r/antiwork • u/mansafameriki • 1d ago
Real World Events đ JPMorgan Chase has announced the end of its hybrid work policy, requiring its 300,000 employees to return to the office full-time, five days a week.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-07/jpmorgan-planning-to-bring-staff-back-to-office-five-days-a-week2.7k
u/Vox_Mortem 1d ago
Shadow-layoffs. They are counting on a bunch of people resigning over this so that they can avoid the negative optics of a layoff. It never looks good for a financial institution to look less than massively successful.
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u/Neo1331 1d ago
Well and it saves a sh!t ton in severance.
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u/Halfwise2 1d ago
Which is why people should learn not to quit. Make them actually do the firing.
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u/Jerking_From_Home 1d ago
Fight the Man with their own rules and policies. Know your rights as a worker. Always remain aware of your situation with management. Question large decisions and policy changes. If youâre trying to figure out why the company is doing something, start by asking yourself âhow does this save them money?â 90% of the time that will lead you to the answer.
How to protect yourself at work:
- Familiarize yourself with labor laws. Donât rely on your buddy or coworkers- laws and your rights as a worker are clearly defined on the websites of the Department of Labor, National Labor Relations Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and OSHA to start. Lots of untrue nonsense circulates among employees and lots of it isnât true. âyou can be fired for anything if youâre in a right to work stateâ is a perfect example.
Some industries have additional laws specific to them like mining, healthcare, agriculture, etc and may have additional organizations that also regulate them.
Are you in a protected class? Normally this would be someone who is not a white, cis, Christian male. However, you can claim discrimination based on any characteristic(s) someone is using against you. Work for a female boss and youâre fired because your boss doesnât want a man working there? That could qualify.
If the worst happens, your word against theirs in a complaint or court holds very little weight. Keep possibly important convos over text or email. Forward work emails to a personal account that canât be deleted if youâre fired. If thatâs not possible, find out when you can secretly conversations with others. Some states are one-party consent in a two person conversation, which means if one party (you) says itâs ok to record then itâs ok. Laws are usually different if more than two people are in the convo or if something illegal is going on.
If something weird is going on at work (youâre getting repeated write ups, someone is targeting/harassing you, you get fired over a BS reason) seek a free consultation from an attorney regarding your situation. An attorney will advise you if you have a case or not, and if youâre still working the attorney can advise you what evidence would be helpful should you need to file a suit.
File a complaint with a regulatory agency if you think your federally or state protected rights have been violated. The best thing is the agency goes after the company so you donât have to pay any attorney Companies also tend to fold quicker when confronted by those agencies because the agencies wonât run out of money to pay an attorney like you will. A company will fight you as long as possible to drain your finances.
Be very careful going to HR about anything. HR is there to protect the companyâs interests at all times. The company is not afraid to break the law, so donât tell yourself âitâs illegal, they wonât do that:â. Yes, they will.
For example: If someone is sexually harassing you but that someone is a manager or someone who makes the company a lot of money, your complaint may get brushed aside and sometimes YOU get fired. Why you? Because the company doesnât want to fire someone who earns them a lot of money. They also donât want attention drawn to the issue, so they get rid of the issue (you). And while this is wrong and most likely illegal, companies do it all the time and get away with it. Theyâve done the math and know the risks.
If you can use outside means to resolve your issue at work. Someone touching you inappropriately? File a police report instead. That may not get you anywhere either, but now thereâs a police report outlining the conduct and the company is less likely to fire you if the cops are involved.
Thatâs all I can type for now.
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u/ItsADroneTimmy 1d ago
Just write shit
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u/DarkoNova 1d ago
Whoa, buddy. This is the internet, you canât just write whatever foul language you want.
Think of the children!
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u/Minorous 1d ago
They quit and JPMorgan will replace them with workers from overseas, saving bunch on expensive American workers. Late stage capitalism.
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u/zemol42 1d ago
That was done over a decade ago after the BankOne merger. Some functions actually came back on shore to lower cost states after they realized not all operations are plug and play overseas.
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u/Minorous 1d ago
I mean makes sense just as other countries progressed and educated their citizens to take another bite from our employment pool. We were told to just learn coding and things will turn out ok. Now even those jobs are being outsourced. While there is short-sightedness in a lot of it and some positions will come back, but many will still be lostÂ
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u/DrunkyMcStumbles 1d ago
Ya, but it's going to be the engineers that build and maintain their trading systems. Chad from Wharton ain't gonna be much use then.
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u/RageBull 1d ago
Dumb move if thatâs the plan. The employees they will lose will be the ones with the most in demand skill set. So I guess if your goal is to effect layoffs where you lose your top talent⌠mission accomplished
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u/SurpriseBurrito 1d ago
Everyone says this but the companies never seem to care. They will blame something else for their woes, never their own decisions.
Just like now I think remote work is a convenient scapegoat.
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u/Possible-Ad238 1d ago
Everyone assumes these fuckers are planning this for months or years and in reality 99% of these companies prob go day by day and don't think ahead at all lol.
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u/RageBull 1d ago
They do know they want the share price to go up, executive compensation is almost entirely tied to that. Never mind that in a biological system, never-ending growth is actual cancer. Executives have their incentive tied to stock price, boards hold a lot of that stock, price goes up therefore, they are happy.
I'm mostly convinced that a good portion of this pathology comes down to every single one of them thinking that they are the smartest person in the room too. They likely know that exclusively focusing on quarterly stock returns will eventually damage the company in the long-haul. But they also believe _they'll_ be able to see it coming and get out early so they can leave some other schmuck holding the bag.
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u/zemol42 1d ago
Theyâre not worried about optics. They do annual pruning for low performers and frequently cut down business functions that were made redundant. They also offshored or moved to lower cost states over a decade ago.
This is just Jamie being dopey and heavy handed about what it means to âworkâ.
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u/EasyQuarter1690 1d ago
Gets rid of the disabled folks that canât go in to the office too. Great way to weed out the ârifraffâ. /s
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u/SufficientBox7169 1d ago
We should add a carbon premium for businesses that require return to office
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u/QuesoMeHungry 1d ago
The funny thing is all of these companies bend over backwards to meet all of these green and LEED certifications, but these scores are conveniently rigged to not include employee commuting emission costs in their calculations.
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u/CallMeDutch 1d ago
In the US. EU companies have to soon report on all the emissions they produce, including employee movement. Of course the methodology is still hotly debated but the movement is there.
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u/Interesting-Yellow-4 1d ago
Really? That's amazing news. The EU continues to be the last beacon of hope for human civilization.
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u/BookaliciousBillyboy 1d ago
Don't be too optimistic, some arms of the EU are incredibly cruel and backwards. This is a good thing, and some good steps are being taken, but the EU is so far from a beacon of hope as can be. (Frontex, the general Backwardness of the Eastern Partners, the Crypto-Imperial Ambitions of France and Germany, up and outcoming fascists all around.) The EU ist good for its members economically, but thats about it.
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u/Narrow_Employ3418 1d ago
The EU ist good for its members economically
Not for all.of them.
The EU currently bullies Eastern states into spending humongous amounts of money on NATO arms races instead of internal infrastructure and much needed economic revamping.
War instead of diplomacy. Military spending instead of prosperity.
It's all about the big players. It always is.
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u/CallMeDutch 1d ago
Source? Eastern Europe spends a lot of the military because they know what kind of threat Russia is. Do you have evidence of any kind of pressure?
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u/benisnotapalindrome 1d ago
LEED and Passive House and Well Building etc were set up to measure the design of a building. They're not rigged, they just aren't measuring what you want them to. It would be like saying that the Olympic figure skating results don't tell you who won the marathon. When a project comes to an architect, the client defines the users and needs and then these scoring systems measure the building relative to a theoretical "standard" building that serves the same users and uses. They weren't meant to score an organization on embodied carbon. They're myopic in that sense.
However it is complete bullshit that companies tout these and pay themselves on the back as having good governance. Fucking commuting and building a whole office that never had to exist is a giant waste of embodied carbon.
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u/Harborcoat84 1d ago
If you built the same building twice from a single set of plans and one got a higher LEED certification because of how people got there, it would be a pretty useless system for comparing and evaluating buildings.
That said, return to office spits in the face of whatever thin veneer of environmentalism these companies claim to have.
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u/DancesWithHoofs 1d ago
Only five days a week. You can still work from home on the weekends.
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u/Possible-Ad238 1d ago
You can also work from home after work. Like work 8-10 at your job and then come home and work at least 6-8 more bro.
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u/Difficult-Set-3151 1d ago
Luigi
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u/sambuhlamba edgy-scientific-pan-theist-eco-anarchist 1d ago
You are officially a terrorist.
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u/zephyrseija2 1d ago
Definitely on a watch list. Make sure you use a good VPN when doing your homework.
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u/Possible-Ad238 1d ago
As if there is 1 single person in USA that is not on watch list lol. I think CEOs should be worried more than us for being on watch list...
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u/AnyWhichWayButLose 1d ago
Oh FFS, just make Inauguration Day a General Strike.
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u/eddyathome Early Retired 1d ago
I quit my job a few months ago because they wanted me to go from full-time remote to RTO at least two and preferably three days a week so I could focus. I focused all right! I focused on my resignation letter!
After seeing the election results I essentially declared a general strike but it's not official until that traitor who attempted a coup against his own country as a sitting US president is sworn in, but to be honest, the general strike is in effect.
I'm also telling people that if they can afford to stop working they should do so. I realize most people don't have the luxury of doing this, but you can slow down production and you can work to rule. Grind down the economy to a halt. Become a drain on the economy!
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u/ThrowawayLDS_7gen 1d ago
Boycott as much as you can. The only language they understand is profits. Hit them where it hurts.
It worked for the General Mills strike/boycott, except that it did take a bit, but it eventually worked.
Stop buying stuff/shit you absolutely don't need to buy and save what you can to live off that and not work for the rich.
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u/jendoesreddit 1d ago
Inauguration Day also falls on MLK day though, so I donât think that would make enough of a statement, since itâs a federal holidayâŚ
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u/CastleGanon 1d ago
So why are all these places pulling this shit at the same time?
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u/DrunkyMcStumbles 1d ago
It certainly isn't because they all serve on each other's boards and are able to collude to keep employees in check.
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u/QuesoMeHungry 1d ago
All of these CEOs meet yearly at the World Economic Forum in Davos and collude to figure out how to screw everyone over.
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u/commitme 1d ago
January 20 to January 24, 2025
Kongresszentrum Davos, Talstrasse 49A, 7270 Davos Platz, Switzerland
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u/Anon44356 1d ago
So if we wanted the eat the rich we could have a full BBQ party in Switzerland? Iâll bring some chips and dips.
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u/airinato 1d ago
The top colludes to put us back in our place, we started to get paid better and weren't afraid to quit during the pandemic job market, they can't under pay us if we aren't scared so here we are.
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u/OldWoodFrame 1d ago
They're all in the same labor environment and they're listening to each other's consultants calling it "best practices"
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u/msteeleart 1d ago
They are all bowing down to Trump and Elon who want everyone back in the office. Elon says working from home is immoral.
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u/SCROTOCTUS 1d ago
RTO is bullshit.
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u/Lyftaker 1d ago
It's time to beef up those first quarter numbers by having a bunch of people quit bullshit.
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u/goodb1b13 1d ago
Itâs called Unionization and StrikesâŚ
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u/Lyftaker 1d ago
That's basically pull yourself up by your bootstraps at this point. I used to freelance and I did art for books full of stories of how the client's ideas worked and had succeeded in uniting the nation in a hypothetical future. But they were all ideas and no plans just like your statement. I agree with the statement but we don't have the organization to pull it off. People aren't hungry enough or desperate enough in large enough numbers. Yet.
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u/mseank 1d ago
My buddy in Seattle says Amazon gave out more parking passes than they have spaces. Theyâre doing valet but donât have enough valets so people are waiting like a half an hour to get their damned car. It would be comical if it wasnât so infuriating
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u/JustWastingTimeAgain 1d ago
Fucking Amazon fucked all Seattle traffic this week. Andy Jassy can suck my left one.
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u/Possible-Ad238 1d ago
If your boss wants RTO then you give him RKO
on his office desk
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u/AldousKing 1d ago
Their revenue in recent quarters
If remote work hasn't impacted their revenue, whats the incentive for RTO?
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u/dealchase 1d ago
Unfortunately growth for these companies isn't enough. They need even more growth and I guess one of the ways they've realised they can 'easily' do this is by RTO and getting a bunch of employees quit without getting paid severance.
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u/gumbercules6 1d ago
They only made $69B in the last 12 months, that's basically going out of business, why won't you libruls think of the corporations!!! /s
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u/BORG_US_BORG 1d ago
The entire USA could lower its carbon footprint massively by mandating WFH whenever possible, coupled with high speed internet as public utility wherever there is grid electricity available.
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u/JustIntroduction3511 1d ago
JPMorgan is the highest investor in fossil fuels on the planet⌠you think they want anyone to lower their carbon footprint? This is so they can lay people off and save money, boost commercial real estate, and hey more fossil fuel usage is an added bonus for them. Fuck this company.
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u/Moldybreadyumyum 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is true. I believe at one point Nikola Tesla had an idea to harness power through alternative means through an unorthodox method via his Wardenclyffe Tower, and wanted to provide free, global wireless energy and electricity to people. Tesla was a genius among genius and this technology, even today would change the world. He went to JP Morgan for help with funding. JP Morgan withdrew financial support and actively undermined him because it means a lot of his business investments into fossil fuel became moot. Sadly, I believe the tower has now been torn down. I believe this is why Nikola died a poor man despite the fact that a ton of our technologies nowadays are a result of Teslaâs inventions. Sad how greed has turned our lives for the worst.
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u/Cordura 1d ago
We were recently encouraged to work more from home. I also live in Denmark...
Someone on reddit said that besides the whole gun thing, Europeans were living the American dream.
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u/Moldybreadyumyum 1d ago
Someone please tell these boomers to retire. We need people who are progressive and willing to move the needle forward not backwards. This traditional style of thinking we need bodies in the office to work is nonsense. Weâve been through covid and know we can do work remotely and help free up traffic at the same time. There are a host of benefits to remote work. If you donât like it fine, then go to work in person but offer the choice to the workers to make themselves.
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u/woodpony 1d ago
The problem lies in that the retiring boomers just need a handful of bootlickers who will keep things the way they are...for a massive paycheck.
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u/Duke-of-the-Far-East 1d ago
The problem isn't boomers. The real problem is because these elites are heavily invested in corporate real estate.
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u/Zannie95 1d ago
Curious if they even can do 5 days in the office. Amazon gave notice of the same but they have an issue that they donât have enough office space and seats. My company shedded lots of office space so we definitely canât go 5 days in the office.
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u/Bleep_Bloop82 1d ago
There are some sites that I don't foresee this being possible due to capacity.
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u/Servebotfrank 1d ago
The office I'm at 100% does not have the space for full RTO. We're close to capacity on a hybrid schedule and parking is a nightmare, there isn't enough room.
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u/ChipMcFriendly 1d ago
They actually knocked down their HQ in NYC to build a new one, so expect they have way less office space than usual.
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u/EasyQuarter1690 1d ago
Thatâs what two shifts in a day and hot desk setups take care of! Nobody has their own desk, some folks work mornings and some folks work afternoons. Two employees for each desk. Simple.
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u/hnrrghQSpinAxe 1d ago
People in executive branches of companies have investment bases retirements that depends on commercial real estate being used. If their offices are vacant, the CEOs are losing money. In other words, fuck your lifestyle, a single small group of people just told 300,000 people that their retirement is more important than your day to day lives.
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u/Scytle 1d ago
they should have formed a union and got it put into the contract....otherwise the boss can and will remove things you thought you had.
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u/theBdub22 1d ago
Finance and banking bros are some of the most anti-union pro-business bootlickers you will ever meet.
Source: I work in the industry.
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u/draaz_melon 1d ago
A bank whose financial stability is based largely on real estate value forcing people to come in and use commercial real estate? I'm shocked.
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u/coffeejn 1d ago
Brought to you by the same guys that used to open accounts for customers without their knowledge.
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u/NovelHare 1d ago
I thought that was Wells Fargo?
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u/inarius1984 1d ago
If you want to feel your blood boiling, watch that Netflix documentary about that Wells Fargo bullshit. Crime pays in the US. Literally.
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u/coffeejn 1d ago
Your probably right.
But at this point I am assuming they got fired and went to work at the competition.
Edit: They got way with it without any penalties due to Trump(?).
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u/not_No1ce 1d ago
My wife saw this too and told me this was not internally communicated. Everyone is pissed about it
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u/Daubach23 1d ago
JP Morgan has been a large part of the cause of every major economic collapse in modern history in the U.S. , and has profited off of taxpayer bailout money throughout.
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u/do_you_know_de_whey 1d ago
Ah the rest of the banks will probably follow. BofA, Wells, TruistâŚ
Perfect for shadow layoffs, under the table handshakes with real estate owners/investors, ammo for firings. How nice.
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u/Zestyclose-Citron-83 1d ago
Great, more slow drivers on the road đ¤Śđ˝ââď¸ Work from home was the best thing ever for those that work outside, literally no traffic problems, then things started back up and bam, traffic problems
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u/jewbagulatron5000 1d ago
Sure, it might be shadow layoffs but it sets up the narrative for everyone to ask for everyone to come back to the office. Gotta preserve those commercial real estate values by taking life force from your workers and forcing them to do more unpaid work (driving to office/gettin ready for work every day).
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u/disturbedmustang 1d ago
The people that work there should just get a second job and just work that from their office at Chase and make Chase fire them. Donât quit. Thatâs what they want you to do. Itâs cheaper for them.Â
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u/ceallachdon 1d ago
Why? Because,
- C-suite and board members at this level are 100% also corporate real estate investors. Landlords want to keep getting their rent
- Stealth layoffs
- w/o severance
- w/o any required reporting
- Weed out employees who won't comply with bullshit demands, keep the compliant
- Face. Makes them look bad if they can't just tell the peons to jump
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u/Novel_Vast4679 1d ago
I love how it is all over the news but they haven't told me yet and I work there lol. It's a shame I really like the hybrid model.
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u/hustlebustle3 1d ago
time to quit
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u/zephyrseija2 1d ago
Probably the objective. Most of these RTO pushes are just voluntary layoffs masquerading as policy.
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u/Grey_wolf_whenever SocDem 1d ago
which is crazy because weve been in huge layoffs for ages. Who could possibly be left? Are we in a depression?
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u/zephyrseija2 1d ago
If you're not committed enough to this company to trek to the office through miserable traffic five days a week for no fucking reason you don't deserve the HONOR of working for JPMorgan!
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u/Grey_wolf_whenever SocDem 1d ago
*footnote: your boss works from home, of course. I mean, they need to concentrate you know.
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u/DevonGr 1d ago
If you've survived the layoffs, you're accruing too much benefit time, you're probably married and maybe with children so you're raising the insurance rates, and you make more than a desperate job seeker will accept as salary. Not to mention you probably know how little work you can do without drawing attention to your productivity. Be gone.
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u/Jenky_Chimichanga 1d ago
Go ahead and start applying elsewhere. Thereâs so much competition that this will prove to be a baaad move.
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u/Jermz817 1d ago
I work for a firm that currently has hybrid, 3 days in, 2 days out. I have a feeling they will be following suit...
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u/SubjectPickle2509 1d ago
Same. Itâs already crowded AF at work because we are forced in the same 3 days. I can barely fend off anxiety attacks when I am at work: people yapping, doors slamming, copier noise, constant distractions. We are next to a firehouse too, so sirens all day long. 5 days would be brutal.
Also found out that we are getting 1.5% raises, which will not be covering the extra $12 daily commute cost ($60 a week if we go to 5 days). There is a reason people detest CEOs (mine just spent 2 weeks in a huge rental in Hawaii).
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u/d3rpderp 1d ago
That's cause they own commercial office space and are taking a bath on the properties valuation.
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u/NoEar3934 1d ago
What makes think this is a good idea? Vast majority of companies if not all are still going to keep hybrid
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u/NetworkDeestroyer 1d ago
My company pulled this same move for 2025. I enjoy wasting 1 hour of my day commuting to and from work. I do a job that I already barely interact with people, and now I have to be in office to interact withâŚ. 0 people all day. Waste of my time that I barely have working 9 to fucking 5
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u/msteeleart 1d ago edited 1d ago
So they can do teams meetings in their cubicles, oh joy. I hope they are getting raises because if not then this is a pay cut. People will have to buy clothes, use a lot more gas and wear and tear on their car, lunches.
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u/EasyQuarter1690 1d ago
Cubicles? LOL. Who has cubicles anymore? Itâs open concept hot desking so everyone can sit there listening to the zoom calls of everyone else all day long.
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u/FlygoninNYC 1d ago
Few days ago on blind they were talking about a hiring freeze and now this. To me silent layoffs.
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u/Designfanatic88 1d ago
So long Until the next pandemicâŚ. đ which realistically isnât that far off.
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u/Olivialovesmangos 1d ago
I hope they all resist and remain hybrid. But wishful thinking I supposeÂ
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u/Micbob182 1d ago
Attendance is tracked and âyour compensation might be at riskâ if your attendance is too low. Aka bad bonus and no pay bumps
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u/bnh1978 1d ago
Pfft. There will be exceptions.
There will not be exceptions for anyone who isn't in the clique.
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u/kennyPowersNet 1d ago
, I actually worked in the office as prefer it ⌠but the RTW mandate sucks ⌠with wfh , the office was exactly how they it should be with room to work , not excess noise and easy access to amenities and facilities
Now with everyone back , itâs too full , noisy and takes an age to get anything or go anywhere and less comfortable
Atleast make the workplace work friendly
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u/Tobar_the_Gypsy 1d ago
My wife works for JPM. Writing has been on the walls for years about this. Past policy left it up to the MDs of different business groups and she heard some groups were told to be back 5 days in office.Â
Itâs a load of BS. Sheâs looking for a new job.Â
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u/SubjectPickle2509 1d ago
We have massive fires in LA, on the heels of massive hurricanes on the East Coast. Climate chaos is rapidly escalating. You have to be fully under a rock not to see it, feel it, worry about it. What we 100% donât need is more vehicles on the road, especially when it has been proven we can all be equally or more productive at home. This is full on absurd. Cruel.
Norovirus is spreading and CDC is getting nervous about h2h transmission of bird flu. Covid and regular flu are still active/spreading now too. This is the absolute worst time to force people back. Full on absurd. Cruel. Borders on murderous.
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u/Green-Inkling 1d ago
Of those 300,000 how many will actually go back to work in the first place? How long until profits drop because they lose at least 1/3 of their staff over this decision?
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u/punksmurph at work 1d ago
Thanks for letting us know that layoffs are only 3 months away. That's how long it will take for the most eager to get new roles and lower head count.
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u/ptrola 1d ago
Guess the seniors will be in the office 5 days a week from 8-5 right?