JPMorgan Chase’s move to ask employees who are on hybrid work schedules to return to the office full time has prompted hundreds of staff comments, including complaints.
The issue came to a head after the company told staff it wanted them in the office five days a week from March.
Financial companies have been aggressive in enforcing return-to-office demands in the wake of the pandemic which began to impact the US in 2020. Many companies began to call staff back to the office as early as 2021. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and counterparts at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been strong advocates of working from the office, saying it fosters better learning, innovation and culture.
More than half of JPMorgan’s employees already come into the office full-time, according to the memo to staff from the bank’s operating committee. It has more than 316,000 staff worldwide.
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“We are now a few years out of the pandemic and have had the time to evaluate the benefits and challenges of remote and hybrid working. We feel that now is the right time to solidify our full-time in-office approach,” the memo, seen by The Irish Times, says.
“We think it is the best way to run the company. As we’ve discussed before, the benefits of working together in person are substantial and irreplaceable, and as we spend more time together, the more advantages we gain,” the company’s executives wrote.
“It accelerates decision-making and offers valuable opportunities for spontaneous learning and creativity. It also allows our early career professionals to learn through our apprenticeship model and expand their networks by building connections with peers across the firm,” they said.
A JPMorgan spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo but declined to comment further.
“We know that some of you prefer a hybrid schedule and respectfully understand that not everyone will agree with this decision,” Dimon and other leaders wrote in the memo. “Being together greatly enhances mentoring, learning, brainstorming and getting things done.”
“We recognize that switching from hybrid to five days a week in the office may be disruptive and require adjustments for some colleagues. Importantly we will work to give you at least 30 days’ notice in line with local requirements, prior to your full-time return,” the memo said.
Some JPMorgan staffers pushed back against the return-to-office directive by posting comments on the company’s intranet site, according to two sources who saw the posts and declined to be identified discussing personnel matters.
The complaints cited increased commuting and childcare costs, as well as concerns about mental health and stress, according to one of the sources.
After more than 300 comments were posted within the first hour, the page was locked, the second source said. Essential workers at lenders, including bank branch employees, reported for in-person work throughout the pandemic. JPMorgan called corporate staff back to offices on a rotational basis in mid-2021 after months of pandemic shutdowns, and brought managing directors back to the office full-time in 2023.
The largest US lender said that employees will be given at least 30 days’ notice before they are expected to return to offices full-time. The employees were also directed to seek manager approval if they needed more time to prepare.
“What is not changing is our support for flexibility in the workplace, which we are committed to providing at every level in a fair way,” the bank said.
The memo also included a link to a list of frequently asked questions, giving details about special exceptions for remote work, flexibility for personal reasons and attendance logs. – Additional reporting by Reuters
