‘Banking Bad for Health’ – Says Study

A group of two dozen entry-level bankers, who worked on average 80 to 120 hours a week, were shadowed over a decade, and every subject was observed to have developed such problems as insomnia, alcoholism, substance addictions, heart palpitations, eating disorders, and an explosive temper.

The study followed the “eager and energetic” bankers for two years before a noticeable decline in their physical and emotional well-being became apparent – with many bankers becoming a “mess”, the report says.

Company “perks” such as take-out meals and car service resulted in a blur between the lines of the bankers’ work-life and private-life, leaving one vice president to wake up every morning wishing the day before “was just a bad dream”.

In the report, another banker describes a fit of rage he directed at a taxi driver after attempting to open a locked door from the outside: “I became so furious that I kept banging against the windows like crazy, swearing at the poor guy. And then I turned around and saw that a managing director was watching with his mouth open. I was so ashamed.”

Former director at Salomon Brothers, Lindley DeGarmo left the finance industry in 1995 to become a pastor, and recalled how managers would work young bankers to exhaustion, saying: “The culture was very much that these were dogs’ bodies.”

“There’s a reason you don’t find an awful lot of old investment bankers,” Degarmo added. “It’s a tough life.”

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