[Workplace Survival] JPMorgan Chase launches digital tool to verify working hours, with a weekly limit of 80 hours to alleviate burnout among junior employees

A foreign media report, citing people familiar with the matter, says JPMorgan Chase will use digital activity records, such as calls, keyboard input, or meeting notes, to total employees’ weekly working hours and compare them with the hours employees self-report, to address the issue of junior employees working excessively and to ensure their physical and mental well-being. JPMorgan Chase will set an employee’s weekly working-hour cap at 80 hours, based on employees’ self-reported hours.

JPMorgan Chase says the tool is similar to the weekly screen-time statistics on smartphones. It is meant to raise employees’ awareness and improve transparency, not to enforce compliance.

Foreign media reports that Wall Street banks are known for their heavy workloads. To meet the needs of customers who pay millions of dollars in fees, some junior practitioners may underreport their working hours to get around the time limits, avoid being reassigned, or ensure they can take part in new projects.

In 2024, Bank of America rolled out a tool to monitor the workload of interns and junior bankers, issuing alerts when weekly working hours exceed 80 hours. The system tracks employees’ working hours each week, aiming to allocate workloads appropriately based on employees’ capabilities.

Concerns about working hours at Wall Street investment banks have also been raised because, in January 2024, a junior banker at Bank of America in the U.S. died from a blood clot. At that time, junior staff at investment banks were working as much as 100 hours per week, and afterward they were limited to within 80 hours per week.

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