Over a month ago, junior analysts and associates at Wells Fargo put a presentation together asking their employer to reimburse them for meal expenses while working. Wells Fargo responded with an alternative: a flat bonus allocation of between $10k and $20k.

While the bonus is a generous allocation, one that does measure up to other firms’ recent bonuses, some junior bankers have expressed disappointment that the allocations haven’t come with other quality of life changes that they say the company needs to administer.

[…]Wells Fargo’s juniors say they also benefit from the bank’s existing policy of giving juniors time off from 6pm on Friday until 12pm on Saturday. This too looks a little ungenerous: Goldman Sachs gives juniors from 9pm on Friday until 9pm on Sunday off (and says it will now enforce this more strictly), as does Barclays. However, Wells Fargo juniors also get to take one whole weekend off per month (from Friday at 6pm until Monday at 7am), so this kind of compensates.

“We were all hoping they’d come out and make up for lost time with a meal stipend, bonus and maybe salary increases, plus the kinds of wellness efforts other banks have been offering – like a Skype-free Friday,” said one analyst. “But we take this small win.”

Once the extra $10k is taxed, it only amounts to around $7k, the same analyst observed. “A net $7k is less than the value of a meal stipend for a year, and we will end up missing this for two years in total. The package is still below market,” he added.

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