Goldman execs: Let them eat fruit

Nothing like a fruit basket to get you through a 100-hour workweek.

Goldman Sachs bosses have bought their UK underlings boxes of snacks in response to their concerns about grueling hours taking a toll on their health, a new report says.

Managing directors paid out of pocket to buy the bundles of fruit and other munchies for burned-out junior bankers in the megabank’s London office, The Guardian reported Tuesday.

Some low-level staffers told the paper they appreciated the small gift, but one banker reportedly said Goldman as an institution needs to recognize the intense demands its peons are expected to meet.

“What we need is not a gesture from [managers], but from the firm,” the banker told The Guardian.

It’s unclear when the managers sent the snack boxes. But news of the move came amid other leaks of an upheaval over long hours and other intense working conditions among the Wall Street powerhouse’s junior staff.

In a PowerPoint presentation that spilled onto social media earlier this month, 13 firstyear analysts detailed a punishing work routine that has them pulling 20-hour shifts and struggling with poor mental health.

Goldman underlings had also griped last April about how the bank wasn’t reimbursing them for meals or computer equipment after they started working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Goldman CEO David Solomon pledged last week to more strongly enforce the firm’s rule against working on Saturdays and hire more junior bankers while reassigning some other staff to help out busier divisions.

But he hasn’t followed the lead of Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, who has banned Zoom video calls on Fridays, encouraged staff to take vacations and scheduled a companywide holiday for May 28.

Credit Suisse, meanwhile, is giving investment bankers a $20,000 bonus as compensation for an “unprecedented” pandemic workload while Jefferies offered more than 1,100 junior workers free workout gear, including pricey Peloton bikes, according to The Guardian.

Goldman declined to comment on Tuesday. Noah Manskar

David Solomon-led Goldman Sachs has received so much heat from London workers over brutal workweeks that some execs decided to offer fruit baskets and other goodies as a gesture.