Jane Fraser, Citi’s new CEO, could not have chosen a better time to send an internal memo to employees about setting boundaries for a healthier work-life balance than March 23. In it, she banned internal Zoom/Teams calls on Fridays and instituted a firm-wide holiday to address pandemic fatigue, which will take place on May 28.
Just one day earlier, on March 22, Goldman CEO David Solomon had issued a voice memo to staff addressing just the same thing.
His move was, however, in response to a highly critical presentation from junior analysts that had gone viral on social media the week before. Revelations that the employees were routinely working more than 100 hours a week, sleeping just five hours a night and extremely unlikely to be at the firm in six months’ time drew salacious press coverage worldwide and forced Solomon to speak out – presumably through gritted teeth.
If banks are going to win the war for talent against their now many rivals, they need to listen
In the memo he expressed his desire for “a workplace where people can share concerns freely”, saying that the firm was working hard to make things better. He stipulated that employees cannot work from 9pm Friday night to 9am on Sunday except in “certain circumstances”.
Those last two words will probably end up doing a great deal of work themselves in future.
Fraser’s announcement of her bank-wide Reset Day could not have cast the two banks in a more different light. Many Goldman alumni have dismissed the concerns raised by the firm’s younger employees, saying they knew what they signed up for.
But if banks are going to win the war for talent against their now many rivals, they need to listen. Banning Zoom calls might seem like a blunt approach, but equally taking Saturday off does not need to be a rare treat. Given the simmering resentment that is evident among junior bankers, it is beyond time that attitudes changed.
