Even the new CEO of Citigroup recognizes Zoom fatigue.
Jane Fraser is making headlines this week – and not just for being the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank. In a memo to Citigroup’s C,
210,000 employees from retail outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Fraser announced a new “Friday without Zoom” policy to block inbound video conference calls at the end of the work week, to against “the distrust of the widespread working day.” In addition, she has announced Friday, May 28 as a company-wide holiday called Citi Reset Day.
″ The lines between home and work and the complexity of the extended working day have had a profound effect on our wellbeing, ”wrote Fraser. “It simply came to our notice then. With a return to a new normal type still a few months away for many of us, we need to reset some of our work habits. ”
Her memo comes on the heels of Goldman Sachs GS,
CEO David Solomon said with a presentation from 13 of his staff that went well last week, outlining the “inhuman” work culture of the world’s second largest investment bank. In-house analysts complained of 100-hour weeks, senior bankers shouting and swearing at employees, as well as the company failing to honor their policy on Friday night and Saturday off. One employee said that the treatment from senior bankers was “worse” than childhood living in foster care.
Solomon therefore issued a memorandum late on Sunday promising a “compulsory strengthening” of the “Saturday rule” – meaning that workers can only work from 9pm on Friday to 9am on Sunday, in certain circumstances. He also said the company will hire more young bankers to help reduce the workload.
“We need to help people find balance in an ever-connected world,” Solomon wrote in his memo. “In this world of remote working, it feels like we need to be connected 24/7. We are here to provide support and guidance. This is not easy, and we are working hard to make it better. ”
And Jefferies Financial Group Inc. JEF,
sent a note to its 1,129 analysts and allies last week, inviting them to choose between Peloton PTON,
bike, Mirror home exercise system, or Apple AAPL,
work package as a thank you for the hard work over the past year.
“You have given us the last twelve months and these gifts are a token of our deep gratitude for your commitment, sacrifice and contribution to our success in the face of challenging circumstances,” wrote CEO Rich Handler and Chief Executive President Brian Friedman.
So why the sudden investment in employee emotional well-being? The work-from-home (WFH) burn rate is real, and it gets worse as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second year. The average working day is nearly an hour longer than it was before the pandemic, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) paper released last summer. A recent report from NordVPN Teams, a New York-based company that provides virtual private networks (VPNs) to businesses, suggests that it is more like 2.5 more hours per day because the lines between personal and professional life are becoming even blurred than before.
Jumping from one video call to the next through platforms like Zoom ZM,
Google GOOGL,
Meet and Microsoft MSFT,
Teams are also physically and psychologically depleting remote workers. Even Stanford researchers say “Zoom fat” is real. “Just because you can use video doesn’t mean that to you have to, ”the lead researcher wrote in a recent report published in the journal Technology, Mind and Behavior. So Citigroup’s “Zoom Free Friday” looks like a step in the right direction.
Americans in general have also reported worsening sleep, drinking more alcohol, gaining weight, as well as worsening mental health as the pandemic has slowed.
But there is hope. Here are four ways that these Stanford scientists suggest you can fight Zoom fat.
Also, take a look at these seven tips that workplace experts and psychologists recommend for combating burnout, as ways to set boundaries and stop working when expect your working day to come to an end.
And employers can explore these five ways your company can work from home even better.