JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon bashed work from home at a town hall with employees this week.
The investment banking giant has told its employees, who are working in the office three days a week, to start coming in full time next month, leading to a petition by staffers asking for management to reconsider the edict.
Mr. Dimon said at the Ohio town hall that those employees should not “waste time on it. I don’t care how many people sign that [expletive] petition,” Reuters reported.
When asked if he would leave discretion about hybrid work arrangements to managers, Mr. Dimon replied: “There is no chance that I will leave it up to managers… Zero chance. The abuse that took place is extraordinary,” adding that people should not say that “work-from-home-Friday works. I call a lot of people on Fridays, and there’s not a [expletive] person you can get a hold of,” according to Barron’s.
Mr. Dimon also noted that he and people in many other professions, including those in the restaurant business, firefighters, policemen and others, went to work full time even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ve had it with this kind of stuff. I’ve been working seven days a [expletive] week since COVID, and I come in, and — where is everybody else? They’re here, they’re there, the Zooms, and the Zooms don’t show up,” Mr. Dimon said.
Mr. Dimon previously criticized the remote work policy for federal workers, saying at The Atlantic’s 2024 festival, “I can’t believe, when I come down here [to D.C], the empty buildings. The people who work for you not going to the office. That bothers me. I don’t allow that.”
President Trump, who on Inauguration Day demanded federal workers return to their offices full time, agrees.
“I happen to be a believer that you have to go to work. I don’t think you can work from home. Nobody’s going to work from home, they’re going to be going out, they’re gonna play tennis, they’re gonna play golf. They’re gonna do a lot of things — they’re not working,” Mr. Trump said Monday, according to Fortune.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.