JPMorgan Staff Launch Petition Against 5-Day RTO Mandate
JPMorgan Chase attempted one of the earliest return-to-office dates of the Fortune 500 on September 21, 2020. After a breakout of COVID occurred, the company backed off the mandate. From the beginning of the COVID lockdowns until early 2022, CEO Jamie Dimon took a hard stance against remote work and for office work. Dimon stated, “We want people back to work. And everyone is going to be happy with it, and yes, the commute, you know people don’t like commuting, but so what.”
The bank is now on its sixth RTO policy, one issued on January 7, 2025 stating that all employees are expected to be in the office full-time.
Now, a petition against the RTO mandate has been posted on coworker.org.
Here is everything you need to know about JPMorgan Chase’s return to office plan.
JPMorgan’s Return To Office: Current Policy
- Notice Date: January 7, 2025
- Return To Office Date: March 1, 2025
- Challenges:
- January 31, 2025, per Fortune: “Phil de Josselin, JPMorgan Chase’s chief administrative officer, alerted employees on Thursday that many of the company’s banks and offices will be ready to accommodate five-day-a-week work starting in early March. Other employees will apparently get a reprieve from the RTO for now.“
- February 10, 2025: A petition was posted on coworker.org to retain the hybrid working model.
- Notes:
- The policy was leaked on January 7, 2025 (potentially before being shared with employees)
- The bank followed up later saying it would give employees 30 days’ notice before their RTO policy kicks in
- Location Policy: Office First
- Office Visit Expectations: Five days per week
- Office Space Footprint: Decreasing
See Also: Petitions, Protests & Space Shortages: JPMorgan’s RTO Fallout
JPMorgan’s RTO Timeline
Here’s a timeline of JPMorgan Chase’s return to office mandates and storylines listed with the most recent on top.
February 10, 2025: An employee petition gets posted to coworker.org
Here are the demands of the petition.
“We urge JPMC to:
- Retain (or return to) the flexible hybrid-working model for roles that have already used it – regardless of rank.
- Invest resources to expand hybrid-eligibility to more job categories.
- Allow remote-capable workers to work from any JPMC corporate office in their region.”
January 31, 2025: The bank doesn’t have enough office space for full RTO for all
“JPMorgan’s internal tool shows many offices aren’t ready for the unpopular return to office mandate.”
These locations were listed as “not yet determined” (or not yet available):
- Two JPMorgan buildings in Plano, Texas
- One location in Greenwood Village, Colorado
- Its Polaris Parkway regional headquarters (Ohio)
The Ohio office has more than 12,000 employees.
January 7. 2025: All employees must come in full-time
“JPMorgan Chase & Co. is preparing to tell all its employees to return to the office five days a week, ending a hybrid-work option for thousands of staff and returning to the attendance policy that was in place before the pandemic” (source).
Updates from prior years
April 12, 2023: Directors need to come in five days, other employees for three days
- JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) asked its managing directors to work from the office for five days a week, the largest U.S. bank said in a memo.
- The bank also “warned other employees working on hybrid schedules that they needed to show up three days a week or face consequences.”
February 1, 2022: JPMorgan’s first RTO date that was implemented
“We expect everyone to return to their in-office schedule no later than February 1,” the memo said.
July 1, 2021: Delayed indefinitely
“We would fully expect that by early July, all U.S.-based employees will be in the office on a consistent rotational schedule, also subject to our current 50% occupancy cap,” the bank said in a memo, reported earlier.”
May 17, 2021: Delayed
“The biggest U.S. bank by assets told workers on Tuesday it is ramping up the numbers of employees allowed in offices and that buildings will be open to all employees on May 17, subject to a 50% building occupancy limit.”
September 21, 2020: Attempted, then aborted
“The bank executives had previously told managing directors and some executive directors within its sales and trading operation that they must return to the office by Sept. 21.”
Sentiment From JPMorgan Chase Leadership
Stance on remote work
- “Dimon, who said he has been going to the office for three months, noted that productivity had dropped in certain jobs. He also said working from home has negative effects in society that most people don’t appreciate, including drug overdoses” (source).
- CEO Jamie Dimon said, “We want people back to work. And everyone is going to be happy with it, and yes, the commute, you know people don’t like commuting, but so what” (source).
- “It’s clear that working from home will become more permanent in American business,” Dimon acknowledged in his annual shareholder letter Monday (source).
Stance on office work
- “We want people back to work. And everyone is going to be happy with it, and yes, the commute, you know people don’t like commuting, but so what,” Jamie Dimon said.
Stance on office space
- “JPMorgan Chase, New York City’s largest office tenant, cut its commercial footprint by 400,000 square feet last year, Crain’s reported. The bank, which has said it plans to “significantly reduce” its global office footprint in the coming years, also downsized by 300,000 square feet in 2020” (source).
- On August 25, 2022, The NY Post reported yet another change in sentiment: “JPMorgan’s hard-charging chief executive has been quietly telling senior managers he expects the mega-bank’s rank and file to be in their seats at the office five days a week.”
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