JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says that despite employee pushback, and a petition signed by over 1,800 staff at the time of writing, most of JPMorgan’s 300,000 employees are still returning to the office full-time in March.
However, he admitted that he shouldn’t have cursed while speaking about it at a town hall in Ohio earlier this month.
“I should never curse, ever,” Dimon said in an interview with CNBC on Monday. “And I shouldn’t get angry and stuff like that.”
When addressing questions about the RTO mandate in mid-February, Dimon said, “Don’t give me the s— that ‘work from home Friday’ works.” He also said that JPMorgan was sticking with its return-to-office policy and he didn’t care “how many people sign that f—ing petition.”
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Though Dimon’s delivery may have changed since the town hall, his core message has not. He told CNBC that he stands by in-person work and explained the move from three days in the office to five was in the best interests of JPMorgan and its clients.
“I completely respect people that don’t want to go to the office all five days a week,” Dimon stated, adding, “They can get a job elsewhere.”
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
According to Dimon, JPMorgan is not entirely against remote work, with 10% of the bank’s jobs operating on a fully remote basis — and staying that way even after the return-to-office mandate. For example, the bank has built virtual call centers in Baltimore and Detroit that collectively employ more than 100 remote workers.
But while working from home may make sense for virtual call centers, Dimon doesn’t think it should apply to all JPMorgan employees. According to Bloomberg, 60% of JPMorgan staff, including managing directors and salespeople, are already at the office five days per week. The switch to fully in-person work in March affects back-office staff who currently work on a hybrid schedule.
“I’m not against work-from-home,” Dimon told CNBC. “I’m against where it doesn’t work… We’re not going to change. We’re going back to the office.”
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JPMorgan first announced a strict return-to-office policy last month, with plans to implement it in March. Staff immediately flooded an internal website with over 300 comments calling out the policy’s negative impact on their commute and work-life balance. Employees circulated a petition addressed to Dimon calling for hybrid work to be the default mode of work at the bank. The petition has received 1,803 signatures as of press time.
JPMorgan is the largest bank in the U.S., with $3.9 trillion in assets. In mandating five days back in the office, the bank follows the examples of companies like Amazon, Walmart, and AT&T.
