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The employees, part of the industrial team at Robert W. Baird, said that they often worked 20-hour days.
Robert W. Baird is a Midwestern investment bank founded a century ago. (Representative Image)
Junior bankers at a US-based investment bank have claimed they were made to work up to 110 hours a week, which led to severe health issues and in some cases, hospitalisation. The employees, part of the industrials team at Robert W. Baird, a century-old Midwestern investment bank based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said that they often worked 20-hour days, according to a Wall Street Journal report. At least two employees were hospitalised due to exhaustion. One of them later suffered a failed pancreas after collapsing at home.
The report mentioned the experiences of several junior bankers who shared their stories of harsh working conditions. One former banker remembered spending nearly a year on a single deal and staying up all night to prepare documents. He said that when he once stepped out for dinner for around 25 minutes, his manager got angry and told him he should never leave his desk for more than five minutes without telling someone.
Another employee had told the Human Resources team that the daily workload was becoming too much. After some time, the person collapsed at home and was later diagnosed with pancreatic failure. According to doctors, this serious health issue was likely caused by working extremely long hours. A few weeks later, after a second visit to the hospital, the employee was let go from the firm due to “poor productivity,” as mentioned by the Journal.
These conditions gained wider attention after an anonymous post on Wall Street Oasis, a popular forum among finance professionals. The post described the harsh treatment of junior employees at Baird. “As an analyst and associate, you are treated as scum,” the anonymous author wrote.
Many other junior bankers responded and shared similar experiences. As per the Journal report, one midlevel banker, Aaron Haney, was accused of frequently assigning demanding schedules. Following the viral post, Haney was let go by the firm.
Another incident mentioned in the report took place last year when a group of junior bankers who had been working until 4 AM for weeks were invited to what they believed was a celebratory pizza gathering in Chicago. But the managers used the opportunity to tell them they needed to improve their efficiency. Some of the employees pointed out their long working hours but the managers reportedly told them they still needed to perform better.
Despite reforms across Wall Street in recent years, including a cap on workweeks at 80 hours, these rules were ignored by Baird’s industrials team. According to former employees, managers regularly sought exemptions for required days off especially Saturdays.
In the wake of the viral forum post, senior bankers at Baird held a town hall with junior staff and encouraged them to voice concerns. While some employees said they felt better after the meeting, others remained hesitant to speak out. Some feared that complaining would be seen as a weakness. Several former employees mentioned that senior bankers often reminded them of how much worse the working conditions had been for them in the past.
As per the Journal, more than a dozen junior bankers from Baird’s industrials team have left since the start of 2024. Some of these employees were among those who had been hospitalised due to exhaustion.
The report follows a series of tragic events in recent years where at least two junior bankers died due to the extreme working conditions. Carter McIntosh, a junior banker at Jefferies, died from a suspected drug overdose while Leo Lukenas, a former analyst at Bank of America, passed away after suffering a blood clot. Both deaths have been linked to the gruelling work hours they were subjected to.
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