Jamie Dimon, who has led America’s largest financial institution JPMorgan for 20 years and thru a number of recessions, blasted distant work and provided a stern warning for any youthful generations who need to transfer up the profession ladder: get into the workplace.
“If you go to a meeting with me, you got my full friggin attention the whole time,” he stated on the Hill and Valley Discussion board, which introduced collectively leaders from Washington and Silicon Valley, on Tuesday.
In the course of the session titled “Wealth, Power, and the Next American Century” Dimon stated distant work solely works properly for sure jobs like name facilities, however for everybody else, together with younger folks and managers alike, in-person working is greatest. Younger folks, particularly, he stated, must work in-person as a result of they’re nonetheless studying.
“They learn by going on a sales call. They learn by seeing you make a mistake. They learn by how you deal with the mistake,” Dimon stated, including that distant work additionally fails to assist younger folks develop their emotional intelligence.
The issue is common, Dimon stated, and managers must also get comfy sitting within the workplace. Video calls, which he in comparison with recreation present Hollywood Squares the place contestants sit in an actual life tic-tac-toe board, permit for a lot fewer checkups than would occur in particular person when you’ll be able to ask somebody instantly for an replace. Working from dwelling, Dimon stated, causes much less possession of a undertaking, much less curiosity, and, utilizing a Muhammad Ali tactic, tires folks sooner.
“There’s very little follow up, a lot more game playing, you know, rope-a-dope type of politics,” he stated.
Plus, he added, “a lot of people aren’t paying attention at all,” as a lot of them are on their telephones whereas on a video name, a pattern which he didn’t discover early on, he stated.
The remarks will not be new for the 70-year-old, who has usually protested distant work for early-career workers, advocating for an “apprentice system” the place youthful staff study from extra skilled veterans.
“You can’t learn working from your basement,” he stated in a Bloomberg interview final 12 months.
Beforehand, Dimon has complained that distant work has made it harder to achieve workers, particularly on Fridays, which he stated is “not how you run a great company.”
Different executives, resembling Amazon’s Andy Jassy and Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri, have additionally pushed to carry workers again to the workplace for a full 5 days every week prior to now two years. Nonetheless, not each enterprise chief agrees. Shark Tank star and O’Leary Ventures chairman Kevin O’Leary has usually advocated for distant work to raised entice high candidates. In a video earlier this month, O’Leary stated, “I’d rather hire somebody who can execute and sit in their basement or in their backyard.”
JPMorgan introduced its personal five-day in-office coverage final 12 months, prompting greater than 1,200 workers to signal a petition urging the corporate to maintain its versatile hybrid work mannequin. Throughout a city corridor assembly final February, Dimon lashed out at workers for signing what he noticed as a meaningless petition.
“Don’t waste time on it,” Dimon reportedly stated in the course of the city corridor. “I don’t care how many people sign that f—ing petition.”
Gen Z Pushes Again
Regardless of what Dimon says, younger persons are not thrilled on the prospect of working from an workplace full time. Whereas employers have leveraged the shaky job market to power workers again to the workplace full time, practically 40% of Gen Z and Millennial workers stated they’d take a pay lower in alternate for extra flexibility with the place they work, in comparison with 32% throughout generations.
The analysis on distant work additionally doesn’t fairly align with what executives like Dimon have stated. A Bureau of Labor Statistics evaluation from 2024 discovered a statistically vital constructive correlation throughout 61 industries between the pandemic-era rise in distant work and productiveness progress, amongst different constructive outcomes. On the identical time, Gallup’s State of the Office report from 2025 discovered absolutely distant staff really report the best engagement charges at 31%, in comparison with 23% for hybrid and on-site staff who’re distant succesful.
Whereas Dimon acknowledged JPMorgan desires to maintain its staff comfortable, he additionally stated the corporate has to adapt to what its prospects need.
“We’re not in business so my employee’s happy. I’m in business so my customer’s happy, and I want my employee to be happy, but not at the expense of the customer.”
