Latest news with #FilippoGori
USA Today
29-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Is remote work only for the rich? Double standard ignites workplace tension
More remote workers are being called back to the office in the private sector and the federal government. But the new rules don't always apply to everyone. When ride-sharing company Uber increased the number of days employees had to show up in person from two to three, the return-to-office mandate set off a fiery backlash. In an all-hands meeting and then in online forums, the rank-and-file groused they were being summoned back to work while many corner offices sat empty. Soon, another brouhaha erupted at JPMorgan Chase. After thousands of employees at the world's largest bank were ordered back to the office five days a week, word leaked that Filippo Gori would now run business affairs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from New York, not from Dubai, Johannesburg or London. JPMorgan Chase did not comment. With employers cracking down on how many days a week people can work from home, office workers are calling out what they say is a double standard: Executives who enforce in-person work for their teams but reserve the right to work wherever they please. Salesforce's Marc Benioff is one of those CEOs who self-identifies as a remote worker. "I've always been a remote worker my whole life," Benioff told MSNBC in 2023. "I don't work well in an office. It just doesn't work with my personality. I can't tell you why." His employees often don't have that luxury. In September, they were told to return to the office at least three days a week. Benioff said the message is to 'mix in-person and remote together.' Salesforce did not respond to a request for comment. 'Regardless of how you feel about remote work, you have to laugh at the nerve of these types of people who are being compensated millions of dollars per year to implement 'rules for thee and not for me,'' one Uber employee commented on Blind, an anonymous app for professionals. 'Like the key to the executive toilet' Many office workers got hooked on remote work as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down offices across America. With only 'essential' frontline workers required to show up in person, the white-collar workforce skipped rush hour and cocooned at home. Prioritizing once elusive goals such as quality of life, they relocated in droves to more affordable places such as Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho. Their new schedules made life much easier to balance, especially for parents of young children and workers with disabilities, while research frequently showed the pandemic-induced work arrangements had other benefits. Employees who worked from home were happier and as – if not more – productive. Five years later, a growing number of companies from Amazon to Ford are winding back the clock on remote work – but not for everyone. Flexibility is fast becoming an elite perk, with some top executives running their businesses hundreds or thousands of miles from the home office from the comfort of their own home office. Last year, Starbucks lured Brian Niccol from Chipotle Mexican Grill with a $10 million cash signing bonus, a $75 million stock award and a $1.6 million annual salary, making him one of the highest-paid CEOs in America. But none of his eye-popping perks got as much attention as the work-from-home deal he cut. Even as other corporate workers in the coffee chain's Seattle headquarters were told to work in the office three days a week, Niccol didn't pull up stakes. Instead, he commutes 1,600 miles from his Newport Beach, California, home on the company's private jet and on its dime. Starbucks said its CEO, who engineered the 'Back to Starbucks' turnaround plan to rebound from a prolonged sales slump, maintains an office and home in Seattle but prioritizes an active schedule visiting coffeehouses, roasting plants, support centers and business partners around the globe. Still, that special treatment irks employees. A 2023 Wall Street Journal report that Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West, the second-highest-ranking executive at the company, worked from a small office about five minutes from his home in New Canaan, Connecticut, and hundreds of miles from the company's Arlington, Virginia, headquarters, caused a stir. West has maintained that arrangement even after many staffers were told to return to the office. According to securities filings, Boeing provided $42,271 worth of flights on company aircraft last year for West, whose total compensation was nearly $6.2 million. Boeing declined to comment. Management experts say it matters far less where key executives log into work each day. After all, they often live out of suitcases while jetting to far-flung offices and calling on customers. But permitting executives to live and work remotely conflicts with the messaging that businesses benefit the most when employees show up in person. Like most sought-after workplace perks, flexibility is largely a function of power and pay, according to Stanford University economics professor Nick Bloom, who studies remote work. Higher-income workers are more likely to have remote work arrangements than those at the lower end of the pay scale, his research shows. Just 5% of workers making $10,000 to $50,000 a year live 50 or more miles from their office, compared to 14% of those earning over $250,000. 'Before the pandemic, working from home was a predictor of low pay. We used to joke about it. Is he working from home or shirking from home?' Bloom said. 'Now it's like the key to the executive toilet. Being able to work from home is something that people are flexing about.' Some workers, CEOs buck return to office A similar phenomenon is playing out in the public sector. President Donald Trump made splashy headlines when he ordered federal workers back to the office full-time. But, said Bloom, Trump often prefers his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to the Oval Office. The president is far from alone. A 2023 McKinsey survey found the largest share of employees who strongly prefer working from home earn more than $150,000 a year. They were also the group most likely to quit their jobs if called back to the office every day. The rank-and-file feels strongly about it, too. Three-quarters of employed adults who have a job that can be done from home are working remotely at least some of the time, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. If their employer no longer allowed them that flexibility, nearly half said they would be unlikely to stay on. Pavi Theva was stationed in Texas as a product manager when Amazon began enforcing a new three-day-a-week in-person policy. With none of her teammates located in the Austin office, she'd make the 45-minute commute to sit by herself. She regularly scrambled to find an empty conference room so she could attend virtual meetings uninterrupted. Time spent in the office was pointless, she said. 'It wasn't adding any value from a productivity standpoint or a collaboration standpoint.' After getting flagged a couple of times for not badging into the office often enough, Theva quit in February 2024 to turn a side hustle in career coaching into a full-time gig. She never looked back. 'I have zero commute,' she said. 'Just 20 seconds from my bedroom to my study in my PJs.' A report from the Census Bureau that surveyed 150,000 firms from November 2024 to January 2025 concluded remote workers like Theva are here to stay. Employees work from home at least one day a week on average and businesses expect that to continue through 2029. And some business leaders are leaning into that trend. In 2022, Airbnb instituted a 'Live and Work Anywhere' remote work policy which allows employees to work from home as long as they regularly meet up in person. Before the pandemic, some 95% of Airbnb's employees lived within 50 miles of an office, according to the online marketplace for short-term vacation rentals. Today, that figure stands at about 70%. 'If you want a team to work harder, don't make them come to the office, give them a crazy deadline and check on their progress every week,' CEO Brian Chesky said on the Masters of Scale Rapid Response podcast. 'That's how you get them to work harder, not by being in the office. I don't care where you are.' Dropbox has also doubled down on flexibility with its 'Virtual First' remote work policy. CEO Drew Houston says it doesn't make sense to force employees to show up in the office to do the same work they would do remotely. Over the last five years, about 70% of job applicants have cited remote work as the reason they are interested in working at the file-storage company, Dropbox said. Dropbox has also seen its lowest attrition rates and highest offer acceptance rates since going fully remote, internal company data shows. "We can be a lot less dumb than forcing people back into a car three days a week or whatever to literally be back on the same Zoom meeting they would have been at home,' Houston told Fortune's Leadership Next podcast. 'There's a better way to do this."
Irish Times
23-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Return-to-office edicts aren't always what they seem
What a busy life Filippo Gori must lead. The JPMorgan banker used to live in Hong Kong, where he headed the Wall Street bank's Asia-Pacific business. He moved to London last year after he was given two big new jobs, co-head of global banking and head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, or EMEA as it is known in business speak. You might think that move made sense, considering his EMEA responsibilities. But as FT readers learned last week, Gori is about to up sticks again and guess what: he is not going anywhere in Europe, the Middle East or Africa. He is heading to New York. I found this news arresting for several reasons, starting with a dilemma that those of us who are not international bankers rarely need to consider. READ MORE How does one stay across affairs in, say, Lagos, Dubai and London when one wakes up in Manhattan, or whichever bit of New York Gori ends up in? People familiar with the situation have told my colleagues that Gori will spend at least half of his time in EMEA for the rest of this year and will 'continue to be highly visible among employees and clients in the region'. I can believe them. I can also believe Gori will do his best to oblige his boss, Jamie Dimon , a loud critic of remote working practices. In keeping with Dimon's view that such practices sap efficiency, creativity and the development of young people, thousands of JPMorgan employees were this year told to get back to the office five days a week. We must imagine Gori will also be aiming to do this at whichever office he is near on any given day. Alas, not everyone agrees. One popular online reader response to news of Gori's move was this: 'RTO for thee, work from NYC for me.' That may be unfair to Gori. Certainly there is a logic in his global banking role being based out of New York. But one thing is clear: highly valued executives have always been able to negotiate deals that give them more freedom than the average employee. And the average employee is still a big fan of the freedom remote working offers. Add these two facts together and you come up with yet another reason why working from home is far more persistent than one might think from all the headlines about big employers ordering their staff back to the office. For a lot of smaller organisations, it promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people or, put another way, it's easier – especially if you don't run a big Wall Street bank with the market power to take its pick of talented would-be staff. I suspect this helps to explain a puzzle I wrote about at the start of the year: the lack of data showing that return-to-office rules are producing a big fall in remote work. Researchers who have spent years tracking the share of work US employees do at home say rates were well below 10 per cent before Covid pushed them up above 60 per cent. But they have stayed at about 27 per cent since late 2023, with the latest data out this month showing the same figure. So much for my theory that 2025 might be the year remote working rates finally started to fall as tighter in-office rules came into effect at companies such as Amazon and PwC in January, the same month Donald Trump began ordering federal workers back to the office full-time. The data does suggest such orders are increasing, and worker resistance to them may be softening. It shows that 43.5 per cent of people who still work from home reported in June that their employer had issued an RTO mandate in the past six months, up from 39 per cent at the end of last year. And the share of those working at least one day a week from home who said they would comply with such rules rose from 46 per cent at the end of last year to 49 per cent. But this still suggests half of those facing such mandates would be ready to quit or look for another job. And I would bet a lot of them would be even keener to jump ship if they worked for a boss who didn't have to obey the same rules as they did. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Daily Mail
19-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
JPMorgan's anti-WFH crusader Jamie Dimon lets top Europe chief work 3,000 miles from his team
A top JPMorgan Chase executive has been allowed to work remotely from his team - while CEO Jamie Dimon continues to crack the whip on employees with his return-to-office mandate. Filippo Gori, the banking behemoth's CEO of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), will be moving to New York City while continuing to run the European business, reported the Financial Times. He is ditching the company's London office - the epicenter of his workload - less than a year after relocating from Hong Kong to take the top job. This means that Gori is free to run the EMEA division five hours behind, and 3,400 miles away from, the bank's managers, staff, and clients whom he is in charge of. While Gori is expected to spend at least half of his time in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, he'll be living and working from the Big Apple - despite Dimon's incessant belief that managers and bankers ought to work together, in-person and in-office. By contrast, for example, Pablo Garnica, the bank's top executive of EMEA Private Bank, is based in Madrid, Spain - who stressed in an interview last year: 'We believe that being close to the clients and being part of that community is really important.' It's understood that Gori, who is also Co-Head of Global Banking, will be working from the bank's headquarters on Madison Avenue five days a week during his move. CEO Jamie Dimon (pictured) has felt the ire of his staff following his incessant belief that work from home is not effective for running a business Gori's move to the States comes amid CEO Dimon's heated criticisms of remote work, which have made him a champion of the return-to-office culture shift. The Wall Street veteran's ironclad anti-remote work stance has caused a seismic backlash ever since he first announced his plan in the years following the pandemic. '[Return-to-office] for the serfs, work from home for the aristocracy. Yep, sounds about right,' one person previously said. 'Rules for thee but not for me. I despise these double standards,' said another. 'Trash policy from a trash company run by a trash CEO,' added a third. 'Billionaires virtue signaling about "work" while they make 5000x more per hour than average wage is always hilarious,' said a fourth. Earlier this year, the JPMorgan Chase CEO announced that the company would require employees to return to the office five days a week starting in March. Dimon also said one reason he wanted people back in the office was that 'younger people are being left behind.' 'To have the younger people coming in but not their bosses - I have a problem with that too,' he said. He also noted that the benefits of in-person office conversations will help younger people to succeed in their careers. 'All day long we're talking,' he said. 'Constant updates, constant share of information.' Remote work means young people miss out on these conversations, essentially 'leaving them behind,' Dimon said. 'I won't do that.' Dimon further added that remote employees tend to not pay attention on company Zoom calls. His strong-armed stance on remote work went viral after one of the company's employees asked a question during a company town hall back in February. The question, posed by Nicolas Welch, a tech analyst at the bank since 2017, triggered an extraordinary rant from the chairman. 'Don't waste time on it. I don't care how many people sign that f*****g petition,' Dimon said. 'It simply doesn't work. It doesn't work for creativity, it slows down decision-making. And don't give me this s**t that work-from-home-Friday works. I call a lot of people on Fridays, and there's not a goddamn person you can get a hold of.' But his rampant anti-work-from-home mandate has infuriated many bankers. According to insiders, the discontent swirls across departments and seniority levels, with employees sharing concerns about surveillance, privacy, and the feasibility of a five-day office mandate, particularly in offices that don't even have enough desks or parking spaces to accommodate everyone. In March, Dimon obliterated a young crowd asking why they can't work from home while speaking at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. He got onto the controversial topic after a graduate student asked a question regarding his leaked, expletive-loaded remarks from a company town hall about the finance firm's end of hybrid work. Dimon claimed the only group of people disgruntled with the move are 'the people in the middle' - like corporate office workers. 'If you work in a restaurant, you've got to be in. You all may not know this, but 60 percent of Americans worked the whole time,' he said. 'Where did you get your Amazon packages from? Your beef, your meat, your vodka? Where did you get the diapers from?' Dimon appeared to be referring to people who continued to work in person during the pandemic. 'You got UPS and FedEx and manufacturers and agriculture and hospitals and cities and schools and nurses and sanitation and firemen and military. They all worked,' he continued.
Int'l Business Times
18-06-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
JPMorgan's Europe Boss Flees to NYC as UK Tax Hikes Spark Exodus!
The JPMorgan Chase's European chief, Filippo Gori, on 16 June 2025 announced his relocation from London to New York, joining a wave of over 4,400 financial executives reportedly exiting the UK due to Labour's aggressive tax reforms. The move, less than a year after Gori's arrival in London, underscores the growing unease in Britain's financial sector. Navigate Labour's Tax Overhaul Fallout Labour's July 2024 election victory brought sweeping tax changes, including the abolition of non-dom status and revised inheritance tax rules for foreign trusts, costing high earners millions. The Financial Times reports that these policies have prompted 4,400 UK-based financial professionals to relocate in 2025, with New York, Dubai, and Singapore as top destinations. Gori, who moved to London from Hong Kong in May 2024 to lead JPMorgan's Europe, Middle East, and Africa operations, will now oversee these regions from New York, spending 'at least half his time' in EMEA, per Bloomberg . His exit from London aligns with other high-profile departures, such as Goldman Sachs' Richard Gnodde, who left for Milan, citing tax pressures. On X, posts like those from @EniatoFinance highlight the growing perception that London is losing its edge as a financial centre. Witness London's Financial Exodus The UK's financial sector is haemorrhaging talent and capital. The Telegraph notes that the London Stock Exchange has struggled to attract new listings, with businesses increasingly opting for New York, where financial sector jobs rose 5% in 2025. JPMorgan's strict in-office policy makes Gori's transatlantic move notable, as it reflects broader concerns about the UK's economic environment. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates Labour's tax hikes, costing £25 billion ($33.64 billion) annually, have disproportionately hit high-net-worth individuals, with 9% of those earning over £1 million ($1.34 million) planning to leave by 2026. This exodus threatens London's status, as firms like HSBC and Barclays already have executives, such as Mark Tucker and CS Venkatakrishnan, splitting time between the US and UK. Anticipate Ripple Effects on Global Finance Gori's relocation coincides with internal dynamics at JPMorgan, where he is a contender to succeed CEO Jamie Dimon, alongside executives like Marianne Lake. The move signals strategic shifts, as New York strengthens its position as a global financial hub. However, it raises questions about client relations and oversight in EMEA, with industry analysts warning of potential service gaps. On X, sentiment is divided: some, like @BobHunterMD , lament London's decline, while others argue the UK must prioritise broader economic fairness over retaining elites. A Financial Hub at a Crossroads Filippo Gori's departure from London to New York is a symptom of a larger crisis gripping the UK's financial sector. Labour's tax blitz, intended to fund public services, is driving away the very talent and capital that sustain economic growth. As 4,400 finance chiefs flee, London's global standing wavers, but rebuilding trust and competitiveness will demand bold policy reversals and UK must act swiftly to stem the tide at the earliest, or risk losing its financial crown. Originally published on IBTimes UK
New York Post
16-06-2025
- Business
- New York Post
JPMorgan's Europe boss set to quit London for NYC
JPMorgan's European boss is set to flee London for New York after being promoted only last year — as the UK battles with an exodus of top business talent amid a flurry of new taxes imposed by the country's left-wing government. Filippo Gori, an Italian national, arrived in the British capital after a decade in Hong Kong to take over the bank's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division from dealmaker Viswas Raghavan, who left the Jamie Dimon-led lender for Citi. Gori, 50, who previously headed the company's Asia region, is also the co-head of JPMorgan's global banking unit alongside John Simmons. Advertisement 3 Filippo Gori is leaving London for New York. Bloomberg via Getty Images A JPMorgan insider, speaking on condition of anoymity, did not point the finger at Britain's new tax rules, saying that running the Europe business from New York made sense because Gori can be 'an international voice for the EMEA region' at the bank's global headquarters. The source also pointed to his global banking title, and the fact that the Italian would be traveling in the EMEA region for '50% of his time.' Advertisement A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment. Britain has a budget deficit equivalent to 5.3% of the country's GDP. It has seen the recently-elected Labour government introduce a string of wealth taxes in a desperate bid to plug the black hole in the nation's finances, including ending a 200-year-old tax break for the uber-rich. The special tax break status, which formally ended on April 6, allowed well-heeled residents to gain generous allowances on money earned overseas. Advertisement The new tax rules have cast doubt on the City of London's immediate future as a global financial powerhouse. Goldman Sachs vice-chair Richard Snodde, a South African banker, announced earlier this year that he would relocate to Milan, the Italian financial center, just weeks after the UK scrapped the light-touch 'non dom' tax rules. British private equity titan Jeremy Coller decamped for Switzerland last summer. 3 Filippo Gori will be based out of JPMorgan's headquarters in New York once his move from London is complete. Christopher Sadowski Advertisement According to the recent UBS 2024 wealth report, the UK is forecast to lose 17% of its millionaires by 2028. A separate analysis by Bloomberg that reviewed British corporate filings found that more than 4,400 company directors have left the UK in the past year. It said those who quit are chiefly from the finance, insurance and property sectors — all jobs that are popular with those who favor the so-called non-dom status. Italy's right-wing government, led by staunch Donald Trump ally Georgia Meloni, brought in a $220,000 flat tax applied on income earned abroad in a bid to tempt wealthy foreigners to transfer their tax residence to the country. 3 Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, a staunch ally of President Donlad Trump, is trying to tempt wealthy financiers to the country with a flat tax. It was seen as a direct challenge to entice British-based billionaires worried about the UK government's tax grab. The Post has approached the British prime minister's office for comment.
