Credit Suisse liberates its staff from work on Friday nights



06/02/2016 4:54 PM


Credit Suisse has ordered its staff to leave work on Friday no later than seven in the evening, and do not return until at least lunch on Saturday. Only preparing for a major transaction can justify staying late at the office.



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Employees from departments of investment management and EMEA capital markets were said to leave jobs on Fridays no later than seven o'clock in the evening, sources in the company told Reuters. A corporate newsletter of 23 May also encourages staff not to return to work until mid-day of Saturday.

An exception will be made for those who are busy working on a major transaction in its final stages.

"We had to seriously think about how to provide more free time to our bankers ", - co-director of the Department Marisa Drew told Reuters. She added that Credit Suisse tried to find out how employees want to balance personal life and work on the weekends, especially in regard to the ordinary staff.

Ms. Drew noted that the decision will allow employees to build strong plans for spending time with family and friends, and the bank's management intends to stick to its position. Reuters’ source at Credit Suisse also said that "this means that you can now make plans for at least one night a week."

The Swiss bank’s initiative "Protecting Friday Night" fits into a latest trend among major investment banks. The organizations are trying to get rid of an image of ‘workaholics harbor’, and reduce leakage of prospective employees in other areas of business.

Banks are trying to encourage employees not only with salaries and bonuses. For example, says the agency, UBS bank allocate at least two hours for 'personal time' during the working week. JPMorgan, in turn, told staff of the investment units not to work on weekends, unless they are engaged in a major transaction.

These instructions seem strange to people working in other sectors, who still consider normal to leave work on Friday evening to have a drink with friends or a dinner with the family. However, such requirements may provide some relief to bankers, especially for novice employees, who often work until late at night on Fridays and weekends.

" Work is a kind of neurosis!" - ironically remarked American writer and humorist Don Herold at the beginning of the last century. A team of Norwegian scientists has recently come to a same conclusion. Results of their research can be found in PLoS ONE journal.

The study involved 16 426 workers aged 16 to 75 years (the vast majority of the volunteers were married women, graduated from a university).

The study identified 1287 (7.8%) people "dependent work" among the respondents.

As a result, the Norwegians have learned: 32.7% (421 people) suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the main symptoms of which are difficulties in concentrating and poorly managed impulsivity. Number suffering from ADHD was only 12.7% among other participants in the experiment. 

In addition, 25.6% of workaholics (329 people) had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), that is, neurosis with intrusive, disturbing or frightening thoughts, appear spontaneously. 

An OCD patient constantly and unsuccessfully tries to get rid of anxiety caused by thoughts by performing equally obsessive and exhausting action (for example, frequent hand washing).

The researchers also discovered that 33.8% of work-addicts suffer from various anxiety disorders. Among them are hot flashes and chills, feeling of pain and discomfort in the stomach; they feel dizzy, their hands and legs are trembling, and they have trouble sleeping. The respondents admitted that they often feel scared, whiny and vulnerable, and their nerves are playing tricks on them.

8.9% workaholics were diagnosed with depression.

source: reuters.com


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