“Lazard CEO Peter Orszag said that Wall Street bankers prefer grueling 80-hour workweeks to the boredom of a 9-5 job during an appearance on The David Rubenstein Show on Bloomberg. The bank boss said Lazard specifically looks for employees who prefer that working style, despite growing concerns over the wellbeing of workers in the industry’- Fortune
Good People, bankers work long hours, and that is the norm. If you cannot take it, maybe do not go there. As a junior banker in Lagos, I was putting in more than 80 hours per week – and I enjoyed it. You leave home at 5am to be on time to get the “system” in shape from 6am, on Mondays. The HP 9000 server series could take a really long time for everything to be ready. Then, you move to Oracle, Flexcube and all the UNIX commands, to bring services up.
Even though you began at 6am, if you try to leave before 10pm, it would be seen that you were leaving early! That was life in the IT Group and everyone understood that was the game plan.
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But you know what? When the pay came, it was blissful, and because of that, no one complained. My allowance for working night shifts in a week was more than what some old generation banks in Lagos were paying entry level staff for a month! It was a privilege to be accepted into that group even though you knew long hours were part of the game.
Sure, I am not saying that work-life balance is bad; I am saying “NO ONE SHOULD LEGISLATE” how people work. Yes, as a junior banker, work was life, but it was planned for a season. I did it when I needed to do it.
The world should focus on those who work like that for life. Yes, people keep multiple jobs in America, and many work longer hours as guards in Nigeria, and can hardly pay their bills. So, instead of worrying about extremely overpaid bankers for working long hours, the focus should be helping those who work long hours with nothing to show for at the end of the month.
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There’s a price to pay for every choice. The mismatch and delusion come when you want to be rewarded maximally for putting in the minimum. Young people who want to work only four hours a day, what will they be doing with the remaining twenty hours? That is how laxity sets in. No one became extremely wealthy by implementing work-life balance, you have to decide your lane and play by the rules that apply there.
First is defining what you want, then figure out what it takes to have it. If you really want it and are willing to go for it, then move in and occupy the space. No whining is needed, just do it or step aside.