Xavier Rolet hits back at junior bankers complaining about working hours
The former boss of the London Stock Exchange Group, Xavier Rolet, has accused junior bankers who routinely work 100-hour weeks of moaning about conditions.
A survey taken by 13 new recruits at Goldman Sachs revealed that surging workloads have taken a toll on mental health during the pandemic.
Pleas by junior bankers to work just 80-hours per week caused Xavier Rolet to hit back at ‘entitled’ new recruits, up to 70 per cent of whom have quit since the start of the pandemic.
In a post on LinkedIn, Rolet recalled working a 130-hour-week when he started out at Goldman Sachs in the 1980s – hours he believes are necessary to ensure US and European financial services are competitive.
He said: “We’d work the whole NY trading day in the office, have dinner on the desk, then trade Asia and Tokyo from 8pm til 10pm, go home during the half-day recess and trade the Tokyo afternoon session from home from 12pm to 2am, grab some shut-eye til 4am to put our orders in the European markets in time for the opening.”
Rolet, who grew up on a Parisian housing estate, pointed out that many people put in more hours for less money than junior bankers.
In comments to the Mail on Sunday, Rolet advised banks to hire “poor hungry kids who managed to put themselves through college” instead of entitled graduates with unrealistic expectations.
Rolet’s attitude does not seem to be shared by many of the world’s largest banks looking to attract and retain top talent.
In June, JPMorgan revealed that it would be raising starter salaries to $100,000 (£72,000) for junior bankers prompting Citibank, Bank of America, Barclays, Nomura, UBS and Goldman Sachs to follow suit.