Healthy and happy: JP Morgan has reduced the working week of bankers to «some» 80 hours

Younger Wall Street bankers will now be able to «enjoy a» 80-hour workweek instead of the usual 100 hours. The impetus for these changes was the tragic death of an employee.

According to Fortune, the new rules are in addition to JPMorgan’s existing practice of «pending pens» from 18:00 on Friday to noon on Saturday and a guarantee of one full weekend every three months. According to Wall Street Journal, a typical 80-hour workweek for a young banker at JPMorgan might consist of six days of work from about 8:30 to 10:00 with short breaks for meals, or 11 hours a day for seven days in a row.

In addition, there is a significant catch: certain cases, such as working on active deals, will be an exception to JPMorgan’s new policy. That is, bankers can still work overtime during important financial transactions, effectively offsetting the effect of the new restrictions.

Bank of America, which already officially has an 80-hour-a-week limit for junior bankers, is also implementing changes. The bank is launching an internal platform to closely monitor individual workloads. The new software requires employees in the US to log their working hours on a daily, rather than weekly, basis, indicating which deals they are working on and which managers are overseeing these tasks.

These changes come after of a tragic accident at the beginning of the year. Leo Lukenas III, a former «Green Beret» who became an investment banker at Bank of America, died of a blood clot after working more than 100 hours a week on a $2 billion deal.

After Lukenas’s death, younger bankers massively complained to the Wall Street Journal for regular night shifts and more than 100-hour work weeks. According to them, management forces them to conceal the actual length of their working hours.

It is worth noting that even with the new restrictions, bankers’ working week is twice as long as average the 40-hour working week of Americans.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that the bank is trying to understand what lessons can be learned from Lukenas’ death and is reviewing its policies. A Bank of America spokeswoman emphasized that the bank’s rules are clear, and all employees, including executives, must follow them.

• JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are the two largest banks in the United States by assets. Both institutions have a significant impact on the global financial market and play a key role in shaping banking practices.
• JPMorgan Chase, founded a merger of several historic banks, is renowned for its innovation and leadership in investment banking. Bank of Americafor its part, has an extensive network of retail branches and strong positions in servicing private clients and small businesses.