In March 2026, it will be a year since America’s biggest bank made 5-day work from office compulsory. The largest US bank, which employs more than 300,000 people globally, told all of its employees to return to the office five days a week starting in March, ending a hybrid work-from-home policy that took effect during the pandemic. Just days after CEO Jamie Dimon’s order to all employees to come into the office five days a week, a petition surfaced. The petition, which was part of complaints over JP Morgan’s call to bring employees back to office 5 days a week, asked CEO Dimon to reverse the change. The petition that continues to be live online is addressed to chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. In the petition, employees have complained about losing hybrid working arrangements. “Some employees sought advice from the Communications Workers of America on how they might set up a labor union, a rare thing in the US finance sector.And now a year since the petition was set up, it has about 2,000 signatories out of the Bank’s more than 300,000 global employees. According to a report in Financial Times, there are some who believe that signing the petition will be a ‘career suicide’. The report details internal backlash to the 5-day mandate. As per the report, employees at the America’s largest lender told the Financial Times they were bewildered by management’s insistence on a full-time return to company offices, though teams are scattered across the globe. “My team is spread out through two continents and three time zones,” said a JPMorgan employee who signed a petition to bring back hybrid work. “JPMorgan is a global company — why can’t that include my home office?” “Hybrid is working and employees love the happy medium,” the staffer told the FT. “We, the workers of JPMorganChase (JPMC), are concerned about the future of our workplace – its integrity, employee satisfaction, and the increasing toxicity that has metastasized in our company culture in the last couple of months,” reads the petition.

When Jamie Dimon’s angry outburst at Townhall went viral

Dimon announced the five-day return to office policy on January 10, 2025, ahead of a March 2025 start date. Soon after announcing the change, Dimon went viral for angry outburst he had about the employee petition during a Town Hall meeting. When asked about the in-person work policy during the staff meeting, he said, “Don’t waste time on it. I don’t care how many people sign that fucking petition,” he said, drawing some laughter. Instead, Dimon demanded more efficiency and stressed employees have a choice whether to work at JPMorgan. The CEO told them not to be mad at him, and said it was a free country.Dimon, who has run the lender for 19 years, said some staff did not pay attention during Zoom meetings, which reduced their efficiency and creativity. In-office requirements will not be left up to managers, Dimon said. “There is no chance that I will leave it up to managers,” he said. “Zero chance. The abuse that took place is extraordinary.”In an interview to CNBC, Dimon said, that he respects employees who don’t want to come into the office five days a week, but said the policy will not change because it is best for 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 done remotely.Later in the year, in an interview to Bloomberg, Dimon said that he also understands the appeal of logging in from home; remote work can pan out well for some companies and certain roles. Talking about his angry response to a question on work from home, he said, “I gave a very detailed answer about why [work from home] doesn’t work for young people, why it doesn’t work for management, why it doesn’t work for innovation,” Dimon said. “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.”