What JPMorgan Has To Say About Young Employees Working From Home

JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM says it has noticed a troubling pattern with its work-from-home employees, particularly those who are of a younger age, Bloomberg reported Monday.

What Happened: CEO Jamie Dimon told analysts Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a private meeting that productivity was particularly affected on Mondays and Fridays, according to Bloomberg.

“The WFH lifestyle seems to have impacted younger employees [at JPMorgan], and overall productivity and ‘creative combustion’ has taken a hit,” KBW Managing Director Brian Kleinhanzl wrote to clients in a note, citing the meeting with Dimon.

JPMorgan spokesman Michael Fusco told Bloomberg that the productivity of employees was affected “in general, not just younger employees,” but added that younger workers “could be disadvantaged by missed learning opportunities” as they were not in offices.

Why It Matters: The New York-based lender informed most senior sales staff and trading employees that they would be required to return to offices by Sept. 21, Bloomberg noted.

Workers in other roles are reportedly being encouraged to return to their desks up to a maximum of half building capacity in New York.

CEOs across the corporate world have a different take on the work from home environment.

“I felt that, given a lot of our work could be done from home, it made sense for us to contribute to social distancing,” Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG CEO Sundar Pichai said in May in relation to the pandemic.

Amazon.com, Inc AMZN CEO Jeff Bezos wrote in a note to employees in March, “Much of the essential work we do cannot be done from home.” The e-commerce giant purchased 900,000 square feet of office space in six cities in the United States last month.

Facebook Inc FB has also been expanding its office space taking advantage of the pandemic. A company spokesperson said on the development that its offices are “vitally important to help accommodate anticipated growth and meet the needs of our employees that need or prefer to work from campus.”

Price Action: JPMorgan traded nearly 0.3% higher at $102.80 in the pre-market session on Tuesday.