Recently in many news articles over the last month a complaint has been made about Goldman Sachs and the idea of overworking staff.

Some junior staff have moaned who were brave enough about low pay and working 18 hour shifts whilst being at home in lockdown. In that type of business, it is usually work hard, play hard and cannot be maintained long term.

But now with growing concerns in mental health among the nation due to lockdowns and the media highlighting it more, we have to address every problem we see and how can we improve on this.

So why is Goldman Sachs work culture important well some of you may remember the recession in 2008 and that’s why the name rings a bell, if you don’t know research what happened. The issue with this company is prior to lockdown people were prepared to work hard but due to circumstances many are working from home and the economy related to stock market has been booming so the pace is vastly changing. However, Goldman Sachs have been abusing their power and some examples are illustrated here.

For example, while an investment banking boom helped push profits up 135% to $4.5bn (£3.8bn) in the fourth quarter of 2020, it has taken a toll on staff. Many who work at Goldman Sachs have complained anonymously for fear of reprisal, but the problem has been highlighted in America and has now been spoken about in London since the closure of the Fleet Street head office and many are working in compact conditions at home.

Banks such as Goldman Sachs are able to demand long hours by adding a clause to contracts that opt staff out of 48-hour working week rules. They are not the only ones but they do generate a lot of revenue so are subject to criticism.

But one such worker in the guardian article stated the problem this causes “There are three to six people on sick leave for burnout per team in London at all times. It’s actually pretty rough,” the London banker said. Some juniors are regularly working until 4-5am, and occasionally through to morning. “I’ve spoken to some analysts that have lost nearly 1 or 2 stone in one year just because they don’t have time to cook.”

The company on surface level has taken the initiative to offer remote perks such as yoga or mental health webinars, but in reality this is a poor cop-out really. But then with the buzzword concept of Wellness being such a key concept pursued and not correctly initiated.

A perfect example is even junior colleagues explain this to their dismay “But you don’t even have time to sleep. So how would you have time to login for one hour on Zoom?” the banker said.

So again the revaluation within the workplace is going on with staff at Goldman Sachs have also been stripped of meal perks that allowed them to expense up to £20 a day when working overtime – and £60 on Sundays – since they left the office. “Juniors tried pushing for evening meals to be covered as used to be in the office but the firm didn’t reply. This has a huge impact as it amounts to 20% of net salary,” they said.

First-year bankers are weighing up the costs. Starting on a base salary of roughly £50,000, analysts who regularly work 18-hour shifts, six days a week, will earn roughly £8.90 an hour before tax – less than the £10.85 living wage for London – unless they last until bonus season.

This above has happened many times in a so-called stable jobs market and why Supermarkets are now oversubscribed with staff many made the switch. However, relating back to Goldman Sachs employees the pressure is immense which is not healthy overall.

“If you don’t get your bonus, you’ll get paid less by the hour than a McDonald’s employee. And everyone knows about that, but it also increases the pressure, in the sense that people are scared of voicing concerns, myself included,” they said.

So these creates a job culture of FEAR and not only could this lead to lawsuits for Goldman Sachs and with an underlying worry of a larger recession then in 2008 it could be likely many people are let go out of firms like this.

We could have a new era of the Great Depression not seen since the 1930s as do not think that Furlough money won’t be clawed back eventually.

The banker said a number of analysts had quit halfway through their second-year – refusing to wait for their bonus. “They said, ‘It’s not worth it. I’d rather have time off and then start to work where I’ll be paid more, than suffer like hell.’”

This shows the problem the UK and US could have with great assets of staff moving to the European or Asia markets to make money and have a better work/life balance.

On the flipside in Japan they have similar issues of overworking. A generation of workers from 18 to 35 years old who now don’t have time for dating let alone relationships, are not creating marriages and families which leads to population reduction which then affects the general economy.

But what is worse for the workers at Goldman Sachs is to really kick you when your down Goldman has left bankers footing the bill for their own home-working equipment – including computers, screens, phone, chairs and desks – during the pandemic.