Last summer, Goldman Sachs hired Adam Grant, an author, academic and consultant who has worked with Google and Merck, the drugmaker. His task? Not cost-cutting but finding how young bankers could get the most out of their jobs.

Hailed by Malcolm Gladwell, the 32-year-old is a management professor at Wharton business school and best known for his recent book Give and Take , which argued that those who contribute to the success of others gain in the long run.

Banks may have a reputation for taking rather than giving, but Prof Grant says Goldman is prepared to indulge its young employees because it is concerned about the risk of losing talent. Hence the creation last year of a “junior banker task force” and its earlier decision to offer permanent contracts to entrants rather than two-year ones.