Story 285
It’s incredibly disheartening to read the many awful stories about Citi’s culture. Sadly, they’re true – it’s so bad it defies description. Like many have said before: why do we stay? In a difficult job market, we need the paycheck. And Citi seems to have figured out that if it pays well enough, we convince ourselves it makes sense to look the other way.
What’s especially sad is that it doesn’t have to be like this. I’ve worked somewhere else that paid slightly less but had a great culture – I’d give anything to go back. I’m a middle-aged woman who has done everything “right” on paper, absorbing the toxicity to make things work and performing as well as I can. But at Citi, I’m constantly in rooms full of men who talk over me while everything is failing and painted over – white, Indian, it doesn’t matter. It’s exhausting.
I’m waiting out time until retirement. So many of us don’t even care anymore and neither do the people managing us. It’s a very large boat of people who are phoning it in.
Jane Fraser should not get a pass for allowing this to happen. Her comment in Barron’s about how she doesn’t want to be known as a woman leader – trust me, we know.