London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

Citi launches Zoom-Free Fridays, but there's a catch

Citi launches Zoom-Free Fridays, but there's a catch

Citigroup is launching "Zoom-Free Fridays" as a way to help the bank's burned-out employees cope with stress a year into the pandemic.

"The blurring of lines between home and work and the relentlessness of the pandemic workday have taken a toll on our well-being," Citi CEO Jane Fraser wrote in a Monday memo to all employees obtained by CNN Business. "It's simply not sustainable."

The announcement comes just days after a dozen junior analysts at Goldman Sachs detailed horror stories of sleeping just five hours a night and enduring workplace abuse.

Fraser, the first woman to lead a major US bank, explained the decision to ban internal video calls on Fridays came in response to feedback from Citi's 210,000-person global workforce.

"After listening to colleagues around the world," Fraser wrote, "it became apparent we need to combat the 'Zoom fatigue' that many of us feel, so I overcame my initial resistance to this idea."

However, Citi (C) said employees may still be expected to hop on internal audio-only calls as well as external Zoom calls, including with clients and regulators.

In addition to Zoom-Free Fridays, Fraser asked employees to try to limit scheduling calls outside of what had been traditional working hours pre-pandemic and on weekends.

"When our work regularly spills over into nights, very early mornings and weekends, it can prevent us from recharging fully, and that isn't good for you nor, ultimately, for Citi," she wrote.

Wall Street bank promises free Pelotons, iPads


Fraser also urged employees to take their vacation time and announced Citi will hold a firm-wide holiday for the second year in a row. Dubbed Citi Reset Day, the holiday will take place Friday, May 28. Bloomberg News first reported the Citi memo.

The moves by Citi show how Wall Street firms are responding to the mental health pressure facing employees. Booming markets and seismic changes in the economy have created ample business — and stress — for investment banks during the pandemic.

"My body physically hurts all the time and mentally I'm in a really dark place," one Goldman Sachs analyst wrote in the survey of first-year analysts.

Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO David Solomon left a voice message for staff, on a Sunday, pledging to speed up the hiring of junior bankers and to strengthen enforcement of a rule that says junior staff should not be expected to be in the office between 9 pm Friday and 9 am Sunday.

"Clients are active, and volumes in a lot of our businesses are at historic highs," Solomon said. "Of course, the combination of the pandemic and all this activity put stress and strain on everyone at Goldman Sachs."

Meanwhile, Jefferies is sending gifts to its analysts and associates around the world as a token of appreciation, according to a March 18 memo sent to staff.

The bank is offering these employees the choice of a Peloton bike with a one-year subscription, a Mirror workout system or an Apple package that includes the Apple Watch SE, iPad Air and AirPods Pro.

The work-from-home debate


The freebies come as Wall Street leaders deliberate how and when to reopen their offices. A new KPMG survey of 500 CEOs shows that some major global companies no longer plan to trim their physical footprint after the pandemic. Just 17% plan reductions, compared with 69% in August.

At Citi, Fraser did not explicitly detail a reopening date, but said: "Any kind of new normal is still a few months away for many of us."

Like other big banks, Citi, which has nearly 67,000 employees in North America, is indicating a preference for in-office work after a year of being mostly remote.

"For many of our roles, we strongly believe there are several material advantages to being physically together," Fraser said.

She argued that working together in-person can drive a sense of pride, promote collaboration, aid apprenticeship and break down silos.

"These attributes are a big driver of why you will be expected in the office or on site," Fraser said.

The Citi CEO said most roles around the globe will be classified as hybrid, meaning they will work in the office at least three days a week and from home no more than twice a week.

Some jobs, including branch employees or data center workers, will be required to work on site. Fraser said it will be "somewhat rare" to have new roles that will be fully remote.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×