Got chewed out last week for not responding to a ‘non-urgent’ Saturday deck request within 2 hours at JPM. Meanwhile my friend at Citi claims her MDs respect out-of-office blocks. Are there actual cultural differences in weekend expectations between banks, or is this all team-specific luck of the draw? Looking for concrete examples to strategize my next rotation request.
‘cultural differences’ = which MDs have divorce lawyers on speed dial. Pro tip: check the parking garage cams sat AMs – cars still there at 11am? Run. Only ‘unwritten rule’ is that your firstborn belongs to the desk.
heard goldman sachs has automated weekend coverage rotations?? but my staffer just says ‘we’re all family here’ when i ask about schedules. does any bank actually have systems?
2023 internal survey showed 68% of MS teams have formal weekend coverage, vs 22% at BOA. Caveat: only 14% of respondents believed enforcement was consistent. Methodology: anonymous pulse survey of 300+ analysts across 8 bulge brackets (sample size may be skewed toward NYC offices).
Saw a team at RBC that does ‘sunset solidarity’ – everyone logs off simultaneously at 7pm Sat! Proof positive culture CAN change 
Our CS MDs used to assign weekend pager duty like ER rotations – if you got a 3am Excel request, you’d just yell ‘STAT!’ down the halls. Made it almost fun? Or maybe we were just sleep-deprived…