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Bank of America is making changes to its working hours policies less than a year after the death of 35-year-old junior banker Leo Lukenas III, who had reportedly put in 110-hour weeks for a month while working on a $2 billion acquisition.
Though the coroner’s report didn’t tie his death to overwork, it has led Bank of America to reevaluate its hours and oversight structure.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Bank of America has now tasked select senior bankers at the director level and up with ensuring that junior employees, or associates and analysts, work within the bank’s 80-hour workweek limit.
Related: Bank of America Threatens Workers Who Won’t Return to the Office With ‘Disciplinary Action’
Investment bankers receive six-figure compensation for their work. According to Indeed, the average salary for an investment banker at Bank of America is $255,074 per year. Junior bankers are analysts or associates, making anywhere from $160,00 to $475,000 a year in total compensation.
Working 80 hours per week means clocking in at around 7 a.m. and leaving the office around 8:30 p.m., six days a week. In comparison, the average American works 34 hours a week.
Working long hours is the norm in investment banking. According to a 2023 survey from the finance community site Wall Street Oasis, first-year investment bankers reported working an average of 77.12 hours a week and sleeping 5.98 hours every night. Meanwhile, some people have claimed businesses can demand as much as 120 hours per week.
Related: Big Wall Street Banks Are Limiting Workweek Hours — to 80
A WSJ investigation in August uncovered that Bank of America supervisors pressured junior bankers to underreport how many hours they worked. Following the article, Bank of America told junior bankers to report managers who overworked them. In September 2024, the bank released a time reporting tool that required junior bankers to log their daily activities in greater detail, instead of merely logging their weekly tasks, to keep track of hours worked.
“We want all of our junior bankers to have the best experience possible, learning from the teammates they work with and further benefiting from the career growth and development this role brings,” a Bank of America spokesperson told the WSJ.
Now, select senior bankers will be responsible for supervising and managing junior banker workloads. A source told the WSJ that executives are looking into other ways to save employees time, including using AI tools to help prepare pitch decks and financial forecasts.
Bank of America laid off 150 junior investment bankers based on low performance last week, the company said.
Bank of America employed 213,000 people globally, as of January.
Related: Bank of America Is Raising Its Minimum Wage. Here’s What Full-Time Salaries Will Look Like.
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