- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon defended some of his previous comments on DEI and WFH.
- He said he he's not against work from home, but he's against it where it doesn't work.
- He identified some DEI efforts as wasteful, but he said the bank is committed to diverse communities.
Many people have piled into the work-from-home debate that's been amplified by Jamie Dimon's testy comments. Now Dimon has something he wants to say back to them.
During a CNBC interview from JPMorgan's global leveraged finance conference in Miami, Dimon was quick to acknowledge some of his faults.
"I should never curse, ever. That — OK. And I shouldn't get angry or stuff like that," Dimon said.
But he also didn't waste much time before defending his stance on pulling employees back to the office five days a week, a mandate that is set to go into effect for most employees starting March 3.
"I completely respect people that don't want to go to the office all five days a week. That's your right. It's my right. It's the citizen's right. But they should respect that the company is going to decide what's good for the client, the company, et cetera, not an individual," Dimon said.
"They can get a job — I'm not being mean — to get a job elsewhere, I totally understand that it may make total sense for them to do that," he added.
Dimon was defending some fiery comments he made during an internal town hall meeting in February, the audio of which was leaked by Barron's. In it, Dimon complained that there's "not a god-damn person" he can get a hold of on Fridays, and griped about employees not paying attention on "fucking Zoom."
Dimon pointed out that "we do have 10% of jobs that are full-time at home," highlighting virtual call centers in Baltimore and Detroit.
"I'm not against work from home. I'm against where it doesn't work," Dimon said.
Employees during the town hall and afterward have spoken out about some of the drawbacks of being back in the office full time. A petition against the in-office mandate has collected more than 1700 signatures. During the town hall, Dimon said he didn't care about how much support the petition garnered and reiterated that during the Monday interview.
"That's fine. They have the right to feel that way. But we're not going to change. We're going back to the office and I'm sure when we do, there'll be some seats not available. But for the most part, most of our people understand why we need to do it."
During the town hall, Dimon also sounded off on the bank's DEI-related programs, reportedly saying "I saw how we were spending money on some of this stupid shit, and it really pissed me off," and threatening to cancel them because "I don't like wasted money in bureaucracy."
He expanded Monday that what he found specifically wasteful was training programs that don't work, or too many of them, and hiring outside consultants for meetings and events. He also said a lot of small programs grew over time and should be consolidated.
"All very rational," he said about those inefficiencies.
He maintained that the bank is "still going to reach out to the black, Hispanic, LGBT, veteran, disabled communities. We're not changing that."
