Interesting insights regarding banker burnout
If you're facing a weekend at work and don't feel particularly great about that prospect, you can console yourself with the fact that life is just as bad in consulting.
A recent issue of the MIT student magazine details one consultant's nightmare working for Boston Consulting Group in Dubai.
"What I learned," he writes, "is that burning out isn't just about workload, it's about workload being greater than the motivation to do work. It was relatively easy to drag myself to classes when I thought I was working for my own betterment. It was hard to sit at a laptop and crank out slides when all I seemed to be accomplishing was the transfer of wealth from my client to my company."
In the end, the consultant appears to have become so burned out that he left his job and opted to write articles about his experience.
Dr William Shanahan, a director at the Capio Nightingale Hospital near Harley Street, which specialises in treating burnout cases, says being dumped on in this manner can create a fertile environment for burnout. Unsurprisingly, Shanahan also says that a "high proportion" of the burnout cases he sees involve bankers.
"Oddly enough, people with stressful jobs like policemen, firemen, or junior doctors don't get burned out as much these days," says Shanahan. "There's an awareness of the risks and systems are in place to mitigate them. In banking, that's not the case."
Three categories of banker burnouts
Shanahan says burned out bankers come to him throughout their careers, but particularly at the following points, and for the following reasons:
Juniors
Burnout in juniors is typically due to a lack of balance, a lack of sleep, and too much drinking or drug taking, says Shanahan.
"You can survive work being dumped on you at a junior level if you're happy in other areas of your life, if you have a good relationship, for example," he says. "But you get some people who are working very long hours and trying to compensate by staying out and partying all night, doing a little bit of cocaine, or drinking. They're often fine to begin with and may even place great trades while they're under the influence, but they pay a terrible price two years down the line."
Mid-rankers
For the mid-ranking banker, Shanahan says burnout is often down to relationships failing, and the realisation that alcohol, in particular, has taken hold.
"You get to the stage where you can't let go. You go on holiday and your laptop, iPhone and Blackberry are on the beach with you. The more successful you are, the less you can step away from it. Partners get very upset, and then you wake up one day and find they've left.
"Alcohol plays a huge problem in burnout," he adds. "You get people who have a little drink in the evening, and then at lunchtime, and before you know it that turns into a few bottles in the evening. It makes a huge difference if they can pull back from that."
Senior staff
At a senior level, Shanahan says burnout is more commonly due to a feeling of being threatened by up and coming juniors.
"There's often a sense that other people who are younger and cheaper are being brought in as replacements," he says. "Senior staff often get very distressed by this, and up working longer, taking fewer holidays and pushing themselves to excess in an attempt to justify their position."
