Citigroup has sent a memo to its junior bankers urging them to take Saturdays off and use all of their vacation time, Bloomberg reported. Thus, the third largest bank by assets and capitalization in the United States joined other banks in an effort to improve working conditions on Wall Street.
According to the new rules, analysts and associates of investment banking division and capital markets must be out of the office by 6 pm on Friday and not return until 10 am Sunday. The guidelines were signed by heads of both departments Ray McGuire and Tyler Dickson. The bankers will be also not allowed to work remotely; however, they will be obliged to check their emails.
Earlier, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs took the same decisions. They limited working hours in order to improve productivity as the number of deals fell from pre-crisis levels. At the same time, financial firms limit compensation packages.
The debates over the working hours in investment banks started after the death of Moritz Erhardt, a 21-year-old intern at Bank of America’s office in London in August 2013. He died after three 20-hour working days without sleep. Doctors do not rule out that the death could have been caused by overwork.
