Citi to staff: Don’t be all Zoom & gloom

Citigroup has banned internal Zoom calls on Fridays in an effort to stop staffers from running themselves ragged while they work from home.

Jane Fraser, the megabank’s newly minted CEO, announced the “Zoom Free Fridays” policy in a company memo alongside other measures aimed at addressing “the relentlessness of the pandemic workday.”

“We are a global company that operates across time zones, but 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,” Fraser wrote in the Monday memo, which Citi provided to The Post.

Fraser — the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank — said she initially resisted cutting back on video calls, but came around after hearing colleagues around the world complain about “Zoom fatigue.”

While Friday calls within Citi will be audio-only, Fraser noted that staffers will still need to meet with regulators and clients by video.

She also urged employees to avoid scheduling calls outside of their traditional prepandemic working hours and to use their vacation days. Fraser is leading by example — she said she’s taking a few days off at the end this month, “knowing I will come back with a fresher brain.”

The bank will give all staff a day off on May 28, which Fraser declared a company holiday called “Citi Reset Day.”

Citi plans to eventually cut down on the remote work that’s apparently got staffers running out of steam, according to Fraser’s memo, which was first reported by Financial News.