Why do investment bankers work such long hours?

Investment bankers, and especially the junior ones, work long hours because the job is built out of deadlines set by other people: a client wants an answer by tomorrow, a managing director’s comments arrive at seven in the evening, and the same analyst is on several deals at once. A typical analyst week is 80 to 100 hours in the office, with weekends, and associates work nearly as much. The hours are a structural feature of the work, not a test of character, and the sources explain the structure.

How long, exactly

The textbook figures: an analyst’s typical week can involve 80 to 100 hours in the office, sometimes including all-nighters and almost always including weekend work[1Source 1David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 10, “Analysts”, pp. 223–224.]. Associates average 70 to 100 hours, somewhat less at smaller firms and outside New York[2Source 2David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 10, “Associates”, p. 224.]. The ethnography that studied the industry reports higher figures from the inside, weeks of 100 hours and more, with analysts and associates staying until two or three in the morning in busy periods, pulling all-nighters and working both weekend days, and a running joke that you would be lucky to get a day off besides your wedding day[3Source 3Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “The White-Collar Sweatshop”, p. 85, and “Hard Work”, p. 88.]. The account also records the way bankers complain and brag about it at once, since overwork is the industry’s normal practice and a kind of initiation[4Source 4Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “Forging Superior Workers”, pp. 99–100.].

Why: the reasons the sources give

The first reason is the flow of work through the hierarchy. Drafts go up from analyst to associate to vice president and come back with comments, and the senior bankers keep ordinary hours while the juniors serve them. One associate explained that even on light days he stayed until ten because “MDs and other senior people never get their comments back to us until 6 or 7 p.m., when some of them leave for the day”; a bank that must respond to clients at once runs a twenty-four-hour shop, and the people working from seven in the evening to the small hours are the analysts and associates[5Source 5Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “The White-Collar Sweatshop”, pp. 85–86.]. The account gives the pattern in detail: a managing director asks for changes to the deck by the next morning, finishes reviewing in the afternoon, wants a copy to take home at six, calls at nine with more changes, and the analysts stay until two to have them in by morning, whereupon the cycle repeats[6Source 6Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “Hard Work”, p. 97.].

The second reason is that everything is due tomorrow. An associate on six, seven or eight projects at once described three or four of them as live at any time, with clients calling and senior bankers needing information by the next day; in a typical company one might have a month, but in banking “you need it tomorrow, or the day after”, so the work moves into the night[7Source 7Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “Hard Work”, pp. 94–95 and 98.].

The third is face time: being seen at the bank, and staying because others do. A vice president in the same account recalled disliking morning face time after being up most of the night and “unnecessary work” presented as more pressing than it was, and said the firm was quick to judge anyone who was not seen as a hard worker[7Source 7Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “Hard Work”, pp. 94–95 and 98.]. The account’s broader argument is that the industry recruits eager, unattached graduates precisely so that they can be worked hard, and builds a culture in which living at the office is the norm[8Source 8Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “Hard Work”, pp. 89–90.].

What has changed

The textbook records that, as analysts left after a year or two for private equity and technology firms, many banks reworked the programme: a full three-year track, more promotions to associate, limits on some weekend work and on the overall number of hours a week, rotations through several groups, faster pay rises, and more reliance on technology to take away routine work such as preparing pitch books[1Source 1David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 10, “Analysts”, pp. 223–224.]. The ethnography is older and describes the industry before those changes; the reasons it gives for the hours, deadlines, several live deals and the senior bankers’ schedules, are not the parts that changed.

What the hours buy

The same sources are clear about the other side. The first years are an apprenticeship in which the trade is taught and the skills are built, and those who develop them can do very well in a meritocracy that culls its weakest performers every year[9Source 9David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 10, “Investment Banking”, p. 222.]. The ethnography quotes a junior banker on what six months out of college bought him: sitting in on conversations with chief executives about what their businesses should do next[4Source 4Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “Forging Superior Workers”, pp. 99–100.]. Whether that exchange is worth it is the question every analystWhat does an investment banking analyst do?An investment banking analyst builds the models and presentation pages behind every deal, works long weeks, and usually moves on after two or three years.Jobs and ranks · revised 28 September 2026 · 835 words · 5 sources · 4 min answers for themselves, usually by leaving after two or three years.

Frequently asked questions

How many hours a week do investment banking analysts work?

Typically 80 to 100 hours in the office, sometimes with all-nighters and almost always with weekend work, according to the cited textbook; the ethnography reports weeks of 100 hours and more in busy periods[1Source 1David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 10, “Analysts”, pp. 223–224.][3Source 3Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “The White-Collar Sweatshop”, p. 85, and “Hard Work”, p. 88.].

Do the hours get better as you get promoted?

Somewhat. Associates average 70 to 100 hours, and senior bankers keep more ordinary schedules, which is part of the reason the juniors stay late: the comments come down when the seniors leave[2Source 2David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 10, “Associates”, p. 224.][5Source 5Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 2, “The White-Collar Sweatshop”, pp. 85–86.].

Have banks reduced analyst hours?

Many have changed the programme, adding limits on weekend work and total hours, more promotions and more technology for routine tasks, after losing analysts to private equity and technology firms; the textbook describes these changes without giving new hour figures[1Source 1David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 10, “Analysts”, pp. 223–224.].

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  author       = {{xlsx.dev}},
  title        = {{Why do investment bankers work such long hours?}},
  howpublished = {xlsx.dev Wiki},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = sep,
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