JPMorgan CEO blasts remote work, Gen Z in fiery speech
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — In a fiery critique of remote working policies, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, lambasted Gen Z employees and the bank’s entrenched bureaucracy during a staff meeting.
His comments, captured in a leaked audio recording, underscored his frustration with what he sees as a decline in productivity and engagement due to the shift to working from home, particularly criticizing the younger workforce for lacking commitment.
The breaking point
Dimon expressed his frustration with the current work-from-home situation, particularly targeting “zoomers” and their virtual meeting habits.
“Don’t give me this s— that work-from-home Friday works. I call a lot of people on Fridays, and there’s not a goddamn person you can get a hold of,” Dimon declared.
Impact on young professionals
The banking chief voiced particular concern about younger employees being “left behind” professionally and socially due to remote work. His criticism extended to virtual meeting behavior, where he observed employees “looking at your mail, sending texts to each other about what an a—— the other person is, not paying attention”.
Expert reactions
Kelly Mendez-Scheib, chief people officer at Crunchbase, warns that there’s no “silver-bullet fix” to engagement issues. “Engagement is something that organizations have been trying to crack forever,” she said.
“Nothing is less engaging to employees than not having flexibility and choice,” Nicole Kyle, cofounder of CMP Research, added.
Brian Elliott, former Slack executive and CEO of Work Forward, concurred, warning that reducing flexibility could lead to reduced engagement levels. “You’re going to get what you asked for if you’re not careful, which is disengaged employees who are there to punch a clock,” he explained.
Employee response
MyPerfectResume has uncovered that 51% of employees would resign immediately if faced with non-negotiable return-to-office mandates. The survey results show overwhelming support for remote and hybrid work options among federal employees, with 77% of Americans favoring such flexibility.
Similarly, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, 46% of employees would likely seek new employment if their remote work privileges were revoked.
Despite this pushback, Dimon remained unmoved: “You don’t have to work at JPMorgan. So the people of you who don’t want to work at the company, that’s fine with me.”
The new policy, set to take full effect in March 2025, requires most JPMorgan employees to return to the office five days a week, marking one of the strictest return-to-office mandates in the financial sector.
