TOIL AND TROUBLE

Goldman workers’ gripes started last spring

Goldman Sachs underlings have been complaining about their grueling work-from home routines for longer than previously known — since the start of the pandemic, in fact.

Last spring — almost a year before a group of first-year analysts created February’s viral Power Point presentation, begging to work 80 hours a week instead of more than 100 — a coterie of Goldman rookies put together a similar report, just weeks after the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

While the slideshow cited the deteriorating physical and mental health of first-year analysts as they grappled with “inhuman” working conditions, the newly leaked presentation from last April focuses on the basics — computers and food.

“I find myself looking for time to prepare food, which usually entails late-night sandwiches or scrambled eggs given I work throughout the day,” one underling wrote. “Management should extend the expensing dinner policy as it decreases the stress of worrying about food preparation while working to meet deadlines.”

Specifically, entry-level bankers said they missed the $25 stipend they got for meals when forced to work after 8 p.m. at Goldman’s posh headquarters at 200 West St. in lower Manhattan

“All analysts reported working past 8 pm for five or more days of the seven-day week,” the presentation lamented in a series of bullet points. “The median analyst also worked past 12 pm for five days of the week.”

While some employees clamored for daily meal reimbursements, others lobbied for a weekly stipend to cover deliveries of groceries or frozen food, citing a different set of concerns.

“Coronavirus can be spread through poor kitchen hygiene and I wouldn’t order that from restaurants even if covered,” an employee wrote.

Elsewhere, underlings complained that they weren’t getting compensated for the laptops, monitors and mice they were forced to buy to start doing their jobs at home.

According to the presentation, first obtained by Business Insider, analysts on average were shelling out $1,000 for tech equipment — an expense for which rival firms were offering employees reimbursement.

According to the presentation, the food and computer costs were a painful bite for the finances of first-year bankers, who make roughly $85,000 out of college, not including their bonus, which pumps up their annual salary to $140,000 a year.

The presentation reached higher-ups at Goldman, including Will Bousquette, the chief operating officer of the bank’ s global markets division, according to Business Insider. Nothing was done, however, according to the report.

A rep for Goldman declined to comment on the contents of the deck or on why the bank hasn’t taken action on workers’ concerns.

“We are pleased to have built a culture where employees regularly go to management and share their ideas and concerns,” said Goldman’s head of corporate communications, Nicole Sharp.