices. The program is expected to kick off with a one-week virtual training program for all interns.
The memo, which was sent on March 29 and viewed by Insider, said that Goldman was prioritizing employee well-being, and that decision-makers were encouraged by the global vaccine rollout. The firm said an in-person program would provide the most valuable experience to interns.
"Ours is a collaborative, innovative and apprenticeship-based culture — there are many ways to experience that but we found that the most enriching way to do that is in-person together," the memo said.
A representative for the firm declined to comment to Insider beyond confirming the contents of the memo. Goldman also published the memo on its website on Monday afternoon.
Last month Goldman said it hoped to provide at least some in-person training to interns this summer. The firm's leadership has been among the most vocal on Wall Street about the limitations of virtual internship programs, and David Solomon, Goldman's CEO, has expressed his desire to get employees back to the office, citing remote work's "enormous impact" on bank operations.
"I don't want another class of young people arriving at Goldman Sachs in the summer remotely," he said at a virtual conference last month, calling the remote training of entry-level finance professionals an "aberration" that the firm would correct "as quickly as possible."
Junior bankers are struggling to manage their intense workloads remotely, with analysts at Goldman saying they are burning out after 98-hour workweeks in their bedrooms. Solomon said he wants to avoid those problems for the approximately 3,000 people training with the firm this summer.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan is planning to enable interns in sales and trading and investment-banking roles to come into the firm's offices in New York City and London this summer, a source familiar with the bank's plans told Insider on Monday. The cohort amounts to hundreds of people who plan to start their internship programs in June.
The source said that JPMorgan would likely extend flexibility to interns who may feel uncomfortable about working out of the office. While the firm is not presently requiring proof of having been vaccinated, it has taken steps in its offices to enable social-distancing protocols and other safety measures, the person said.
Other firms, such as Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Credit Suisse, have so far been sticking with an all-virtual or a hybrid model for interns this summer, Insider first reported in early March.
