- JPMorgan Chase mandated full-time office return starting March 2025 under CEO Dimon
- A petition against the five-day office rule has about 2,000 signatures from 3,00,000 staff
- Employees cite global teams and hybrid success as reasons to oppose the full return policy
Nearly a year after JPMorgan Chase mandated a five-day return to office, an online petition urging Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon to reconsider the policy has resurfaced. However, it has garnered only around 2,000 signatures from the bank's more than three lakh global employees.
In 2025, JPMorgan Chase directed all staff to return to offices full-time starting in March. Dimon announced the five-day return-to-office mandate on Jan. 10, 2025. Following the announcement, some discontented employees signed a petition to protest the decision.
But so far, only about 2,000 employees have signed the petition, suggesting that the majority have perhaps accepted that the move by the bank to bring staff back into the office full-time is unlikely to be reversed, according to a Financial Times report.
Many JPMorgan employees remain cautious about openly opposing Dimon's five-day office rule. One anonymous employee told FT that signing the petition felt like “career suicide.”
Others have questioned the rationale for mandating full-time office attendance, especially with teams distributed globally. A JPMorgan employee who signed the petition told FT, “My team is spread out through two continents and three time zones. JPMorgan is a global company. Why can't that include my home office?”
Another added, “Hybrid is working, and employees love the happy medium. Please don't force working women completely out of the workforce.”
Some employees protesting the policy even reportedly sought advice from the Communications Workers of America on establishing a labour union, which is an unusual move in the US finance sector.
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Jamie Dimon On Full Return To Office
While announcing the return-to-office policy last year, Dimon effectively ended the hybrid model introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. He then gained viral attention for his expletive-laden criticism of remote work at an internal town hall meeting in early 2025. Dimon told employees, “Don't waste time on it. I don't care how many people sign that ******* petition,” when asked about the petition.
He also emphasised the importance of efficiency and reminded employees that working at JPMorgan is voluntary, asking them not to be angry with him. Dimon, who has led the bank for 19 years, cited distractions during Zoom meetings as a factor affecting productivity and creativity.
In a February 2025 interview with CNBC, Dimon stated the policy would not change, asserting it is in the best interest of clients and the company. “I am not against working from home, I am against where it doesn't work,” he said, adding that 10% of the bank's jobs are performed remotely.
Later, in a May 2025 interview with Bloomberg, Dimon said that in-office work allows young employees to learn best practices from senior staff. “You can't learn working from your basement,” he said. Dimon reiterated that while remote work can suit some companies and roles, he is adamant that in-person work is best for JPMorgan.
“I completely applaud your right to not want to go to the office every day. But you're not going to tell JPMorgan what to do,” he told Bloomberg.
According to FT, one reason banks are pushing employees back to the office is the massive investment in office infrastructure. JPMorgan, for instance, has spent billions on new premises, including its $3 billion global headquarters on Park Avenue in New York, which opened in October 2025.
In November 2025, the bank announced plans to build a European headquarters in London to accommodate 12,000 employees.
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