To offer a more laid-back working atmosphere to more new hires, Citigroup has constructed a new office near the sea in Malaga, Spain. Apparently, the lucky individuals will work eight hours a day and get the weekends off, but their salary will only be half that of their counterparts in London and New York.
BBC said that 27 new employees are currently enjoying the Malaga office out of the 3,000 hopefuls that applied for the vacancies. The BBC report claims that the majority of the 27 people, whose ages vary from 22 to 26, are from 22 different nations. They are tasked with helping teams who are assisting clients from various firms, according to the BBC report.
These advantages come at a time when it’s said that the industry is overworked, a situation that became worse after the COVID-19 outbreak started. Manolo Falcó, the bank’s global co-head of banking, capital markets, and consultancy, previously said that young bankers seeking a work-life balance experienced “low levels” of retention.
The Financial Times, however, was made aware by Falcó that their beachside office is not a PR gimmick.
The program is off to a strong start, the CEO told the Financial Times, thanks to the outstanding reaction from both internal and external competition. The CEO insisted that this was a fact rather than a publicity stunt.
Falcó asserts that the company is seeking creative strategies to attract the best talent and that, based on CVs, younger employees want “more free time.”
Since Goldman Sachs just started giving its senior employees unlimited vacation time, Citigroup is not the only major financial corporation to boost benefits. The company’s upgraded global vacation program was developed to “better promote time off to relax and rejuvenate,” according to a Goldman Sachs document obtained by the BBC. However, the unlimited leave is only available to senior employees, while junior bankers are still only permitted a fixed amount of vacation days each year.
Beyond Goldman Sachs, employees at Bumble and Netflix have access to comparable unrestricted vacation policies.
