“Vacation time? People come and work at this firm for one reason: to become filthy rich. That’s it. We’re not here to make friends. We’re not savin’ the bleepin’ manatees here, guys. You want vacation time? Go teach third grade, public school.”

-Jim Young, “Boiler Room” (2000)

Christmas Eve, and what an appropriate topic. If you’re in your cubicle reading this, my condolences: I was actually in that same position last year as well. But most bankers, believe it or not, are actually on vacation right about now.

Vacation? Yes. It does exist, even in this job. What else are you going to spend those investment banking bonuses on? Beyond just the typical “What are investment banking hours like?” questions, this is another common one I hear. Can you actually take a vacation as an Analyst? Do you ever get any time off? Can you go home for the holidays?

The answer is “yes” to all 3. Pretty much every Analyst I know has taken a vacation at some point, but very few have done so before their first year ended. At some banks it’s actually customary for all Analysts to take a vacation after first year ends (UBS LA, despite its intense reputation, actually did this for awhile). Obviously they can’t all do this at the same time, but there’s usually a lull in August when the Finance Industry itself goes on vacation that makes it an opportune time to go.

For your first 6 months on the job it’s difficult to get any substantial time off because you have to “prove yourself” first. It’s kind of like hazing in a fraternity, except now you’re in an office instead of a frat house. You can take scattered days here and there for personal reasons or weddings, but it’s generally not accepted to take much more time than that.

Toward the start of your second year, it gets more acceptable to take vacations. Once you have first years working under you and have a private equity job (or anything else) lined up, you also stop caring as much about pleasing everyone above you.

And needless to say, in investment banking summer internships, vacations do not exist.

Length Of Time

One week is the standard amount of time people usually take for their vacations. I’ve seen up to two weeks but rarely beyond that - otherwise it seems like you’ve quit without telling anyone. One reason to take more time, beyond just the benefit of being gone longer, is that people almost forget you work there and transfer your work to other Analysts. Even after you get back it takes awhile to sink in, so in effect you’re almost on vacation for a month or longer.

How To Get Permission

This is the easy part. If people like you and you’ve been working hard, no one will question you taking a vacation. The only exception would be if you’re working on a live deal or series of live deals and not enough other Analysts are available to cover for you. This is unlikely to happen at a bulge bracket, but might be the case at a boutique investment bank.

Generally work comes in waves; as long as you time your vacation with the trough of the wave rather than the crest, you should be fine.

Timing is the most important factor when asking for a vacation. Aside from getting this right, I would also recommend framing your request correctly: don’t say “Can I take these days off?” but rather say, “I was planning to use my vacation days on these dates and wanted to make sure we have proper coverage while I’m gone.” Beg for forgiveness rather than asking for permission.

Holidays

You generally don’t need to get permission to not show up on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day. The assumption is that no one will be there unless something earth-shaking is going on and you need to be there for the biggest deal of the century.

The entire week at the end of December through New Year’s is thought of as a vacation as well, but you should still let people know you’re going to be out and make sure enough Analysts are in the office at all times in case anything comes up. Usually you’ll either be super busy with a live deal and have to be there most of the week, or won’t have anything at all and can be gone most of the time.

Aside from Thanksgiving/Christmas Day, nothing really qualifies as a bona fide holiday where no one is expected to be working. As Ari Gold would say, “This stuff’s 24/7!”

Vacation In Other Fields Of Finance

Private Equity is not all that much different from Investment Banking when it comes to vacations: take them if there’s time and you deserve it, but there’s no such thing as a holiday other than Thanksgiving/Christmas. For Hedge Funds, it’s a bit different because no work can be done if the market is closed. This means weekends are essentially free and that market holidays are holidays for you too.

Corporate jobs will have a much more laid back attitude about vacations than any of the three industries above - people are generally in it for lifestyle and other reasons, not to make a lot of money - otherwise they would be at a Hedge Fund.

Happy Holidays

So there you have it, one more post in the maintaining your sanity column. Happy holidays everyone, and look for a weekly Q&A later this week and more new posts when the New Year starts!

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Tags: finance industry, Hedge Funds, investment banker lifestyle, investment banking, investment banking analyst, investment banking vacations, Private Equity

Posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 8:37 am.