Lazard CEO Says Remote Work Damages Prospects for Young Bankers

(Bloomberg) -- Lazard Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Ken Jacobs said remote work hasn’t hurt dealmaking, but it could have a big impact on prospects for younger bankers across the industry.

“This ultimately is an in-office experience,” Jacobs said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Some of the largest banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are starting to bring staff back to offices in greater numbers. Jacobs said more of Lazard’s bankers are likely to come back in the fall.

Wall Street firms are seeking to strike a balance between a flexible work-life schedule and the hard-charging environment for dealmaking. Young bankers have been grappling from home with elevated workloads, sparking gripes from many. A group of first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. complained earlier this year that they were being overworked and overlooked by managers.

“This has been an extraordinarily productive year, we haven’t really missed much as a result of being out of the office,” Jacobs said. “Longer term, it has big impacts on the ability to train, and recruit and retain the best of our people.”

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