JPMorgan Chase began mandating its 300,000-person corporate staff work fully in-person earlier this month. Though the return-to-office (RTO) policy was met with some internal opposition (more than 1,900 workers signed a petition calling for a hybrid work schedule), JPMorgan pushed ahead.
Now, CEO Jamie Dimon says that when it comes to returning to the office, the only group of people disgruntled with the move are “the people in the middle,” like corporate office workers. Dimon said that the majority of workers in the U.S., or 60% of the workforce, have jobs that require them to show up in person, a statistic cited by Pew Research.
“You got UPS and FedEx and manufacturers and agriculture and hospitals and cities and schools and nurses and sanitation and firemen and military” all working in person, Dimon said in a recent interview with the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “It’s only these people in the middle who complain a lot about it.”
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Dimon noted that the benefits of in-person office conversations will help younger people succeed in their careers.
“All day long we’re talking,” he said. “Constant updates, constant share of information.”
Remote work means young people miss out on these conversations, essentially “leaving them behind,” Dimon said. “I won’t do that.”
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Dimon also said remote employees tend to not pay attention in Zoom calls — and gave a first-person example. In a recent meeting, he said all of the employees on the video call were checking their phones while he was speaking.
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JPMorgan still employs remote workers: 10% of the bank’s jobs operate on a fully remote basis and have stayed that way even after the return-to-office mandate. The bank runs virtual call centers in Baltimore and Detroit that collectively employ more than 100 remote workers.
According to Bloomberg, 60% of JPMorgan staff, including managing directors and salespeople, were already at the office five days per week. The switch to fully in-person work took effect last week and impacted back-office staff who previously worked on a hybrid schedule.
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