Latest news with #RobinLeopold
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
JPMorgan's Internal Memo Highlights 2 Missed Signals In RTO Mandates
JPMorgan's recent memo provides 2 RTO reminders. JPMorgan's recent internal memo quietly mirrors a growing issue in the modern workplace: a disconnect between leadership's intent and employees' lived experience. In a post-pandemic business world, this gap is becoming more common and more costly. According to a memo shared by Barron's, JPMorgan Chase's latest internal culture survey revealed a drop in the number of employees who feel their health and well-being are a corporate priority. The likely catalyst is the company's full-time return-to-office mandate, implemented earlier this year. In the memo, CEO Jamie Dimon and Human Resources Chief Robin Leopold acknowledged the shift. They wrote, "Health and well-being scores remain favorable, though they dipped slightly year on year," and added, "We know return full-time to the office has been an adjustment and one that not everyone agrees with, but we continue to believe in-person is how we do our best work and how we foster connections and mobility opportunities." While the intent was to facilitate collaboration and mobility, the results told a different story, highlighting declines in three areas: work-life balance, health and well-being, and internal mobility. This disconnect isn't unique to JPMorgan. Many leaders are facing a similar challenge as they reestablish in-office norms. A return to the office isn't inherently the problem, as there are actual benefits to having teams together in person. But beneath the surface of RTO policies lie two often-overlooked leadership blind spots. If ignored, these quietly erode trust, engagement, and long-term performance. In most corporate conversations, flexibility still carries a connotation of leniency, something to be negotiated or tolerated. It's often treated as a perk rather than a performance tool. But in today's environment, flexibility is a lever. When designed intentionally, it becomes the foundation of a high-performing culture. Flexibility doesn't mean lowering standards. It means creating the right conditions for optimal focus, autonomy, psychological safety, and ownership to thrive. This shift enables greater trust and unlocks discretionary effort —the kind that fuels innovation, collaboration, and long-term retention. At JPMorgan and many other companies, the full-time in-office mandate was presented as a means to cultivate connections. Yet the unintended consequence was a measurable dip in employee well-being. That's not resistance; it's feedback. True flexibility provides people with the tools, rhythms, and environments that enable them to perform at their best. One of the easiest traps for leaders to fall into is confusing visibility with value. Physical presence is easy to measure. However, if a policy prioritizes attendance over actual outcomes, it risks signaling the wrong priorities. JPMorgan's survey results highlighted that risk. Despite the return to full-time office work, employees reported lower engagement in core areas of well-being and career growth. To their credit, Dimon and Leopold acknowledged the challenge, stating, "We remain committed to flexibility and connecting you with best-in-class benefits and resources that support your well-being to help you make your best self happen." They also emphasized the importance of improving transparency around internal mobility and performance. Still, the broader question remains: if proximity doesn't lead to better collaboration, deeper mentorship, or stronger innovation, then what is it achieving? Attendance is not the same as engagement. And culture doesn't automatically improve just because people are back in the building. Leaders must be clear on the purpose of in-person work. If the goal is creativity, cohesion, or mentorship, then those outcomes need to be designed, not assumed. Company-wide surveys are a great start. But leaders can dig deeper by asking: JPMorgan's internal memo is more than just a report. It's a mirror reflecting what many companies are also navigating. Return-to-office mandates are likely to continue. However, what must evolve is the execution of office culture. If leaders focus solely on presence, they may overlook what truly drives performance: autonomy, clarity, and purpose. The real risk isn't that employees push back on returning to the office. It's that your best people come back, then quietly start looking for the exit.
Entrepreneur
3 days ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
JPMorgan Employees Report Lower Culture Scores: Survey
A leaked internal memo shows that more JPMorgan employees are dissatisfied with company culture compared to last year — and the return-to-office mandate is to blame. In JPMorgan's annual survey of company culture, which asks employees to assign a score to things like internal mobility, work-life balance, and health and well-being, fewer JPMorgan employees viewed their health and well-being as important to the company compared to last year. Related: JPMorgan Will Fire Junior Bankers Over a Common Practice That CEO Jamie Dimon Calls 'Unethical' In response, company leadership tied the lower scores to its return-to-office (RTO) mandate. JPMorgan ordered employees back to the office five days a week in March, prompting some staff to look for jobs elsewhere and others to sign a petition calling for hybrid work. Still, the company and CEO Jamie Dimon did not budge. "Health and well-being scores remain favorable, though they dipped slightly year on year," Dimon and Chief Human Resources Officer Robin Leopold wrote in a leaked memo to staff, which was obtained by Barron's. "We know return full-time to the office has been an adjustment and one that not everyone agrees with, but we continue to believe in-person is how we do our best work and how we foster connections and mobility opportunities." In the survey, employees also reported lower scores compared to last year for work-life balance and internal career opportunities. Dimon and Leopold reassured employees in the leaked response email that JPMorgan prioritizes "career mobility" as well as "flexibility." JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Photographer: Cyril Marcilhacy/Bloomberg via Getty Images JPMorgan asks employees to take the survey once every year, and this year, 90% of its workforce, or 284,000 employees, responded to it. The participation rate was similar to previous years. Other banks have asked employees to come back to the office full-time even earlier. Goldman Sachs told U.S. employees in August 2023 that they had to work from the office five days per week. Related: Citigroup Is Sticking With a Hybrid Work Schedule. Here's Why It Gives the Bank a Competitive Advantage, According to Its CEO. However, one bank has held onto a hybrid work policy. Citigroup has decided to stick with a hybrid schedule for most of its 229,000-person staff, allowing for up to two days of remote work per week. According to a January report, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser told directors on a quarterly call that Citigroup's hybrid work policy gave it an advantage in recruiting talented staff. JPMorgan anticipates that AI will allow it to eventually reduce employee count by 10% in some departments, including operations and account services. The bank, which is the largest in the U.S. with $3.9 trillion in assets, has grown its headcount from around 255,000 in 2020 to 317,000 in 2024.
