Even the great Vampire Squid knows when to give its young some love.
Goldman Sachs has plans to give its junior-level employees more vacation time, FINS reports, citing "people familiar with the matter." The bank will give its associates a month off before they move up to the next job in the company's ladder and will also get a week of vacation where they don't have to be as responsive to calls and emails, a striking development at a firm known for working employees around the clock.
The move may be an attempt to keep Goldman employees happy as the oft-maligned bank faces a slew of terrible publicity. Most notably, Greg Smith, a former Goldman employee, resigned from the bank via an op-ed in The New York Times last month, in which he criticized Goldman's "toxic" environment and the bank’s tendency to value profit above all else, especially its own clients.
Maybe more important for Goldman's underlings, the bank's bonus day in January was reportedly a "bloodbath," as some Goldman bankers and traders learned they weren’t taking home any bonuses at all. Additionally, the bank cut the total pay of some of its partners in half.
Another reason Goldman may need to boost morale among its employees: The bank is reportedly cutting jobs in its investment banking and trading units. This follows Goldman's decision to slash 2,400 jobs last year.
But despite the layoffs and pay cuts, Goldman employees still seem to be pretty happy with their man at the top. Lloyd Blankfein, the company’s chief, is one of top 11 CEO's that employees love the most, according to career and rating review site Glassdoor.com.
Still, even if Blankfein and other Goldman execs decide to give their underlings the extra days off, the workers may not take them. American workers likely left 226 vacation days unused last year, giving their companies an extra $34.3 billion worth of time, according to a December survey from Expedia. But Goldman's youngest workers may need to take some days off. That's because young investment bankers often suffer from a variety of ailments including Chron's Disease, eating disorders and alcoholism.