Bankers at Goldman Sachs speak out about abusive treatment in the workplace

First reported by Bloomberg News, the results of Goldman Sachs Working Conditions Survey raised concerns about the company’s culture and how the multinational investment banking company treats their employees.

In 2015, a 22-year-old analyst at Goldman Sachs committed suicide. Although it’s unclear if the Goldman Sachs environment contributed to the individual taking their life, the survey indicates a drastic change in their employees’ mental health since starting a job at the investment banking company.

On a scale from 1-10, employees say their mental and physical health has declined 6 to 6.7 points since starting at Goldman Sachs.

According to analysts at Goldman Sachs, they work an average of 98 hour per week only sleeping 5 hours per night. The survey indicated that the respondents work hours have negatively impacted all aspects of their lives; their personal and home lives as well as their relationships with friends and family.

77 percent of the survey’s respondents allege they are victims of workplace abuse and 75 percent are considering seeking mental health therapy to cope with their treatment in the workplace.

"The sleep deprivation, the treatment by senior bankers, the mental and physical stress … I’ve been through foster care and this is arguably worse," said one of the analysts at Goldman Sachs.

Another analyst claimed that their "body physically hurts all the time and mentally I’m in a really dark place."

Every single analyst that participated said that Goldman Sachs sets unrealistic expectations to meet guidelines, which makes them victims to verbal abuse through swearing and shouting with some being blamed without justification.

"What is not ok to me is 110-120 hours over the course of a week! The math is simple, that leaves 4 hours a day for eating, sleeping, showering, bathroom and general transition time. This is beyond the level of 'hard-working,' this is inhumane / abuse," said one of the respondents.

"There was a point where I was not eating, showering or doing anything else other than working from morning until after midnight," said another employee at Goldman Sachs.

At the end of the report, analysts provided solutions that include an 80 hour maximum work week and junior bankers not be expected to work after 9pm on Friday’s and during the day on Saturday’s unless requests were approved in advance.

"That is the only safe-guarded personal time that we get" the request stated. "The Friday night 9pm policy, and Saturday policy need to be respected," which is already a company policy put in place.

The company provided a statement to CNN and claimed they are working on the requests of their employees.

"We recognize that our people are very busy, because business is strong and volumes are at historic levels," the bank said in a statement. "A year into Covid, people are understandably quite stretched, and that’s why we are listening to their concerns and taking multiple steps to address them."