Yuliya Lavysh was thrilled to accept a job offer from Bank of America while a student at Smith University. She quit in 2022 after three years in the Chicago office, where senior bankers kept her and her teammates at their desks until 5am and instructed them to lie about their hours. Once, she said, she worked until 4am in the office and was on her way home in a taxi, only for her boss to request more changes for a proposal to a client and to leave a printed copy for senior staff to review later that morning. She asked the cab driver to turn around. 

Roy Wang worked as a junior investment banker for the bank in Tokyo. He said he meticulously logged his overtime hours. But when human resources told his bosses he was working too much, a manager told him to report only as many as were allowed by the bank’s policies. He said he continued to work at least one all-nighter every week — saying it wasn’t unusual for junior bankers to catch a few hours of sleep in a bathroom stall or a conference room. He left after his doctor flagged his cholesterol and other indicators had spiked to unhealthy levels.