Staffing crisis: Exodus of junior bankers as burnouts force 70 per cent to quit

Severe workloads are contributing to mass burnout among junior bankers, prompting many of them to quit their job, new figures reveal.

Up to 70 per cent of analysts and associate teams left their role at banks and financial institutions in recent months, despite firms stepping up their efforts to retain young talent.

Firms have offered wage top ups of up to 20 per cent and one-off bonuses of almost $40,000. But, this is having little impact on junior staffers’ decision to leave.

“Banks are haemorrhaging junior bankers,” said a specialist recruiter, who works with banks on analyst and VP hires. “People are quitting for better banks, they’re quitting the City or they’re jumping into private equity.”

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High turnover rates

Recruitment experts say over a three-year period, close to 40 per cent of analyst classes are expected to leave their role.

Current turnover rates are around 30 percentage points higher at some firms. The exodus is likely being driven by longer hours since the onset of Covid and intense recruitment tactics from rivals, experts said.

“It’s a complete failure by HR not to see this coming,” said one associate at a European bank. “There’s no urgency to replace people.”

Junior bankers’ working hours have come under intense scrutiny of late after a group of 13 Goldman Sachs employees leaked a presentation highlighting they had regularly been working 80-hour weeks.

The group also said they routinely clock in over 100-hour weeks during fruitful deal periods, putting strain on their mental health and leaving them on the verge of quitting.

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