Wall Street investment giants including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are forcing junior bankers and interns to remove TikTok videos that violate social media policies, according to a report.
One employee of Bank of America posted a “day in the life” video on TikTok describing what it was like to be an investment banking analyst at the firm.
The viral video reportedly showed a group of employees working in the office past midnight, according to Bloomberg News.
Shortly after the video gained traction on social media, it was removed. The Post has sought comment from Bank of America.
Gen Z millennials who have worked as junior-level staffers and interns at other firms including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley have posted various TikTok videos that show them partying on cruises around Manhattan or being served food at orientation programs.
The Post has sought comment from Goldman, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley.
Morgan Stanley gave a statement to Bloomberg which read: “Our employees are the best representatives of our company culture and values, which is why we’ve encouraged our interns to share about their summer experience over the last few years.”
Major Wall Street banks have institute social media policies that ban personnel from filming on trading floors or sharing any content that potentially divulges confidential information such as the identities of clients.
Financial institutions also do not allow their employees to post about sensitive issues subject to regulation, such as salaries or bonuses.
Goldman’s policy reminds its workers that they’re “not anonymous online” and that their “actions can reflect negatively on the firm,” according to Bloomberg.
Naeche Vincent, a 24-year-old who worked at an unnamed Wall Street investment bank, declined to mention the name of her former employer in her TikTok videos — particularly one entry in which she describes logging a 19-hour workday.
Vincent is seen describing some of the challenges she faced upon returning to the office after the lifting of coronavirus-related lockdowns.
She said she needed to buy new work clothes as well as touch up her eyebrows. Vincent also said in one of her videos that she needed toe undergo a manicure so as not to attract too much attention to her lengthy fingernails.
“I cannot have claws, like in the corporate world claws just aren’t happening, not with the people I work with,” Vincent said in one of the videos.
“The banking world is very strict about what you can share online,” Vincent told Bloomberg.
“If you’re online posting about a specific company, then you basically become a spokesperson. I just don’t say where I work.”
Vincent told Bloomberg that she is no longer with the company that she worked for.
Wall Street firms are careful not to alienate millennials for fear that the pool of prospective employees could dry up — particularly after junior bankers chafed at long, grueling workdays.
A new survey by UpSlide found that more than three quarters of junior bankers on Wall Street want to quit their jobs — citing the demanding schedule and the inability to use up all of their vacation days.
Last year, 13 junior analysts at Goldman put together a slideshow detailing complaints about 100-hour work weeks and shifts that extended to as much as 20 hours — leaving them little time to eat, sleep, or shower.
