Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has been adamant about workers going back to the office (RTO) to work and has rejected the idea of hybrid or work-from-home (WFH) arrangements for his staff. According to a Forbes story, one employee who objected was sacked after asking Dimon about the RTO policy during the company’s last town hall on February 12.
According to the article, employee Nicolas Welch brought up the matter for himself and his team during the 45-minute town hall, which was attended by over 1,000 staff members and others via Zoom.
Welch, a tech operations analyst, has been employed by the bank since 2017, according to the article. He told the publication that having flexible work hours will help him manage his family and daycare during his divorce. Welch is employed at the Polaris office, which services 12,000 people and has its headquarters in Ohio. Fortunately for him, the RTO memo hasn’t reached that location yet.
He also thanked Dimon for “listening to an old hillbilly like me” and also explained how his team comprises seven employees across different countries like Argentina, India, and the United States. He suggested: “There is no way that being in an office makes any difference for us specifically. So, all I’m asking is that—I’m not suggesting you rescind such an order—but suggested it be left up to managers of individual teams themselves on [the] necessity of an office workplace.”
Welch received cheers from the audience and was acknowledged and high-fived by colleagues throughout the day. A recording of the town hall exchange is in Forbes’ possession.
According to Forbes, Dimon can be heard criticizing the workers and charging supervisors with misusing the company’s hybrid work arrangements.
Dimon said, “That’s it? I’m going to give you a complete answer. There is no chance that I would leave that up to managers. Zero chance. The abuse that took place was extraordinary,”.
He also complained about employees “wasting time” during Zoom meetings and complained about how staff strength has “ballooned” by 50,000 in the past four to five years.
Dimon stated
“We don’t need all those people. We were putting people in jobs because people weren’t doing the jobs they were hired to do in [the] first place,”.
Dimon also stated. “I don’t care how many people sign that f***ing petition,”
All 317,233 workers of JPMorgan Chase have been asked to return to their offices. Currently, 40% of them have a hybrid schedule that includes working from home two days a week.
