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

Media reports citing people familiar with the matter say that JPMorgan Chase will track employees’ weekly working hours based on digital activity records, such as call logs, keyboard input, or meeting notes, and compare them with the hours self-reported by employees, to ease the problem of junior employees working excessively and to ensure their physical and mental well-being. JPMorgan Chase will set an 80-hour weekly cap on employees’ working time, based on employees’ self-reported hours.

JPMorgan Chase says the tool is similar to the weekly screen-time tracking on smart phones. It is designed to raise employees’ awareness and improve transparency, not to enforce it.

Media reports say Wall Street banks are known for their heavy workloads. In order to meet the needs of clients paying millions of dollars in fees. Some junior professionals may underreport their working hours to evade the time limit, avoid being reassigned, or make sure they can participate in new projects.

In 2024, Bank of America launched a tool to monitor the workloads of interns and junior bankers and to issue 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.

Work hours at Wall Street investment banks have drawn attention because, in January 2024, a junior banker at Bank of America in the United States died from a blood clot. At the time, junior staff at the investment bank were working up to 100 hours per week. Since then, they have been limited to within 80 hours per week.

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