Wall Street Banks Enforce 80-Hour Weekly Limit For Junior Bankers As JPMorgan And Bank Of America Address Overworking Issues Following Tragic Incident: Report

JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM and Bank of America Corp BAC are implementing new measures to monitor and limit junior bankers’ work hours.

What Happened: Both banks are responding to a detailed report on the hazardous overwork culture in investment banking. The Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that junior bankers at Bank of America were often instructed to falsify their work hours to avoid surpassing limits.

JPMorgan Chase will now impose an 80-hour weekly cap on junior investment bankers’ hours, a first for the bank. Exceptions will be made for certain situations, such as live deals, according to the report.

Bank of America, on the other hand, is introducing a new timekeeping tool requiring junior bankers to log their hours daily and provide detailed information about their tasks and supervisors, according to the report which cited people familiar with the matter.

The changes come after the tragic death of a 35-year-old Bank of America associate, Leo Lukenas III, who had been working multiple 100-hour weeks. His death, caused by a blood clot, sparked an outcry about the lack of employee protections in the banking industry.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon mentioned in May that the bank was examining what could be learned from Lukenas’s death. The new guidelines have been communicated to staff in recent weeks. Bank of America had already capped hours but found that these guidelines were often violated. The new reporting tool will go live next week, according to the report.

JPMorgan and Bank of America did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.

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Why It Matters: The issue of overwork is not new in the corporate world. Prominent figures like Elon Musk have often emphasized the necessity of long hours for success. Musk once stated, “Nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week,” highlighting the culture of overwork.

Similarly, Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos has criticized the term “work-life balance,” calling it a “debilitating phrase.” Bezos advocates for “work-life harmony,” suggesting that the concept of balance implies a strict trade-off that may not be realistic in high-pressure environments.

However, there are contrasting views. Warren Buffett has argued that anyone working a 40-hour week should be able to live a decent life. Buffett’s stance underscores a growing concern about income inequality and the need for a fairer system where hard work translates into financial stability.

Industry legends like the late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs have been known for overworking their employees. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates once noted that Jobs would overwork people, pointing out that while Jobs was a unique and inspiring leader, his approach was not without flaws.

“He would overwork people, so it wasn’t a perfect thing, but Steve was amazing, I learned a lot from him,” Gates said. 

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote