JPMorgan employee fired then reinstated after challenging CEO’s RTO policy
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Nicolas Welch never expected his question at JPMorgan Chase’s town hall meeting to end with him clearing his desk.
The tech operations analyst, who has worked for the banking giant since 2017, was briefly fired after questioning CEO Jamie Dimon‘s strict return-to-office mandate during a February 12 meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
Welch, who is going through a divorce and needs flexibility for family responsibilities, suggested that team managers should have discretion over office attendance requirements. His seven-member team spans multiple countries and time zones, making physical presence “irrelevant to productivity.”
“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 suggesting it be left up to managers of individual teams themselves on [the] necessity of an office workplace,” Welch said during the meeting, receiving applause from colleagues.
Dimon’s firm stance
Dimon immediately rejected the suggestion, stating: “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 CEO has been a vocal critic of remote work, claiming it hampers productivity. During the same town hall, Dimon dismissed an employee petition opposing the mandate, saying: “Don’t waste time on it. I don’t care how many people sign that f***ing petition.”
JPMorgan announced in January that all 317,000 employees must return to office five days a week starting in February, ending the hybrid arrangement that allowed 40% of staff to work remotely two days weekly.
The firing that wasn’t
Following the town hall, Welch received a text from Garrett Monaghan, a vice president, ordering him to “come to my desk immediately.”
During their meeting, Monaghan allegedly told Welch he had “dragged our whole organization through the mud” and instructed him to “clean off your desk and get the f— out of here.”
For several hours, Welch believed he had been terminated. However, around 4:30 PM, Megan Mead, an executive director at JPMorgan, called to inform him that his job was safe. Later that evening, Monaghan texted an apology, offering “a beer and a handshake.”
A JPMorgan spokesperson clarified that Welch was never formally dismissed, stating: “He didn’t say anything wrong in the town hall.”
Despite retaining his position, Welch expressed frustration with the situation: “I want to do the job that I love in the way that I want to do it. That’s what I hope to get out of all this.”
