Culture & Lifestyle / Banker’s Death Sparks Debate Around Wall Street Working Conditions

Banker’s Death Sparks Debate Around Wall Street Working Conditions

Culture & Lifestyle Jun 09, 2015

by Rumnique Nannar

Gruelling Hours on Wall Street Cause Young Banker's Death.

With two degrees under his belt, Sarvshreshth Gupta, 22, was all set to conquer in his role as a junior analyst at Goldman Sachs. Yet 100-hour workweeks led to overworking — ultimately leading to his death on April 16, 2015. Gupta's body was found outside his residence.

Eager to chase the American dream, Gupta was an introverted person. His father, Sunil, says Gupta often complained about the gruelling hours and heavy workload at Goldman Sachs.

_{Goldman Sach's San Francisco offices, where Gupta worked}
^{_{Photo Credit: Flick / Thomas Hawk}}

Gupta initially complained about the hours but claimed he could handle it. “'Papa, I do not get enough sleep. I work 20 hours at a stretch.' ‘Son, you will ruin your health,’ I complained. He would say, ‘Come on, Papa, I am young and strong.'” Goldman Sachs saw Gupta as one of its most proficient go-to analysts at the firm, which may highlight the performance pressures he was under.

Gupta is another tragic casualty of the financial industry, where workers are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the national average, according to the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance. Last week, Thomas Hughes, a banker, fell to his death from his luxury Manhattan apartment. Although cocaine was found on Hughes, his father attributes the possession to his son's hectic workdays: “he was under stress and he probably resorted to illegal drugs, causing this incredibly poor judgment."

The industry may attract more people with depression and overwhelm junior analysts, who often do the grunt work of presentations and overseeing deals far into the night. Hughes and Gupta were steeped in that achievement-focused work culture where mantras like “failure is not an option” or “sleep is for the weak” are unwritten rules for forging ahead on the career ladder.

While it’s easy to point to logic and say “Why didn’t they just go home?” or take a mental health day, Gupta and Hughes were products of a work culture that places a high price on efficiency and internalizing a cutthroat work ethic — one that wreaked havoc in their lives.

Financial firms have tried improving the lifestyles of their junior employees so that they can avoid overworking. Goldman Sachs takes Saturdays off for their junior bankers, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch junior employees are required to take four weekends off each month.

These steps came after a Bank of America intern died from an epileptic attack as a result of pulling three consecutive all-nighters. It’s rather shocking that these conditions were moderately improved from this alarming and tragic case. We can only hope that Gupta’s example spurs companies to allot services towards counselling and rethinking the workload passed onto eager newcomers.

^{_{Featured Image:

www.benzinga.com}}

Rumnique Nannar

Author

Rumnique Nannar is a new journalist with a passion for all things pop culture, film, and art. Rumnique was born in London, with a predilection for devouring English chocolate with her Vogue, ANOKHI, and Glamour magazines in tow. She is currently in her Journalism Masters at UBC. Connect ...

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Banker’s Death Sparks Debate Around Wall Street Working Conditions

by Rumnique Nannar

Gruelling Hours on Wall Street Cause Young Banker's Death.

Rumnique Nannar

COMMENTS

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