QUESTION: “WHAT IS YOUR BEST SPECIFIC IDEA THAT SENIOR MANAGEMENT IN YOUR COMPANY CAN DO THAT WILL HELP YOU COMPLETE THE LAST PORTION OF WFH IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE?”

January 11, 2021

As we enter (what will hopefully be) the home stretch of our collective work quarantine due to COVID-19, @WallStreetConfessions, at my request, asked their followers for their advice on how senior members of their firms can best help the juniors continue to navigate this challenging period. I would like to thank all the people who took the time to thoughtfully respond to this important question. Here are the 5 winners and their responses. I look forward to spending an enjoyable and intimate Zoom hour tomorrow with all 5 as we have an open Q&A session on WFH, the finance industry, career development and any other topics on their minds.

Congratulations to the winners. Well done!

Rich Handler

RICH HANDLER
CEO, Jefferies Financial Group
1.212.284.2555
[email protected]
@handlerrich Twitter | Instagram
Pronouns: he, him, his

1. Instagram: @andrzejsurzyn

“What has been working well for me and would definitely help others:

Let junior people have ownership:

in the WFH environment “being in the room” is no longer sufficient to be visible. Make sure Analysts get to speak to MD about their pages / analysis rather than letting the Associate cover everything on a call with the Analyst staying silent.
make WFH an opportunity to involve juniors in client calls which would not be available to them if they were to be conducted in person- all this would require some adjustment of staffing to make sure juniors get time to get involved while working the same amount of hours but the motivation gain should outweigh the cost.

Allow people to block short slots of time off during the day (a couple hours outside of general business hours) to make plans. Of course it is not always possible to stick to it but as long as “fake fire drills” are called out as such, it should be feasible most of the time to carve out two hours to have proper dinner or watch a movie with SO. WFH everyone is working around the clock especially in a lockdown so it is important to keep some time every day to let one’s guard down and finish work later.”

2. Instagram: @condotshot

“Protected weekends have always existed but are now seen as even more of an afterthought. There need to be concrete safeguards installed, such as:

IT departments must HARD-DISABLE email addresses / remote access on weekends / protected time, unless a request is submitted by an MD with a charge code / active deal to expense to.
Charge OT for analysts working protected weekends directly from manager compensation. IE, managers pay resources for those working within protected weekends directly from their salary.”

3. Instagram: @lilyzhang1

“Happy new year! I will be starting as an investment banking analyst in January. I believe firms can replicate my virtual learning experience in undergrad by hosting virtual “office hours” once a week to help incoming analysts better learn on the job.

During my final’s week at UC Berkeley, we had multiple teaching assistants cover different shifts where students can jump on a Zoom link between specific hours and there will always be a teaching assistant available to answer any questions. Jefferies should implement a similar model where analysts can attend Zoom office hours when they are struggling on a specific task. Oftentimes, incoming analysts may have general questions such as how to navigate a model or how to interpret information on a slide. By having the resource to reach out with questions whenever, newcomers will feel more prepared and confident when working at home.

Implementing the virtual office hours does not have to be an arduous task. The office hour time frame can be split among Vice Presidents, Associates and Senior Analysts, so that each person only covers 1 hour in the day. Therefore, in one day, 8 senior bankers are needed to sign up for a certain time slot (11am-7pm). In addition, to best maximize everyone’s time, Vice Presidents, Associates and Senior Analysts can continue doing their own work in the case that no one chooses to attend the office hours. The senior people simply just need to have the Zoom link opened.

The virtual office hours idea is a great way to not only foster a collaborative learning environment, but also to improve the mentorship within the investment banking team. Junior members will have the opportunity to learn from very experienced, senior bankers and establish meaningful relationships with people across different teams.”

4. Instagram: @franktolga

“Allow junior employees to take one hour off after 7pm, twice a week to release some stress before going back in to work even when working late. This will allow folks to take some time to de-stress. The employer could reimburse for whatever activity the hour is used for – workout equipment, cooking etc.

Another suggestion for employees that don’t feel as valued or useful while working from home, might be to allow junior employees to sit down with their managers or senior bosses to discuss strategies with regards to a project. The purpose here is to show that the junior employees’ perspectives are valued, and that the company is making an effort to support the junior employees’ growth through senior management. This will improve the direct relationship, as without any direct contact junior employees feel like robots and not humans. This impacts performance as well.”

5. Instagram: @marrows_mercado

“Senior management should go through a training on what EQ is and how to gain more of it. It’s crucial that senior leaders understand that analysts are people with lives. WFH has stripped us of many privileges that came with working in the office and having a separation between work and personal life. On top of that, I think it would be beneficial to provide some stipend for analysts. Many of us still live in NYC, but now have to worry about covering our own meals. I’ve tried cooking but literally have 0 time, with my only day off (Saturday) going towards running errands. At the very least, our meals should be covered since ordering takeout 5 days a week (skipping lunch because I’m not made of money) can rack up to nearly $1,000 per month in additional costs. Many think bankers are rolling in dough, but in COVID, it’s more like breaking even.

I would emphasize that analysts are people. We aren’t machines. We have limits. Working 6 days a week, not having holidays, and only 1 guaranteed week off per year, is beyond insane and appalling. I have yet to meet an analyst that doesn’t want to leave banking and many have begun to exit to companies that care more, do so beyond PR and with work policies to protect the mental and physical health of their employees.”