JPMorgan employees reluctant to sign petition for hybrid model fearing backlash from CEO Jamie Dimon, says report

Employees with United States lender JPMorgan Chase are concerned that their opposition to CEO Jamie Dimon's full-time return to office mandate could result in backlash and “career suicide”, according to a report by the New York Post.

Still, despite many preferring the hybrid model, a petition to bring back hybrid work has gained over 2,000 signatures, it added. The story was first reported by The Financial Times.

One employee told the paper that their team has members across two continents and three time zones, noting, “JPMorgan is a global company — why can’t that include my home office?”

Another said that pushing for full-time work would cause a reversal of many hard-won gains for the company and its staff. “Hybrid is working and employees love the happy medium. Please don’t force working women completely out of the workforce,” they said.

The report added that JPMorgan declined to respond to queries on the matter.

‘Don’t waste time on it’: Jamie Dimon takes hard stance on back to office

According to a leaked audio released by Barrons in February 2025, Jamie Dimon's reaction to an internal group called ‘JPMC Workers’ who circulated a petition demanding that the hybrid model remain was caustic.

“Don’t waste time on it. I don’t care how many people sign that f–king petition,” he can be heard saying.

The petition drew more than 2,000 signatures from a 300,000-strong workforce, with some staff telling FT they were concerned signing their name could impact their job.

Forbes reported in February 2025 that an employee who had worked for the bank since 2017 was allegedly fired for questioning Dimon about the return-to-office policy. Tech ops analyst Nicolas Welch explained that his team comprised members from different time zones and asked Dimon to consider rolling back the mandate and leaving WFH allowances to manager discretion.

The report said Dimon was furious and accused managers of abusing the company's hybrid work policies. “That’s it? I’m going to give you a complete answer. There is no chance that I would leave that up to managers. Zero chance. The abuse that took place was extraordinary,” Dimon said.

He also complained about employees “wasting time” during Zoom meetings and complained about how staff strength has “ballooned” by 50,000 in the past four to five years. “We don’t need all those people. We were putting people in jobs because people weren’t doing the jobs they were hired to do in [the] first place,” Dimon said.

Jamie Dimon says back to office necessary

During the town hall, he emphasised to employees that work from office is mandatory five days a week. The company said this is necessary to promote collaboration, training and in-person supervision, as per the NYP report.

When asked about his outburst by CNBC later that same month, Dimon was still firm. “I’m not against work from home. I’m against where it doesn't work. They can get a job—I’m not being mean—they can get a job elsewhere.”

On the video of his rant, he added, “I do town halls all around the world, and as you know, I mope sometimes. I should never curse, ever. I shouldn't get angry or stuff like that. But the gentleman asked a long question, and I answered the question. I tried to give a lot of detail, which I think he’s entitled to because I’ve never, ever fired anyone because they asked a question like that.”

JPMorgan's return to office mandate come into effect in March 2025 for the 30% employees still on hybrid model, even while 70% had already returned to work from office, full time.

America's largest lender is not alone in its decision, Goldman Sachs has imposed five-day work weeks since Marcg 2022, and PNC plans to implement work from office starting May 2026.