Isn’t it still true that those who climb the ladder still put in the most hours?

In the offices of a City firm of lawyers this week I saw a sign for “Sleeping Pods”.

It was on their third floor and as the lift doors opened, I could see pointers towards the “Medical Centre” and the “Sleeping Pods”.

Instantly, I was back at the law firm also in the Square Mile, which I joined after university. As articled clerks we would regularly toil through the night, proof-reading some interminable legal tract. We were allowed to order in pizzas and we could take taxis home. If we had something to go to, tough. We had to stay, no ifs and buts. We were given a pack of sharpened pencils and that was it, for hour after hour, we had to spot any incorrect spellings and grammatical errors in hundreds of pages of documents.

It was expected. If we complained, we did so to ourselves. Staying late was part of the rite of passage, as was going in at weekends and working over holidays. The partners and associates had all done the same; if we wanted to join them, to be like them, we too had to step up.

Yes, today’s firms – and this one is not alone – may have sleeping and medical centres, to go with the free food and drink they now supply as standard, and the table tennis tables, gyms, swimming pools, table football games, golf simulators, yoga and Pilates classes, free latest novels by favourite authors, frequent retreats and work outings, prayer rooms – but, has anything really changed? In truth, aren’t those who get on, who climb the ladder, the ones who put in the hours?

It's not just law firms that are going out of their way to appear as though they care deeply about the work-life balance. The US bank Citigroup is opening a hub office in Malaga. Thirty junior analysts can choose to be stationed there. They will work eight hours a day, maximum and will be able to enjoy the more relaxed lifestyle of southern Spain. They will only be paid half what their peers in London and New York will be receiving.

To my cynical mind that last bit is the giveaway. Their pay underscores their value to their bosses – Citi is a “bulge bracket” Wall Street powerhouse, a tough, hungry, fearsomely competitive beast, driven by making as much money as possible and rewarding its people accordingly. I would wager that those who head to the sun and beaches in Spain are not destined for the higher echelons of the City or, come to that, Wall Street. They’ve chosen to forsake half what they could be earning – that’s not an attitude that will endear them to a red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalist. It marks them down as “soft” and heading nowhere.

Employers believe they must be seen to offer this stuff, that today’s recruits expect it (more so, post-Covid and lockdowns). There’s a curious game being played. The joiners look for it, but don’t necessarily want it and indeed, may never avail themselves of it. Likewise, their employer is hoping they don’t use it either.

The other weirdness is that this drive is coming from the US, from the same country that still sticks religiously to a work ethic of “every hour, every day” and “holidays are for wimps”. Much of it is hailing from the west coast; over on the east, in NYC, the push for wellness over profit is not so pronounced.

Of course, we’ve come a long way from the days when partners had their own dining rooms or in case of one City solicitors, their own drinks trolley. Those symbols have gone. But that’s all they were, symbols – the underlying meaning has not altered.

Similarly, that’s all the new facilities are as well. Symbols. Undoubtedly, a right-minded employer is concerned for the welfare of their employees. That doesn’t mean they look kindly on someone having a nap in a sleeping pod when they could be racking up billable time. Or two workers playing ping-pong when they could be researching the next money-making opportunity.

Some might be tolerated, but too much and they’re finished. They will not get on.

The folks clamouring for places at elite lawyers, accountants, banks, management consultants and the rest are not stupid either. If they wanted the more leisurely life, they would go somewhere else. You don’t slave your guts out to get to a top university, don’t sweat over your degree, don’t go through the rigorous interviewing process, don’t see off the others, in order to use the swimming pool. You’re making a Faustian pact – you’re joining because you want the cash (oh and yes, the stimulation of working in such a place) and you will do what is required. They want you because of the cash you will generate for them – “you eat what you kill” remains the abiding rule.

It cannot be said, not so directly. So, they must pretend they’re something different, they’re not like that. By all means, join the law firm with sleeping pods and the bank with a Malaga offer. But my advice is simple: if you know what is good for you, if you want to be promoted, don’t use the sleeping pods, don’t go to Malaga.