Citigroup is introducing "Zoom-Free Fridays" as a way to help ease employee burnout a year into the coronavirus pandemic.
Jane Fraser, Citigroup chief executive, told bank personnel that she's no longer allowing internal video calls on Fridays to encourage workers to balance their work-life and set in place a company-wide holiday called "Citi Reset Day" as pandemic stress affect employees' performance.
“We're a global company that operates across time zones, but when our work regularly spills over into nights, very early mornings and weekends... that isn’t good for you nor, ultimately, for Citi,” The New York Post quoted the newly-minted CEO as saying in a memo.
The announcement comes just days after a dozen freshman analysts at Goldman Sachs detailed "inhumane" working conditions, including 100-hour work weeks and job-related abuse.
In response, Goldman Sachs chief executive David Soloman said the bank would do its best to give junior bankers Saturdays off.
For Citi's part, the pandemic has taken a toll on its workforce and that is not "sustainable," Fraser said.
Being unable to "fully recharge," she said, is not healthy either and the bank "needs to reset" some of its working practices as a return to work and normal life is still a few months away.
Fraser said that while Zoom meetings with clients will still happen on Fridays, staff will hold meetings over the telephone to give them a break from continuous videoconferences.
Citi is also looking into eventually reducing remote work that has apparently got employees feeling drained, according to Fraser’s memo, which was first reported by Financial News.
