JPMorgan Chase on Friday told employees companywide to return to the office five days a week, starting in March, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg and Reuters.
"We know that some of you prefer a hybrid schedule and respectfully understand that not everyone will agree with this decision," JPMorgan’s operating committee wrote in the memo. "We think it is the best way to run the company.”
The company disabled comments on an internal web page announcing the policy after 300 comments were posted in the first hour, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported. The bank often turns off comments on posts after receiving a high volume of responses, a person close to JPMorgan told the Journal.
More than half of the bank’s roughly 310,000 employees already come into the office five days a week. JPMorgan asked corporate staff to return to offices on a rotational basis in 2021 and brought managing directors back five days a week in 2023.
JPMorgan will give employees affected by the policy change at least 30 days’ notice ahead of a full-time return, according to the memo. Employees can seek manager approval if they need more time to prepare, and a work-from-home option will remain in place “as life events happen,” the operating committee wrote.
"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 committee wrote.
Some of the company’s locations don’t have the capacity for every employee to return. JPMorgan will confirm by the end of January where a full return is possible, the operating committee wrote.
“We know that a lot has changed in our workplaces since returning to the office after the pandemic, and recognize that it will take us some time to get all of our locations ready to accommodate a five-day-a-week schedule,” the committee wrote.
However, the executives added, “being together greatly enhances mentoring, learning, brainstorming and getting things done."
"Now is the right time to solidify our full-time in-office approach," the committee wrote.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been among the banking sector’s staunchest advocates of in-office work. In 2023, Dimon notably said in an interview: “In general, there’s nothing like face-to-face.”
He also vowed, during the Atlantic Festival in Washington last September, to “make Washington, D.C. go back to work.”
Friday’s memo confirms a Bloomberg report from earlier in the week, indicating the bank would announce a full-time return to the office. JPMorgan joins competitor Goldman Sachs that requirement, suggesting the policy could become the new norm for financial services companies.
About one in five workers say they’re ignoring return-to-office rules — but that doesn’t fly at every workplace. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in August 2023 that if workers can’t commit to coming in person, it’s “probably not going to work out.” Joining the likes of Zoom and Meta, Goldman Sachs also allegedly applied pressure on workers to RTO.
Many have warned against all-or-nothing work arrangements, however, underscoring how RTO leads to employee dissatisfaction in an increasingly grim labor climate. Experts also note that such hard-line mandates can signal employer mistrust.
Still, Dimon and other finance CEOs are not an anomaly: 83% of chief business leaders are expecting a full return to office by 2027, according to KPMG reporting.
