- Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has historically been a strong advocate for returning to the office. But he recently softened his tone on remote work, acknowledging that individuals have the right to prioritize flexible arrangements—though companies ultimately decide what works best for them. Despite leaked audio revealing his frustration over remote employees’ availability, Dimon clarified that an employee who questioned company policy was never fired.
In the return-to-work debate, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been one of the fiercest advocates for getting his team back to their desks. But this week Dimon softened his delivery on the topic, after an audio recording of an internal meeting held earlier this month was leaked to the press.
In the recording the Wall Street veteran could be heard swearing while talking about staffers logging on from home, and insisting he couldn’t get hold of colleagues on a Friday.
But in discussing flexible work with CNBC this week, the boss of the world’s biggest bank agreed that individuals have a right to work from home if that’s their priority. It is, however, up to businesses to decide what is best for their company—even if it puts them at odds with some members of their teams, he said.
This is similar to statements previously made by Dimon about working from home, when he first called employees back for three days a week. The mandate has since gone up to five days, beginning in March.
Back in April 2023, Dimon wrote in a memo viewed by Fortune that he understands why people don’t want to work in the office and are refusing to do so, but added those people “can not do it elsewhere.”
Speaking this week—nearly two years later—Dimon’s stance remains the same: “I completely respect the people that don’t wanna go to the office all five days a week. That’s your right, it’s my right, as a citizen’s right, but they should respect that the company is going to decide what’s good for the client, the company, etc., not an individual.
“So they can get a job—and I’m not being mean—they can get a job elsewhere. I understand that; it may make total sense for them to do that. And I also respect the fact that other companies are going to try other ways to grow.”
It does appear that, for the most part, the corporate America employment market now allows for a range of in-person, hybrid, and remote roles. Office-use data from security firm Kastle Systems, which has access to badge data for more than 2,600 buildings across nearly 140 cities, shows average occupancy is around 50% and has been since the beginning of 2023.
The metros of Houston, Dallas, and Austin have tended to see the highest occupancy, followed by San Jose and New York. At the bottom are Philadelphia and D.C.
Many leaders look to Dimon as an example. His understanding of the motivation behind flexible work will also be welcome news to those who stand to benefit most from it: working moms who will be able to continue participating in the workforce.
For example, research from the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution conducted in 2023 found approximately a quarter of women with children—regardless of the age of their youngest child—said they had worked from home in the first half of 2023. This figure was significantly higher for women with at least one child under the age of 5.
The research also noted at the time that labor-force participation among bachelor’s-level educated moms with young kids had exceeded its pre-pandemic peak of 77.9%, at approximately 80%.
“I’m not against work from home,” Dimon added. “I’m against when it doesn’t work, and I gave all the reasons for that.”
‘I’d never, ever fire someone for a question like that’
Dimon also confirmed an individual who asked a question about work flexibility during the town hall earlier this month had not been let go by the financial giant.
Previously Nicolas Welch, an analyst in tech ops who has worked for JPM since 2017, told Fortune he was instructed to clear out his desk and leave the premises after questioning Dimon about why flexibility wasn’t down to managers’ discretion.
Welch was later told he was still employed by the world’s biggest bank after an executive director intervened to “smooth things over.”
JPMorgan at the time said Welch had never been fired and was in good standing at the bank.
Speaking to CNBC, Dimon said: “I do town halls all around the world and … I moan sometimes. I should never curse—ever—and I shouldn’t get angry at stuff like that.
“The gentleman asked a long question, and I tried to give a lot of detail. I’ve never, ever fired anybody because they’ve asked a question like that.”
This point was reaffirmed by a JPMorgan spokesman today, who told Fortune: “The employee was absolutely not fired, and he did nothing wrong.”
