Goldman Sachs says senior staff can take as much time off as they want

Goldman Sachs says senior staff can take as much time off as they want

Goldman Sachs has told its most senior bankers they will be allowed to take as much holiday as they want so they can “rest and recharge”. 

Under a new “flexible vacation” scheme introduced from May 1, partners and managing directors will be free to “take time off when needed without a fixed vacation day entitlement”, the Wall Street bank told staff in a memo last month.

More junior bankers, who will still be entitled to take only a fixed number of paid days off, have been given a minimum of two extra days of holiday per year. Precise details of holiday allowances for each region would be communicated separately, the bank told staff.

Employees at all levels will be required to spend at least three weeks away from work annually from 2023, including at least one full week of consecutive days off.

The changes follow scrutiny of Goldman’s working practices last year when a group of junior investment banking analysts told management they were working in “inhumane” conditions, clocking up an average of 95 hours a week with five hours of sleep a night.

The analysts presented a slide deck with proposals such as capping their working week at 80 hours and respecting an existing