Goldman Sachs analyst found dead hours after complaining to father of '100 hour weeks'

[n2doc]

Officials in San Francisco are investigating the death of a young analyst at Goldman Sachs who complained to his father of working '100 hour weeks', hours before his body was found in the car park next to his apartment.

The authorities have said they believe Sarvshreshth Gupta, 22, killed himself after working through the night and struggling to match the demands he felt under.

The graduate of the University of Pennsylvania who was born in New Delhi, told his father, Sunil: “This job is not for me. Too much work and too little time.”

Mr Gupta wrote about his son’s death in an essay posted on Medium, which has since been removed.

“He calls us and says, ‘It is too much. I have not slept for two days, have a client meeting tomorrow morning, have to complete a presentation, my VP is annoyed and I am working alone in my office’, ” his father wrote.

more

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/goldman-sachs-analyst-found-dead-hours-after-complaining-to-father-of-100-hour-weeks-10292977.html

[drm604]

1. Surely there are worker protection laws for salaried workers?

Aren't there?

[PowerToThePeople]

3. Unless you have a contract

There are no protections. At will employment. That is why unions are still needed.

[taught_me_patience]

36. unions are not needed nor wanted in banking

These guys are the alpha males and females of business. First you survive, then thrive, then get rewarded big time. It is not for everybody.

[lonestarnot]

53. Unions are needed in every workplace.

[Sancho]

52. Unions would be fine in banking...how about this idea...

Post offices could be public banks - nonprofit and run sort of like credit unions. Employees could be represented by collective bargaining.

Convenient, regulated, honest, basic services, and generally competent employees!

Just a thought.

[Starry Messenger]

8. Nope.

[closeupready]

2. Don't pin this on Goldman Sachs. I'm sorry he killed himself,

but that's not GS's doing.

[n2doc]

4. Working him 100 hours a week had nothing to do with it?

[closeupready]

5. Could he have quit? What was his compensation?

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Considering that this is a fate that all our children could face,

it doesn't give them much options if all these bully corporations go the same route.

[closeupready]

15. I believe we should teach children to value honest work, but

to view work of any sort as one part of life among many parts, making a balanced life.

[Baitball Blogger]

24. That isn't the reality that many young people deal with.

They are taught to study hard and get the best job possible, and work harder. Once you get established in a good job, life will open up to you. This is especially true for the children of immigrant families. That's how they are raised.

It's not a formula that is working out for many young kids today. The pressures they face are reminiscent of an era that belonged to our grandparents time, when there was little mobility up the ladder. So, as parents we should do everything we can to make sure that corporations are not abusing them, since we are the ones that raised them to believe that hard work would open doors to them.

[City Lights]

35. Tell that to the corporations. They're the ones working people to death. nt

[magical thyme]

49. it's nice of you to believe that, but from what I read yesterday his father

urged him to continue on.

From an article I read yesterday, it seems like culturally he was between a rock and a hard place -- hi-finance pressure to work 80-100 hours and win by any means versus a family pressuring for "success" by their definition of success.

[closeupready]

60. Oh, I didn't realize the family was also pressuring him. Sad,

and gosh, can there be a bigger regret in life, when one looks back to take account of one's life decisions? Probably not.

[drm604]

21. Quit and do what?

It doesn't sound like he had any spare time to go job hunting, so he would have had to quit and hope that he could find something else quickly (you can't collect unemployment compensation if you quit).

And he couldn't be to choosy since he'd have to find something, anything, before his money ran out. So he might end up at another company that treats him the same.

From the article it does sound like this particular individual had supportive parents and could have gone home to them, but who wants to live off their parents? In any case, not everyone has family that can support them during a job search.

[taught_me_patience]

39. Goldman bankers always have options

This guy could have easily quit and found another job.

[drm604]

42. We don't know that.

We don't know his circumstances.

In any case, I was responding to the general idea, usually heard from the right, that bad employers aren't a problem because employees can always go elsewhere. That is not how the real world works. If it was, there'd be no bad employers because no one would work for them.

[PowerToThePeople]

45. One bad employer can destroy a career.

I have a long work history of good employment history. My last employer was not good. I have not been able to get any work since being fired without cause from there. 3 1/2 years now, no job.

[snooper2]

61. Um, just don't list that job on your resume-

[daredtowork]

43. With what job recommendations? That's the handcuffs. nt

[Divernan]

54. As do high earning, well-educated wives of serially cheating husbands.

You know, any relatively young woman with top Ivy legal credentials, who was already making a higher income than her husband?

This young man sadly lacked the self-esteem, self-confidence & personal courage to walk away from an abusive employer. From other posts, it seems pressure from his father also kept him from resigning.

How ironic - this young man was literally slaving away to increase Goldman-Sachs' profits, as doubtlessly is typical for low level Goldman-Sachs employees, and in turn Goldman-Sachs has the money to pay $200,000 each for speeches from HRC. Would that be one or two degrees of separation between this tragic young man and HRC?

[raouldukelives]

44. Yes. We all are blessed with free will. To choose between helping others or hurting them. nt

[phil89]

41. If he was THAT consumed with

greed he was part of the problem. There are plenty of jobs where people can actually make a positive difference in the world. Sounds like he couldn't live without pursuing money. Too bad he wouldn't look at other options.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

6. The fish rots from the head.

GS looks to have a toxic corporate culture that pressures staff into spending far too much time working, or meet strong disapproval, demotion, or possible termination for those who aren't willing to put in the hours.

[taught_me_patience]

37. Goldman Sachs dominates the I banking industry

Their corporate culture is fine. It is the envy of the banking would. It's not for everybody, though.

[GeorgeGist]

47. Greed is a disease.

[el_bryanto]

10. Why so quick to defend Goldman Sachs - do you work there or something?

While they might not be responsible for this situation (and they might well be as well) - they have certainly been accused of some pretty lousy practices in their other businesses.

Bryant

[closeupready]

13. I don't want to get into personal stuff on this board, but

I will say no, I do not work there.

But for any of us who DO work and have jobs, we can always walk away from jobs that are creating problems.

I've done it twice, and I certainly needed that income far more than this analyst likely did.

[el_bryanto]

16. What sort of protections for labor do you support?

One argument against having strong labor laws has been the mobility possible in America (i.e if you don't like your job you just go find another job). Or do you feel like labor protections should only apply to the working class?

Bryant

[closeupready]

22. I don't understand your question.

I'm not arguing against labor protections here. I'm not arguing about that at all - I just made the observation that he could have walked away from his job.

He was a financial analyst, and if I'm not mistaken, that is considered an exempt position with the US Department of Labor, correct?

[el_bryanto]

23. That's correct - I work in an exempt position as well

What that means is that they can take three people, fire 1 and make the other two pick up the slack - or fire 2 and make the last person pick up the slack - which is what they do in a lot of cases. Which is how you get a guy having to work himself to death, like in this case.

Bryant

[closeupready]

29. Well, I'll concede that you have a good point; if I were on a jury

deciding culpability in a civil suit, and plaintiff's lawyer argued this point as you did, I'd have to reconsider my thoughts. (How's that for humility?)

Cheers.

[LanternWaste]

27. That is a most inaccurate premise.

"we can always walk away from jobs that are creating problems..."

That is a most inaccurate premise. What one person has done is not indicative of what more people may do...

[Orsino]

28. Why don't abused wives simply leave their husbands?

Why don't the unemployed just get jobs?
Why can't the mentally ill just snap out of it?
Why don't rape victims wear less-revealing clothes?

[geardaddy]

31. +1 million

Nice reposte.

[Divernan]

56. See my reply # 54, re woman staying with serially cheating husbands.

I'm in HRC's age bracket, and active in various civic, political and social organizations. There are too many women in that income/age bracket (but without HRC's education and earning potential as a person with an Ivy law degree) who know their husbands have cheated on them, but no way would they give up their lifestyles. They seem to see Hillary as the patron saint of cheated-on wives. And they console themselves that at least their husbands had the class to keep their affairs on the down low.

[raccoon]

50. For many if not most of us, it's hard as hell to find another job that pays you a living wage.

we can always walk away from jobs that are creating problems.

I know plenty of people nowadays who either have no job or have one or more part-time jobs, because
that's all they can find.

[Rex]

14. True, but you could say GS was instrumental in his death.

And also ask yourself, if it is true, what the fuck are they doing working people 100 hours a week? That is literally working someone to death and I think you would agree.

Could he quit, yeah sure and you and I could quit our jobs too...ready? I'm not.

[closeupready]

19. I did once have a job like that

working hours regularly like that. I did later quit that job, but not because of the hours, but because I found a better job.

[Rex]

20. Yikes I cannot imagine working like that! The most I ever did was 60 hour work weeks

and that job took a real toll on my health.

[closeupready]

26. It's unhealthy. One day, I started doing a regular 7 hour workday,

and I remember thinking, "is that it? I can go home?"

I would never work like that now - part of it is as you age, your mortality becomes more obvious, and you want to live.

[FlatBaroque]

17. FUCK GOLDMAN SACHS

with a rusty pitchfork.

[kenfrequed]

34. "Don't pin this on Goldman Sachs."

I read that sentence but something about it doesn't make any sense to me. It certainly doesn't make sense to read it on DU.

Seriously though, why are we defending the practices of such a terrible institution here? Shall we defend Walmart next?

[HughBeaumont]

7. I don't know what's more pathetic.

A company that demands you spend your entire waking day and night there or the weasels in the comments section that lovingly defend such a practice and season it with victim-blaming on top.

[HornBuckler]

46. What you said 100%. nt.

[GeorgeGist]

48. It's a tie.

[Renew Deal]

51. Has it been proven that the company demanded he work day and night?

These jobs are very competititve. The worker may have felt that this was what he needed to do to keep up. There are not enough facts in this article.

[geek tragedy]

9. the investment banks are notorious for working their junior

analysts to death, in this case literally so. They don't get paid that much--especially considering the cost of living in NYC. These guys make maybe 1/20th of what their banker boss will make.

[libdem4life]

12. This is capitalism, at its finest. Perhaps we could call Hillary? n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

25. Could you please point me to evidence that suggests Hillary Clinton opposes a forty hour work week?

Thank you in advance.

[libdem4life]

30. As usual, the point was missed. They are all her buddies...donors...friends...shall I go on?

She stands for and promotes their type of capitalism...them and all the others who I'm tired of naming because everyone knows this. Here's a question back, which of her opposition...we know all the Republicans love them...won't do their very expensive bidding?

Oh, and you're welcome.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. A person can promote regulated capitalism

A person can promote regulated capitalism and at the top of the regulations would be regulations that prohibits businesses from working folks to death.

[libdem4life]

33. No S###. Then how was he forced to work? I'll tell you why, because most of those regulations

don't mean sh##. You want to know how they helped the farmworkers in California...the legal ones? Not. And I could go on. The Too Big To Fail or Follow Regulations are one in the same. I've worked in the financial industry, and the Regulators come in, say howdy and leave and write their reports at the cafeteria eating free food. Then after a while, they don't bother to make the trip perhaps because the cafeteria food's just not worth it.

[1939]

55. Like the government?

Ask an Army drill Sergeant or a USMC drill instructor what kinds of hours he puts in for a lot less money than a G-S jr analyst makes.

[Sheepshank]

58. lol...what a fucking joke....

it appears that some have already moved from, "Thanks, Obama" to "Thanks Hillary"

actually, its not a fucking joke, it's fucking pathetic. Since Hillary is NOT yet in any position of leadership, could you not have used McConnell, Bush, Reagan...any other name that is actually part of the 'enemy'?

[libdem4life]

64. Since it's a game/joke, then I'll play. Which names goes best with Goldman Sachs...

or put differently, who does Goldman Sachs sponsor? McConnell? Bush? Reagan? or Hillary?

Why blame me? I didn't take their money. I just know who did. That's not a F### Joke. Let's play another game. Now a bill comes up to deregulate the Big Banks....you know the ones Too Big To Fail...get a bit more current...at least in the right decade...Bernie or Hillary?

You're going to have to own the Corporate Money Leader of the Pack. Can't believe this post. Sheesh.

PS...also, I thought Reagan was dead...he's no longer in a position of leadership.

[JEB]

18. No worries, probably 100's of applicants

for the fresh opening. This is one sick fucking country. We are exceptional that way.

[bigwillq]

38. RIP (nt)

[azmom]

40. Very sad.

[Godhumor]

57. If I may share, I worked in banking for a bit. Hit 80 hours a week and it nearly broke me

I still remember being confronted by my wife one night when coming home at ten pm. She told me that I didn't know my 7 month old son at all beyond his name.

I was lucky, though. I realized what the job was doing to me physically, mentally and emotionally, and I managed to leave the entire industry. I may not have the lifelong earnings of a banker to look forward to anymore, but no one in my family regrets the change.

[n2doc]

59. Thanks for sharing

I've had to work some 80+ hour weeks in my job, and yes, it is a family-killer. Can't imagine doing 100+ hours week after week.

[leftyladyfrommo]

62. Banking pretty much sucks no matter where you work.

Young people should find another field to work in.

These outfits just suck the soul out of their employees and then toss them to the side of the road when they burn out..

[Throd]

63. How effective is a person forced to work so much?

What would be the quality of their analysis? One would think 2 people splitting the difference might cost more money, but would bring greater value.