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What banks have the lowest average working hours for investment banker in London?

I am interested in becoming an investment banker and taking up economics at UCL, I understand however that these jobs have super long hours and can be really stressful and tiering. What banks have the least average working hours for investment bankers specifically in London?

Reply 1

CWharfian

You seem rather clueless and asking the wrong question. Check out the Canary Wharfian website for an intro to the industry and a realistic insight as to what is it like to work in banking in London

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by bens23

I think as above, you're maybe not quite grasping the nature of the business in that area. If you value work-life balance then investment banking is not a great choice. And I realise that you might be thinking "oh but it pays so much money" however you don't normally get paid overtime for all those additional hours - you just get your regular pay and bonuses. An analyst at one of the American banks (I forget which one - I want to say GS?) who had a blog about 10-15 years ago actually calculated his hourly rate relative to the hours he actually worked and he was earning about the same as a McDonald's worker. But he did note that most accept this in the hopes of moving into a relatively cushier job at a hedge fund or similar later.

Also worth bearing in mind while IBanking pays more, it essentially forces you to live in one of a handful of the most expensive cities on Earth, and because of the intensive hours you end up having to pay to outsource a lot of what you might others do yourself more cheaply (e.g. most IBankers seem to spend a lot on eating out/take out because they don't have time to prepare their own meals and cook at home, and are often in the office late anyway - this is obviously more expensive than cooking for themselves and it really will add up over time). So the higher salary is really just balancing out those additional costs and the many more hours you will be working normally.

If you want a better work-life balance with a decent salary and benefits you may want to look into the civil service - as they I gather have good payscales for public sector, very good benefits in terms of a good pension scheme and apparently a lot of flexible working/WFH options and suchlike. Also the offices are increasingly being moved out of London and into regional cities which will end up saving you a lot. There's also other private sector roles you could look into which will probably have better work-life balance.

Reply 3

RaiyaanS

I would say have a look at lower to middle market investment banks or Big 4 Corporate Finance teams which may have less working hours although the pay / bonus will be much less than a GS or JPM for example

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Original post by bens23

Reply 4

natninja

Original post by artful_lounger

An analyst at one of the American banks (I forget which one - I want to say GS?) who had a blog about 10-15 years ago actually calculated his hourly rate relative to the hours he actually worked and he was earning about the same as a McDonald's worker.

Exaggeration of hours also comes with the field a bit (well, hours actually worked anyway). Though as you say, I think OP may have failed to grasp the nature of the industry - the big US firms will work you hard but actually there are some firms where the facetime culture is not prevalent. However, even then in a deal driven environment you will often find yourself having odd and unpredictable hours which are (when junior) outside your control.

P.s. the above isn't possible and an example of such an exaggeration. Even 10-15 years ago when considering bonus and comparatively lower minimum wage to have the same hourly equivalent as a McDonald's worker would have required working more hours than the 8,760 there are in a year.