When Burnout Hits Banking: Vitória Okuyama’s Radical Exit Exposes Culture Crisis

Vitoria Okuyama’s narrative illustrates a crossover of burnout symptoms from athletics to finance: early anxiety, identity strain, and emotional overload during her tennis career foreshadowed her later distress in investment banking. In both settings she confronted clear signals—crying before matches; panic attacks after long stretches of work—that she was exceeding sustainable limits [1].

Her experience in investment banking, beginning July 2022, confirms that the stereotypical rigorous schedule is not hyperbole: working 10 a.m. to 4 a.m., missing social life, being unable to step away even when encouraged by management. These patterns align tightly with survey data showing high rates of burn-out among junior bankers—many cite long hours, intense deadlines, overwork as primary drivers [2][3][5].

Structural pressures—visa uncertainty, lack of ability to disengage fully while still employed, cultural expectations of excellence—intensify the risk. Okuyama’s immigrant status meant she felt locked in until her visa situation resolved; other bankers too are reluctant to take leave or depart early due to career, immigration, or financial stakes [1].

Okuyama’s path toward recovery—taking leave, disconnecting fully, shifting toward part-time/fellowship work—suggests that resilience requires more than minor accommodations. Current industry solutions (e.g. reducing tasks, flexible hours) may be helpful but are unlikely to yield healing if the core “always-on” culture remains unreformed. That need is evident in sector-wide retention worries: banking firms are now experimenting with protected rest days, capping weekend work, and limiting slide deck/late night demands, but uptake remains uneven [5].

Strategically, institutions facing high attrition now must recognize the rising cost: recruiting and training juniors is expensive, loss of institutional memory matters, and reputation as an employer of choice is at stake. For individuals, Okuyama’s story emphasizes that burnout may erode identity as much as performance, and that taking decisive steps—even if risky—is sometimes necessary for long-term growth.

Open questions include: To what extent can banking cultures shift without sacrificing deal volume? How do regulatory and immigration structures interact with burnout and attrition? Which recovery models (partial leave, full sabbatical, part-time work) are both scalable and sustainable for firms and professionals alike?