The latest step by a Wall Street firm to retain talent in a competitive job market is for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to let top workers to take an unlimited amount of vacation days.
According to a corporate document that was viewed by Bloomberg, partners and managing directors at the New York investment firm are permitted to take time off whenever it is necessary “without a defined vacation day entitlement.” Under the new policy that went into effect at the beginning of this month, junior workers will still be restricted in the number of vacation days they may take, but they will be eligible for at least two more days off each year.
The message said that beginning in 2023, all Goldman workers would be compelled to take a total of three weeks off of work each year. That entails taking at least one week off work in a row without working.
After more than a year of junior bank analysts complaining about 100-hour work weeks and their deteriorating physical and mental health while working in “inhumane” circumstances, the bank decided to implement a new vacation policy. This caused a reverberation across Wall Street, with companies promising to take more steps to enhance the work-life balance of their employees.
It’s possible that the limitless vacation policy won’t make much of a difference in reality. According to the findings of a research conducted in 2017 by the HR platform Namely, workers at companies that provide open-ended holiday allowances tend to end up taking less vacation days per year than they would under standard vacation policies. And it only applies to the most senior echelons of the Wall Street business, which is a group of workaholics who are not likely to take use of it to a significant degree.
Nevertheless, it is a bold move coming from a financial institution whose aggressive way of doing business has grown legendary on Wall Street. It is a reflection of how competitive the employment market has become just at the time when businesses from Wall Street to Silicon Valley are attempting to rip back workplace standards that were enacted during the COVID-19 epidemic.
A benefit that is becoming more widespread at Internet businesses, such as Netflix Inc., is an unlimited holiday allowance. Finance companies, which are ingrained in a culture of working long hours, have been slower to adapt, despite the fact that a UK broker named FinnCap Group Plc announced late last year that it was going to change its vacation policy and begin providing employees with unlimited paid breaks beginning in 2022. During a period of exceptional activity in the capital markets, this decision was made with the intention of reducing the burden placed on the workforce.
The increase in vacation time that Goldman employees are entitled to may help lessen the impact of the company’s decision to eliminate a number of perks that date back to the epidemic. As an incentive to get employees back to work, Goldman Sachs stopped providing free breakfast and lunch at the workplace one month ago. When compared to other financial institutions, the bank has been one of the most outspoken in its advocacy for the candidate’s reelection.
