JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest banks in the world, recently enforced a significant shift in its workplace culture, which involves dramatically scaling back remote work.

In March, the banking giant enforced its new return-to-office mandate, which requires employees to work in the office five days a week. Before the new mandate went into effect, employees were allowed to work in the office only three or four days a week. 

The move sparked backlash from employees, some of whom even started a petition on coworker.org demanding that the company retain its hybrid work model.

In a memo announcing the decision in January, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon claimed that in-person work “greatly enhances mentoring, learning, brainstorming, and getting things done.”

“We know that some of you prefer a hybrid schedule and respectfully understand that not everyone will agree with this decision,” said Dimon. “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. We think it is the best way to run the company.”

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon wants employees to work in-person full time.

Bloomberg/Getty Images

JPMorgan Chase’s new headquarters faces backlash

Over the past few months, JPMorgan Chase has focused on building its new global headquarters in midtown Manhattan for its corporate workforce amid a new full-time in-office approach. 

The office officially opened on Oct. 21. It is 60 stories high and contains 19 restaurants. It also features smart technology and 2.5 million square feet of flexible workspace designed to “accommodate 10,000 employees and thousands of daily guests,” according to a recent press release.

“The opening of our new global headquarters is not only a significant investment in New York, but also a testament to our commitment to our clients and employees worldwide,” said Dimon in the press release. 

While the opening of JPMorgan Chase’s new headquarters received praise from New York officials, such as Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, it faced outrage on social media. 

In an Oct. 23 post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that garnered over 16.7 million views, Dell CEO Michael Dell shared an image from inside the new JPMorgan Chase headquarters. The image shows a large communal desk setup for employees that appears crowded and lacks workspace separation.

“Congratulations @jpmorgan on the opening of your new headquarters!” wrote Dell in the tweet. 

While Dell praised the new setup, many users on X took to the comment section of his tweet to claim that it looks almost inhumane.

“This is no environment for serious professionals. It’s a sweat shop,” wrote one X user in the comment section. 

“​​Yikes! That must be what hell looks like… No money in the world would be worth that work environment. Straight up depression land,” wrote another. 

“Now I understand why everyone at JP wants to work from home. This is an awful work environment,” claimed another X user. 

Employees nationwide don’t want to break up with remote work

The controversy comes during a time when many employees across the country still favor remote work due to benefits such as improved work satisfaction, boosts in productivity, and financial savings.

Most employees nationwide prefer hybrid work schedules instead of being in the office five days a week. According to a recent survey from FTI Consulting, 88% of remote workers said they would be willing to work in the office for at least some portion of the week, with 33% indicating no more than two days. 

More Labor:

  • Intel quietly pulls back major employee commitment amid troubles
  • Google quietly doubles down on a controversial workplace trend
  • Samsung cracks down on an alarming workplace problem

“We have all seen the headlines about the return-to-office mandates by some of the nation’s largest employers, with some companies reporting that they expect all of their workers, with few exceptions, to return to the office full time in 2025,” said Josh Herrenkohl, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, in the report. “But our research shows that their ability to implement this mandate is not cut-and-dry, and employers risk losing talent if RTO mandates are enforced.” 

As return-to-office mandates become a harsh new reality across the country, office foot traffic is surging but hasn’t yet reached pre-Covid levels. According to recent data from Placer.ai, nationwide office visits in September were just 26.3% below 2019 levels, a major rebound compared to August levels. 

Miami, New York City, and Dallas saw the most improvement in office visits compared to September 2019 levels.

  • In Miami, office visits were down 7.6%, the closest to pre-pandemic levels.
  • NYC office visits declined by only 11.5%.
  • Dallas office foot traffic dipped by 15.4%.

“With fall routines reestablished and corporate mandates expanding, the office recovery appears to be regaining momentum,” reads Placer.ai’s report. 

Related: JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has a cold message for employees