Management constantly tries to overtake your life, applying ridiculous pressure to achieve goals that were assigned by people who have no clue, on timelines that bear no relation to reality. Always push back because there's no punishment; they just want to intimidate you into getting more work out of you for less money. If you accrue overtime, they'll often make you roll it over into another week where you'll work fewer hours, so they don't have to pay overtime rates. Citi is already involved in a class-action lawsuit over that practice, but they keep doing it.
Citi laughably reveres the uninvolved upper management as "the seniors". Title inflation is rampant. A simple team lead/supervisor is labeled Vice President, President or Director.
Employees have good benefits but no work-life balance. Having 5 weeks of paid vacation is useless because you can never take it when you want, only when management says you can. Usually they just tell you to take a week off, with no warning, so you can't plan for anything. Then they still expect you to work on your vacation.
Citi harps on "compliance" and following all sorts of rules, but they often follow only the letter of the rule-- there is a well-established workaround for every rule.
Citi relies heavily on Indian and Pakistani contractors, so women at Citi often suffer from a hostile work environment. If you're Indian/Pakistani, black, lesbian, transgender, or ideally a combination of all of those, you're in a "protected class" at Citi. Everyone else, not so much.
Remember, banking is one of the worst industries to be in (like farming, only with less death and dismemberment). Pay is low, morale is low, opportunity for advancement is low. So in that regard, Citi is typical. There are MUCH better places to work. I work here because it's convenient and I don't have to work hard for the money. But I would not recommend Citi to anyone as a career, or as anything more than a stepping stone to your next job at a different company. "Soul-sucking stupidity" is a good summary of the work environment at Citi.
