Why This Former Goldman Sachs VP, Who Got Six-figure Salary, Left Her Job

Lindsay MacMillan, former vice president at the investment banking company Goldman Sachs, has stirred the headlines with a revelation about the toxic work culture of the company. In an article written for the Business Insider portal, the former VP wrote that she had made great strides in her career starting from an intern to the vice president.

MacMillan wrote that after six years, she left her job at the Wall Street giant two years ago to become a novelist. According to her, this is because of its “man’s world” culture that left female employees “not feeling valued”. She worked at the bank’s marketing department and was earning a 6 figure salary.

According to her column in the Business Insider, MacMillan wrote that her hectic 07 AM to 10 PM daily schedule and long hours on weekends were dictated by whatever the male leadership demanded. The former VP, who has now turned a novelist, added that she would keep a pair of black pumps. She would call them her Hollywood heels. According to MacMillan, whenever she wore them every morning, she would feel like a thick-skinned character who thrived in a man’s world.

Describing further about her plight, MacMillan stated that she was the only woman in a team of 20 investors. The novelist wrote that she had to mimic the mannerisms of the masculine way to succeed in her professional career. “I wore a pantsuit and muted my personality,” MacMillan wrote. She also talked about the recent exodus of high-ranking women from the company and a $215 million (Rs 1,788 crore) class action settlement as well. A class-action lawsuit settlement is the proceeds that are received from winning a class-action lawsuit. This lawsuit has been made over claims that female staffers suffered gender pay discrimination as well as sexual harassment.

Lindsay MacMillan wrote that she played golf, talked about football, and cried in the bathroom stall. The novelist did this so she wouldn’t be seen shedding tears at her desk. Not only this, when MacMillan used exclamation points in her emails, she was told to stop, according to her essay. She described that her out-of-the-box ideas were also discouraged. When the former VP baked cookies and brought them into the office for co-workers, she said she was admonished that she “should have been building financial models instead of baking.”