The recruiting frenzy has junior analysts penning future-dated buy-side job offers before they complete their investment-banking training, or even before they set foot on their job sites. The practice has frustrated banks unable to retain talented workers after their initial contracts end.
But, job disclosure initiatives to dissuade junior bankers from taking PE offers come with their own risks, experts tell Fortune.
“I would call [employment disclosures] draconian, unethical … soul-and-motivation-killing,” Joshua Bienstock, a labor and employment attorney and associate professor of business law at the New York Institute of Technology, told Fortune.
Bienstock said he doesn’t “see anything positive about” the employment disclosure trend in investment banking—rather, he sees the loyalty oaths as a wedge to drive top talent away from the large firms as young employees have new priorities.
“It’s going to really kill employee morale,” Bienstock said.
“I see the same thing happening here, that there’s going to be a really, really quick reaction, particularly [by] New York City and New York state, to creating prohibitions or limitations” on the employment disclosures, Bienstock said.
