Reflections on Stress and Long Hours on Wall Street

Earlier this year, a 22-year-old first-year analyst at the Goldman Sachs office in San
Francisco was feeling overwhelmed by the all-nighters and 100-hour workweeks.
The analyst, Sarvshreshth Gupta, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania who was born
in New Delhi, told his father, Sunil, This job is not for me. Too much work and too little
time.
In March, against his fathers wishes, Mr. Gupta quit. However, a week later, By a quirk of
fate, he was asked by his company to reconsider his resignation and under pressure from me,
he rejoined, his father wrote in an essay. Others at Goldman said he asked for his job back.
When Mr. Gupta returned, he was originally put on a reduced schedule, and the firm had him
meet with its employee assistance counselors about dealing with work-life balance issues and
the stress of the job.
Soon, however, Mr. Gupta, who worked in Goldmans telecommunications, media and
technology group, was working flat-out again as the firms deal business became busier and
busier.
About 2:40 a.m. on April 16, Mr. Gupta called his father in India.
He calls us and says, It is too much. I have not slept for two days, have a client meeting
tomorrow morning, have to complete a presentation, my V.P. is annoyed and I am working
alone in my office, his father wrote. I got furious. Take 15 days leave and come home, I
said. He quipped, They will not allow. I said, Tell them to consider this as your resignation
letter.
Mr. Gupta told his father that he would work for another hour, then head to his home a halfmile from the office, and return in the morning.
Later that morning, at 6:40, Mr. Gupta was found in the parking lot next to his apartment
building on the corner of Sacramento Street and Brooklyn Place and was declared dead,
according to police officials. He apparently fell from the building. The San Francisco medical
examiners office is conducting an investigation and has yet to officially declare a cause of
death.
Mr. Guptas death, one of numerous unexpected deaths or suicides of young bankers over the
last year, has caused a new round of reflection and re-evaluation by Goldman and other Wall
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Street firms about their work policies just two weeks before a new class of college interns
descend on the industry for the summer.
Just last week, Thomas J. Hughes, a 29-year-old banker at Moelis & Company, was found
dead with drugs in his system after falling from a building in Manhattan.
The only explanation is that I know hes been working very hard and has been under a lot of
pressure, Mr. Hughess father told The Daily Mail. His work did not leave much time for
enjoyment, but thats the nature of the assignment that he chose. An investigation is pending
to determine the official cause of death.
For more than a month, Mr. Guptas death has largely remained held in confidence among a
small group of his colleagues and family. After Mr. Guptas death, David Solomon,
Goldmans co-head of investment banking, and John S. Weinberg, a vice chairman, flew to
San Francisco to speak with a small group of the banks employees and discuss the firms
approach to work-life balance. The firm held a small memorial service for Mr. Gupta, who
was universally liked by his colleagues and whom several said was so good at his job that he
had become one of the go-to analysts. Indeed, his proficiency and work ethic appear to
have led to him to take on a large workload.
We are saddened by Savs death and feel deeply for his family, Goldman said in a
statement. We hope that people will respect the familys expressed desire for privacy during
this difficult time. Mr. Guptas father wrote an essay about his sons death, which he posted
on Medium and later removed. In an email, Mr. Guptas father said, At this time, the
grieving family does not wish to speak to the press. He said his essay about his son was
intended for the grieving family and a means of dealing with my deep anguish and
catharsis.
Of course, it is always difficult to directly link a death or possible suicide to work conditions.
Other factors can be in play, like family problems, medical issues or a history of depression.
And in Mr. Guptas case, the cause of his death remains undetermined.
Still, the string of deaths on Wall Street appears to rise above the level of simple coincidence.
Last February, Fortune ran an article titled: Is there a suicide contagion on Wall Street?
Studies have suggested that financial service employees are at higher risk than those in many
other industries. According to the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance, individuals
who work in financial services are 1.5 times more likely to commit suicide than the national
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average. The highest suicide rates in the United States are among doctors, dentists and
veterinarians.
It is possible that the finance industry attracts more people with depression, just as it is
possible that the pressure-cooker work environment overwhelms some people who have been
high achievers their entire lives. It could be a tragic combination of multiple factors. Wall
Street has always thrived, in part, on its eat-or-be-eaten culture. Would curbing its
competitive nature cut into its success?
Most top Wall Street firms have sought to change their work policies for young investment
bankers in recent years, in part to combat some of the problems and because they are
increasingly in heated competition with Silicon Valley for top talent and are seeking to make
themselves more attractive.
Goldman, for example, has required that analysts take Saturdays off. Credit Suisse, too, has
made employees take Saturdays off, with employees instructed to avoid even email. Bank of
America has instituted a policy that requires analysts to take four days off a month on the
weekends. And JPMorgan Chase has said that one weekend a month should be protected.
Many of those steps were taken after a 21-year-old intern died at Bank of America Merrill
Lynchs London office in summer 2013 after reports indicated he had pulled three
consecutive all-nighters. The official cause of death was epilepsy.
As the economy has heated up and the deal-making market has improved, however, young
bankers are once again working long hours. Perversely, young analysts now say that having
Saturdays off has often added to their stress because late nights on Sundays have become the
norm.
Some banks, like Goldman, are also taking new steps, like introducing more efficient
software and technology to help young analysts do their work more quickly. And investment
banks say they are hiring more analysts to help balance the workload.
That may help. But as long as young analysts are expected to work 80 to 100 hours a week,
invariably some run the risk of finding themselves in a situation they cannot handle. With
new classes of such analysts arriving each year, it is incumbent on the industry to make sure
it is doing everything possible to make sure that no one is too overwhelmed.

Questions
1) What happened to Sarvshreshth Gupta?
2) Which factors were responsible for stressing out Sarvshreshth?
3) What were the consequences of those factors on Sarvashreshth?
4) What should Goldman Sachs do to reduce stress?
5) How should one manage a stressful job in an investment banking firm?