- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon defended some of his comments on DEI and WFH.
- He said he wasn’t against working from home overall but opposed it in certain circumstances.
- He described some DEI efforts as wasteful but said the bank was committed to diverse communities.
Many people have piled into the work-from-home debate that’s been amplified by Jamie Dimon’s testy comments. Now Dimon has something he wants to say back to them.
During a CNBC interview on Monday from JPMorgan’s global leveraged finance conference in Miami, Dimon acknowledged some faults.
“I should never curse, ever. That — OK,” he said. “And I shouldn’t get angry or stuff like that.”
He then defended his stance on pulling employees back to the office five days a week, a mandate set to go into effect for most workers on March 3.
“I completely respect people that don’t want to go to the office all five days a week. That’s your right. It’s my right. It’s a citizen’s right,” Dimon said. “But they should respect that the company is going to decide what’s good for the clients, the company, etc., not an individual.”
He added: “They can get a job — and I’m not being mean — they can get a job elsewhere. I understand that it may make total sense for them to do that.”
Dimon was defending some fiery comments he made during an internal town hall in February, the audio of which was published by Barron’s. In it, Dimon complained that there was “not a goddamn person” he could get a hold of on Fridays and griped about employees not paying attention on “fucking Zoom.”
Dimon said in the interview with CNBC that “we do have 10% of jobs that are full time at home,” highlighting virtual call centers in Baltimore and Detroit.
“I’m not against work from home,” Dimon said. “I’m against where it doesn’t work.”
JPMorgan employees have spoken out about some of the drawbacks of being back in the office full time, and a petition against the in-office mandate collected more than 1,700 signatures. Dimon said in the town hall that he didn’t care about how much support the petition garnered, and he reiterated that during the Monday interview.
“That’s fine. They have the right to feel that way,” he said. “But we’re not going to change. We’re going back to the office, and I’m sure when we do there’ll be some seats not available. But for the most part, most of our people understand why we need to do it.”
During the town hall, Dimon also sounded off on JPMorgan’s DEI-related programs, reportedly saying, “I saw how we were spending money on some of this stupid shit, and it really pissed me off,” and threatening to cancel them because “I don’t like wasted money in bureaucracy.”
He said on Monday that what he found specifically wasteful were “trainings that don’t work, or too many of them,” and hiring outside consultants for meetings and events. He also argued that a lot of small programs grew over time and should be consolidated.
He said the bank was “still going to reach out to the Black, Hispanic, LGBT, veteran, disabled communities,” adding, “We’re not changing that.”
