JPMorgan is tracking staffers’ office attendance, and employees believe that the move is creating an atmosphere of panic and lack of trust.
The banking behemoth started monitoring employee ID swipes in order to enforce its return-to-office policies, citing four people with direct knowledge of the program, according to an Insider report.
JPMorgan has asked hybrid employees to work from the office at least three days a week, according to a copy of an internal email viewed by Insider.
“In a recent letter to shareholders, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said 50% of the bank’s global employees must return to the office five days a week, 40% can follow a hybrid schedule with some days at home and some in the office, and the remaining 10% can work remotely full-time. The bank employs more than 270,000 people.” stated the report.
The tracking and enforcement actions resulted in frustrations about micromanagement.
“At JPMorgan, nobody trusts you,” a London-based technology staffer told Insider. “The higher-ups don’t trust you to do your job if they’re not constantly watching you in the office.”
A London-based senior asset-management executive told Insider the return-to-office measures aren’t a hit with managers either, saying some appeared “deathly afraid” of their teams falling short of 100% compliance.
“I don’t know whether it’s because they themselves are too timid or whether it’s because the fear of God has been put into them by a bank manager,” the executive said. “But every time there’s something that requires participation, you sense the panic.”
Both London-based employees told Insider they’re now looking for work elsewhere as a result.
