Which firms offer great culture and work life balance?

[edg]

Surely it depends on a host of factors right down to the individual hiring managers as you say.

This was definitely the case at HSBC. Up until recently, I was a permie BA (IT side investment banking) for 10 years, and could wfh 2 days a week, and my manager was relatively flexible on my comings and goings. Contractors in our team also enjoyed similar luxuries, but in other teams, they didn't get a sniff of it.

Generally speaking, yes, there is a culture of work/life balance there, but the extent on how that's executed is down to the team / manager.

FYI - permie roles there are far and few between; they are definitely more keen to hire contractors.

[PermMCCon]

Life is not the same after having my baby last year. I've been a contractor for nearly 8 years - chasing quality projects or rates. Work life balance and the ability to work from home have become extremely important now. I'm trying to make a list of firms in the financial services that can offer me some flexibility and balance. Please can I ask the wise members of this forum to contribute? I am a business analyst - most of my experience has been in retail banking.

1. HSBC
2. Lloyds Banking Group (I was told that it all LARGELY depends on the manager)
3.

Hi Winter,

If we go back to your core question:

Where in FIs can I continue working as a contracting BA on a decent rate but have more work-life balance?

The quick answer is... there is no single bank where every department provides the wonderful mix people crave. It depends on the manager and the area you are joining. One person will tell you HSBC is wonderful while the other will tell you they worked all hours god gave them... hence please read the below as a "general" rule.

You will have to go to the interviews and take it from there:

- Permie vs Contractor
In general, if you are looking for consistently good work-life balance (you mention "extremely important", strong language), then the best way is to go permie BA. You will earn less, but with kids in tow I won't regurgitate here all the pluses that go with permiedom. Nuff said

- Go outside Investment Banking
Our day rates in IB are in general higher than anywhere else within FIs, but it comes with certain expectations on ability to take additional workload and the pace we maintain on projects. Again, its a general rule but as a whole, the contractor in IB earns more and works longer hours with more stress on his day2day life

- RBS, Lloyds et all vs Investment Led Banks
Again, similar to the above its probably best to stay away from Japanese and American banks where the bar will be set that much higher. If you really want to "coast it" for a bit, best not to go to places where long hours and high workloads are the general norm

Please do note these are general posts, off course that joining RBS IB and certain departments (or managers) will involve just a big workload as some Japanese banks, hence the above represents a general FYI.

The expectations on contractors will always be higher than on permies... you may want to consider permiedom if you really do want far more flex.

[TestMangler]

LBG rubbish for working from home / work life balance. Will never return back there.

Current FS client allowing 5 days wfh if I want, although I go into the office 1 day week to check in on what's going on.

See, that's just not true. It really does depend on where/for whom you were working. My last two contracts at LBG were WFH all the time, except when I absolutely had to be somewhere, which worked out at a couple of days a month. Previous one to them I worked from home one week in three or so. Over the years, I've had loads of WFH from LBG.

[bracken]

See, that's just not true. It really does depend on where/for whom you were working. My last two contracts at LBG were WFH all the time, except when I absolutely had to be somewhere, which worked out at a couple of days a month. Previous one to them I worked from home one week in three or so. Over the years, I've had loads of WFH from LBG.

Me too - in 2017, I managed maybe 10 days physically in the office (in London FWIW) for Lloyds - they're severely cutting back on office space so I help them with that by being very 'agile' for them. Works well for both parties, I save on commute costs (£6k) and they get me for more hours as I always did 9-5 when in the office due to the long commute but when wfh, I do plenty of hours outside of 9-5

[stek]

Me too - in 2017, I managed maybe 10 days physically in the office (in London FWIW) for Lloyds - they're severely cutting back on office space so I help them with that by being very 'agile' for them. Works well for both parties, I save on commute costs (£6k) and they get me for more hours as I always did 9-5 when in the office due to the long commute but when wfh, I do plenty of hours outside of 9-5

I know what you mean, Storage Wars USA and Undercover Boss takes at least two hours out of the core day.....

[psychocandy]

I know what you mean, Storage Wars USA and Undercover Boss takes at least two hours out of the core day.....

Forgot jeremy kyle

[stek]

Forgot jeremy kyle

If im not on it, i dont watch it!

[TestMangler]

If im not on it, i dont watch it!

Psychocany watches it all the time. It's the only way he gets to see his family.

[quackhandle]

Gigging at HSBC WFH was initially one day a week, the daily commute to Sheffield was a grind, esp over the winter months.

Then our "handler" moved sideways in the company so all the contractors in the team went WFH all week.

(However part of that reason was two snide permies that no one liked and wouldn't lower themselves to even speak to you)

qh

[BeTheBest]

LBG Commercial Banking

I worked in Commercial Banking in London for a while. Generally WFH was encouraged - but it depended on your manager - some were dead set against it. Work/life balance was pretty good. You don't get the smartest people there and they have a lot of Indian bods on site who weren't toilet trained! The toilets were blocked most days - and some chose not to use the toilet at all preferring the floor! Of course management had no idea how to handle it.