zoom-free fridays....

[dasari4kntr]

For first-year Goldman Sachs analysts, an 80-hour work week would be considered a dream. Instead, apparently, their average work week is 95 hours or more, according to an internal survey — formatted as a slide deck — that went viral.

The survey of 13 first-year analysts showed that they slept an average of five hours a night. They rated their physical and mental health at below 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. Their personal life got a rock-bottom 1 on the scale. On the bright side, only 17% said they frequently experienced shouting or swearing.

It’s tempting to dismiss or mock complaints from people fresh out of university making six figures, with the prospect of even higher future income. But after a year when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the way millions of white-collar professionals around the world go about their jobs, companies are paying more attention to the mental health and working conditions of employees.

Goldman CEO David Solomon said he’d try to let junior bankers take one day a week off, bringing conditions into the late 19th century. Citigroup Inc.’s CEO Jane Fraser introduced the phrase “Zoom-free Fridays” to our pandemic lexicon when she banned internal video meetings on the final day of the week. She also made the bold suggestion that people try not to schedule meetings outside of normal working hours.

Not to be left out, UBS Group AG says it wouldn’t be “very unreasonable” to let employees work remotely two or three days a week. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, the four-day work week is gaining steam.

Bloomberg Opinion’s Elisa Martinuzzi and Marcus Ashworth say this is “a long overdue attempt to tackle the common feeling of endless work days and constant surveillance.”

If you must work long hours, at least try to make your standing desk setup less terrible. Maybe form or join an online work club. Or try to convince your boss with this evidence that long hours make you less productive. If you’re a manager, here are some are ways to support your employees.

As for the Goldman first-years, they asked for some basics to save their mental and physical health, including:

• 80-hour max work week
• one week notice to prepare for certain meetings
• finalize work at least 12 hours before client meetings
• no work after 9 p.m. Friday or anytime on Saturday

Too much to ask?