Yes, the last post was a snapshot of the way things have been changing on the workfront in Singapore in the last 12 months. On average, investment banks are seeing a 60% YTD increase in IB fees for the first 5 months of the year compared to the same period last year.What this translates to in real life is a threefold increase in the deal pipeline as compared to when I first returned home in December 2005. Deals are now much bigger, more complex and require a shorter execution time frame. There are more emergency calls at night, more disruptions on weekend afternoons.
Does one feel the stress? Yes, but not always just because of the longer hours or more intense days. Everyone's working extremely hard now in this market, and I know my work life balance is still much better than that it would have been if I had stayed in law practice. I still manage to go off before 8 pm each day and do not usually have to go into the office on weekends. However, as an "ER" lawyer, I do have to be on standby to handle crisis calls, which are definitely happening more frequently these days.
The real stress comes from this. As a legal risk assessor, I sit in a position where I can see how the fever pitch of this market can cause things to fall through the cracks and standards compromised. It means having to be more vigilant and insistent about voicing one's concerns even as people get bolder and bolder chasing deals, and pay less and less attention to risks.
I am noticing that I feel more tension in my body these days. I get more quickly exhausted at the end of each day. The stiff neck and shoulder aches do not go away easily. On some mornings when I wake up, I do not feel completely rested. I know all this has to do with the gradual building up of tension at work over the last months. The first I thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night is to check the Blackberry.
Like I said, I do not think I should be the one complaining, because I know many people are working much harder than me. Whether or not I think they should be working so hard is besides the point at the moment. It is the state of the market now.
I do not personally believe this market will continue indefinitely. I graduated from the class of 1998, the year of the Asia financial crisis. I also witnessed the dot.com boom and bust. I went through 9-11 and SARS in Hong Kong. In other words, I belong to that generation of employees who know too well that good times are not guaranteed, and a change in the macro environment can come anytime.
I think quite often about why God has put me in this job. I am quite interested in the financial industry but there are certainly other things I would like to pursue more. I have been thinking that maybe He has put Christians in the marketplace perhaps as a check and balance of some sort in this relentless world of money creation? It was interesting to find anecdotally quite a significant number of Christians in the regulatory and control functions in my firm. A coincidence perhaps, but it does make me think about the purpose of work for a Christian, and how God uses us in the world economy on this side of heaven.
Or perhaps God's purpose of putting us in this environment is to reveal our own attitudes towards certain things. - work, money, relationships, service to Him. How driven am I by worldly ambitions? Can I live simply on the same budget as say, 5 years ago? Am I able to give generously, both in terms of money and time to people? Do I continue to make service to God and fellowship with Christians a priority despite a busy work schedule?
The tree that has the fewest leaves stand strongest in the wind. Even as we work hard now, it is wise to keep life simple in Him, and we might not perhaps not falter as much when a colder economic climate does come around.
