Citigroup Is Giving Employees a Remote Work Perk This Summer: 'A Quieter Time'

Key Points

• Citigroup is offering most of its 229,000 hybrid employees the option to work remotely for any two weeks of their choosing in August, when business volumes are traditionally lower.
• The perk reinforces Citigroup’s commitment to its hybrid work model, which the bank says helps attract and retain talent as competitors like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs push for full-time office work.
• Employees must work remotely from a location where they have a legal right to work, so this is not a full “work from anywhere” policy.
• CEO Jane Fraser, a long-time advocate of flexible schedules, has implemented initiatives such as Zoom-Free Fridays and emphasizes hybrid work as a recruiting advantage.

Citigroup is doubling down on its hybrid work policy by giving most of its 229,000-person workforce a remote summer perk.

According to a leaked memo sent to employees on Monday, obtained by Business Insider, Citigroup is giving its hybrid employees the option to work remotely for any two weeks of their choosing in August. Most Citigroup staff are hybrid and work in the office at least three days a week, with only traders and bank branch staff expected to work in person five days a week.

Citigroup's Chief Human Resources Officer, Sara Wechter, sent the memo, which noted that the perk was part of the bank's commitment to flexibility and its hybrid work policy.

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"Our hybrid work model helps us attract and retain top talent and sets us apart from other companies in our industry — and we remain committed to this model," Wechter wrote.

Wechter added that the bank chose August "because it is traditionally a quieter time for our businesses and clients, when many are already out of the office due to vacations."

^{Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser. Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images}

Citigroup last gave employees the option to work remotely for two weeks during the summer in August 2022. The bank has also offered two weeks of remote work every December since 2022.

Employees must work remotely from a location where they have a legal right to work, so this isn't a "work from anywhere" arrangement.

While Citigroup reinforces its commitment to hybrid work, other banks are pushing for a return to the office. JPMorgan required most of its employees to work fully from the office starting in March, while Goldman Sachs has required it since 2021.

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Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has long been a proponent of flexible work. She opted to work part-time as a partner at McKinsey after having her first child, an arrangement she maintained until she departed McKinsey for Citigroup in 2004.

As the first woman to lead a major U.S. bank, Fraser has led a multi-year effort to transform Citigroup by updating its technology and encouraging work-life balance. Since becoming Citigroup CEO in March 2021, Fraser has emphasized that hybrid work was here to stay at the bank.

In March 2021, she created Zoom-Free Fridays at the bank so that employees were not required to take video calls on Fridays. She additionally urged employees to take their vacation time and keep work to standard working hours.

In January, Fraser told directors on a quarterly call that the bank's hybrid work policy gave it an advantage in recruiting new talent and that the policy would continue.

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