Dimon explained his longstanding gripe with remote work in an interview with CNBC this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, first reported by Bloomberg. “It doesn’t work for little kids or spontaneity or management,” Dimon said.
But it works, he continued, for some jobs like research and programming. She added that allowing women to work from home could “help” them, as housekeeping and care falls disproportionately on women’s shoulders. “Modify your company to help women stay home for a while,” Dimon said CNBC.
Keeping in line with his fellow Wall Street CEOs, Dimon has been holding the line on mandatory in-person work where possible for years now. “I’m going to delete all mine Zoom in dating,” he has She said in May 2021, well before most of the country was vaccinated. “I’m done with it.” He added that remote work, on the whole, doesn’t work people who want to do business.
He said at the time that he expected a return to normality in the workplace in the fall of 2021. “And everyone will be happy about that,” he added. “And yes… people don’t like going to work, but so what?”
More than a year later, in August 2022, he noted that remote work was less favourable to an honest work environment and promoted procrastination. His peers agree with him.
Davos Thursday, Morgan Stanley CEO said James Gorman working remotely “is not an employee’s choice”.
“They can’t choose their compensation, they can’t choose their promotion, they can’t choose to stay home five days a week,” Gorman said Bloomberg. “I want them with other employees at least three or four days.”
And Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon was the milestone of the war for the return to office, arguing that workforce culture cannot survive on Zoom, which is an “aberration.” Meanwhile, Citibank chief executive Jane Fraser, who has been more open than her peers to flexible work arrangements, told Davos attendees she was bring back low performing remote workers in the office for further coaching.
What each of these loyal CEOs in person could overlook: Workers overwhelmingly prefer flexible working arrangements, which benefits them HealthThey walletit’s theirs work-life balance. The so-called little boys in particular definitely disagree with Dimon, and are not afraid to leave a company that refuses to fold. In fact, being open to flexible working can significantly reduce turnover.
Consider Spotify, where revenue fell 15% between 2019 and 2021, when it instituted a work from anywhere policy. If you trust your employees and treat them well no matter where they work, Katarina Berg, Spotify Chief Human Resources Officer, said Fortune.
Maybe in 2023 leaders will find that those workers voted with their feet.
