Investment Banking

Bankers quit to freelance in revolt against burnout: ‘I can go to dinner with my girlfriend on Saturday night’

Brutal 100-hour weeks have triggered a wave of soul-searching, while freelance gigs pay up to $250 an hour

Brutal hours during the past 18-months have prompted an exodus of juniors that banks have struggled to stem
Brutal hours during the past 18-months have prompted an exodus of juniors that banks have struggled to stem Photo: Getty Images

For the past six months, Naomi Roba has spent up to four hours a day training at a running camp in Iten, Kenya. She’s shaved 23 minutes off her personal best for the half marathon — down to 1 hour 22 minutes. Another 10 minutes and she expects potential sponsors to come knocking.

In between this schedule, she fits in freelancing for large companies on corporate finance work. The contrast between this and her time as an M&A analyst at Goldman Sachs in London, which she left in February, is like “night and day”.

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