JPMorgan staff vents about RTO in private chats after bank disables employee comments
JPMorgan employees express frustration over the bank's strict return-to-office mandate through private chats and Reddit.
Following JPMorgan’s January directive mandating all employees return to the office five days a week, internal discussions have been heating up. With official communication from the bank appearing scarce, many employees have turned to private Signal chats and Reddit threads to vent their frustrations and speculate about the bank’s plans on enforcing RTO.
According to a Business Insider article, these chats are acting as unofficial "support groups" for employees who are upset by JPMorgan's strict return-to-office mandate.
(Also read: JPMorgan Chase employees frustrated over desk shortages, noise amid RTO mandate: ‘Sick coworkers, crowded')
One JPMorgan Chase employee of eight years told Business Insider that an “extremely active” chat group gets more than 100 messages a day. It is one among many such chat groups where employees have been speculating about what
"There's a depressingly small amount of official information within JPMC," the unnamed employee said. "We have to go find the information, it is not being broadcast."
These private chats have become more active after JPMorgan Chase disabled an internal webpage where an announcement about ending remote work was flooded with complaints. The disablement was first reported by the Wall Street Journal back in January.
What employees are saying
An unverified document purportedly bearing JPMorgan branding recently surfaced in the chat, sparking spirited discussion. According to a member of the group, the six-page document outlined steps of escalation for employees failing to meet return-to-office (RTO) requirements, including fewer non-attendance warnings before potential termination for some workers.
Business Insider (BI), which reviewed the document, could not verify its authenticity or determine its source.
A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to confirm the authenticity of the document. “If employees are not meeting the expectations, there will be ramifications — just like any other performance issue,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan employees are increasingly concerned about how their attendance and productivity are being monitored. Some fear tracking systems may be inaccurate in logging their hours, while others view the return-to-office (RTO) mandates and attendance monitoring as excessive.
“[We thought the] babysitting was ending,” a JPMorgan tech VP sarcastically told Business Insider.
Similar concerns and comments have been aired on Reddit, where many JPMorgan employees slammed CEO Jamie Dimon for his strict stance on RTO.
“It's a matter of organizing. A widespread refusal to RTO 5 days a week is not going to result in layoffs from a company that was setting record profits during WFH,” reads one comment.
“They’re hoping people leave because that looks better than layoffs,” another theorised.
(Also read: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says only ‘people in the middle’ complain about return-to-office)
