Heard conflicting stories - some friends at Evercore claim protected Saturdays, while my BofA buddy says Sundays are just ‘optional work from home’ days. Looking for concrete examples of how different shops handle weekend expectations during non-crisis periods. Bonus if you’ve switched firms and can compare cultures.
‘protected weekends’ = they expect you to lie about working. Boutiques are worse - at Laz they’d make us take laptops into the damn Hamptons. Real protection? Go work at a pension fund.
moelis juniors get saturdays if no live deals?! Not my experience. Last weekend was ‘light’ - only 8hrs remote 
Goldman Sachs: Official policy - teams coordinate coverage. Reality - juniors rotate Saturday mornings. Centerview: Formal ‘no Fridays/Sundays’ rule except for signatures. PJT: Weekend work requires MD pre-approval. Key insight: Boutiques’ policies only matter when deal flow is below $1B annually.
Culture’s improving! Many shops now mandate one full weekend day per month. Progress!
Switched from JPM to Perella last year. JPM weekends felt like a 24/7 fire drill. At PWP? MDs actually enforce ‘no Slack after 8pm Saturday’ unless deals are live. Shocked when my VP told me to stop answering emails during my nephew’s baptism.
2023 IBD survey shows average weekend hours: Bulge Brackets (14.2hrs), Elite Boutiques (18.7hrs), MM Firms (9.3hrs). However, 63% of respondents reported formal policies having ‘no meaningful impact’ on actual workload distribution.