Last month, JP Morgan Chase announced a five-day return-to-office (RTO) policy. And since then, employees have used internal message boards to voice their discontent over losing their hybrid work arrangements. One group started a petition urging CEO Jamie Dimon to reconsider the policy. According to Reuters, they’ve even reached out for advice on how to start a union.
Fast forward to last Wednesday, February 12th, when during an internal town hall meeting, Dimon was confronted over the new RTO policy. Asked about the employee petition, Dimon dismissed it:
“Don’t waste time on it. I don’t care how many people sign that f*cking petition.”
Let’s take a closer look.
Fired for questioning the CEO
As of Sunday, February 16th, about 13,000 employees have signed the petition—a small but significant fraction of the bank’s global workforce of 317,000.
Leaked audio from the town hall meeting has circulated since then. On Instagram, Morning Brew posted about it, specifically highlighting Dimon’s blunt response:
As for Nicholas Welch—the JP Morgan Chase analyst who confronted Dimon about the petition—he was fired almost immediately—but then rehired just hours later.
As for his colleagues, Welch received high-fives after putting the head honcho in the hot seat. But as Welch tells it, his goal was simply to make the RTO policy open to modification by managers whose staff are unable to be in the office five days a week.
From what he’s told Fortune, Welch is going through a divorce and needs the flexibility to deal with family and child support issues. He asked Dimon if the decision on RTO mandates could be decided by lower-level managers for their specific groups.
Dimon did not hesitate to shut down the idea, saying—
“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.”
Dimon added that the “abuse that took place was extraordinary,” ranting about employees wasting time during Zoom meetings and highlighting the nearly 50,000 increase in payroll since the pandemic’s onset in 2020.
“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’s message is clear enough: If you’re serious about keeping your job with JP Morgan Chase, you will show up for work at the office five days a week, starting next month (March). If returning to the office is not a good fit for you, feel free to look for a job elsewhere. And to be fair to Dimon, he’s not alone in pushing for a return to the office, even as JP Morgan Chase posted record profits last year. Other Wall Street executives, including those of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have already made similar changes to their workplace policies.
RTO mandates have been increasing across multiple industries since the pandemic’s easing. But for many, losing their hybrid or remote work option comes with a steep price.
What Do Real Estate Agents Think?
Seems like Dimon wouldn’t mind if the 13,000+ employees who signed the petition decided to find employment elsewhere.
But what about real estate agents?
We asked our BAMx members in the Skool Community a few questions:
- Agents: How often do you go into the office?
- Team Leaders: Do you encourage your agents to go into the office?
So far, more agents have indicated they go to the office every day. But agents who rarely make the trip are close behind.
The general impression? The decision of whether to go to the office every day is very much based on individual circumstances and work styles.
We also posed the question on Instagram:
“How often do you actually go into your real estate office? …And if you have a team, do you encourage them to go in?”
Responses started pouring in, with plenty of agents saying they do, in fact, go into the office regularly, while quite a few others said they get more done at home.
Here’s a sampling of their responses:
Agents who go to the office every day—or as much as possible
Agents who work from home
Team Leaders
15 Hyperlocal Questions Real Estate Agents Can Post to Get More Comments