Key Takeaways
- JPMorgan is piloting a system that cross-checks junior bankers’ self-reported hours with data from keystrokes, video calls and meetings.
- The bank will send junior investment bankers weekly summaries comparing their timesheets with digital activity logs.
- JPMorgan frames the monitoring as a “wellbeing” initiative designed to increase transparency and encourage conversations about overwork.
Junior bankers are notorious for working long hours, regularly clocking in 100-hour workweeks. Now, JPMorgan is making it more difficult for them to lie about their hours, deploying new surveillance technology that tracks every keystroke, meeting and video call these young employees make.
JPMorgan is debuting a new pilot program that determines whether the hours claimed by junior bankers on their timesheets align with their activity, according to a recent report from the Financial Times. Employees will receive a weekly report comparing their self-reported hours with their computer footprint. The report will not be used in performance reviews.
“Much like the weekly screen time summaries on a smartphone, this tool is about awareness — not enforcement,” JPMorgan said in a statement to the Financial Times. “It’s designed to support transparency, wellbeing, and encourage open conversations about workload.”
JPMorgan isn’t the first employer to monitor workers’ activity. Companies like Dell and Goldman Sachs track everything from ID badge swipes to keyboard strokes.
Although the idea of employers monitoring employees’ online activity might raise concerns for many workers about surveillance, the pilot initiative intends to curb overwork among junior staff. The effort reflects a broader trend across Wall Street firms seeking to protect employees from the risks associated with heavy workloads.
Junior investment bankers were working excessively
Working long hours is the norm in investment banking. According to a 2023 survey by the finance community site Wall Street Oasis, first-year investment bankers reported working an average of 77.12 hours per week and sleeping just 5.98 hours per night. Some bankers have claimed that businesses can demand as much as 120 hours per week. In comparison, the average American works 34 hours a week.
However, Wall Street’s demands on junior investment bankers have begun to ease in response to the death of a junior employee. Two years ago, 35-year-old junior banker Leo Lukenas III, who had reportedly put in 110-hour weeks for a month while working at Bank of America on a $2 billion acquisition, died from a blood clot.
Though the coroner’s report didn’t tie his death to overwork, the incident led the investment banking industry to reevaluate its hours and oversight structure.
Banks are enforcing rules to prevent overwork
JPMorgan’s keystroke monitoring tool is the latest sign that banks are cracking down on overwork.
Last year, Bank of America tasked some senior bankers with ensuring that junior employees work a maximum of 80 hours per week. Working 80 hours a week means clocking in at around 7 a.m. and leaving the office at around 8:30 p.m., six days a week.
It is the same hour limit JPMorgan implemented two years ago. The bank also has a “pencils down” rule, which bars work from 6 p.m. Friday to noon Saturday and guarantees that staff get one full weekend off every three months. Live deals are exempt from the rule.
The average base salary for an investment banker in New York is $160,086, according to Indeed. The salary range for a JPMorgan junior investment banker was $134,000 to $186,000 per year, per Glassdoor.
Key Takeaways
- JPMorgan is piloting a system that cross-checks junior bankers’ self-reported hours with data from keystrokes, video calls and meetings.
- The bank will send junior investment bankers weekly summaries comparing their timesheets with digital activity logs.
- JPMorgan frames the monitoring as a “wellbeing” initiative designed to increase transparency and encourage conversations about overwork.
Junior bankers are notorious for working long hours, regularly clocking in 100-hour workweeks. Now, JPMorgan is making it more difficult for them to lie about their hours, deploying new surveillance technology that tracks every keystroke, meeting and video call these young employees make.
JPMorgan is debuting a new pilot program that determines whether the hours claimed by junior bankers on their timesheets align with their activity, according to a recent report from the Financial Times. Employees will receive a weekly report comparing their self-reported hours with their computer footprint. The report will not be used in performance reviews.
“Much like the weekly screen time summaries on a smartphone, this tool is about awareness — not enforcement,” JPMorgan said in a statement to the Financial Times. “It’s designed to support transparency, wellbeing, and encourage open conversations about workload.”
