Junior bankers at the American financial institution are now limited to working no more than 80 hours per week. Bank of America is also introducing a similar policy. The change was prompted by a tragic incident.
J.P. Morgan has introduced a new cap on working hours for its junior bankers in the investment division, limiting them to no more than 80 hours per week. This is reported to be the upper limit of their capacity, according to the «Wallstreet Journal».
Bank of America is following suit with similar measures, implementing a tool designed to prevent employees from exceeding their scheduled hours.
Tragic Death Sparks Change
The push for change was triggered by the death of Leo Lukenas, a 35-year-old banker at Bank of America, who passed away on May 2 this year. While medical examiners did not directly link his death to overwork, media reports suggest that Lukenas had been seeking to leave the bank due to the extreme hours he had been working – sometimes over 100 hours per week.
He died from an acute heart condition caused by a blood clot.
Monitoring Systems Ignored
Bank of America had already put systems in place to monitor employees' hours, but internal investigations revealed that many employees deliberately ignored these measures, or were instructed to do so.
To prevent this from happening again, the bank is introducing a new time-tracking system that will provide more detailed insights into junior bankers' working hours.
Exceptions will still be allowed for live deals, but the new rules will also enforce existing measures, such as guaranteeing one full weekend off per quarter and mandating breaks from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon.
