But working from home doesn't solve all workplace issues.
Discover Jamie Dimon's argument for face-to-face collaboration.
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Remote work has become the norm for many office workers. After the COVID-19 pandemic rocked ways of working, and in its wake Flexa Careers found that 57% of employees looking for fully-remote options.
However, not everyone agrees with these employees. Author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell told Diary of a CEO: “It is not in your best interest to work at home. If you’re just sitting in your bedroom in your pajamas, is that the work-life you want to live?”
Gladwell noted that disconnected employees are often the ones who leave positions.
Jamie Dimon’s thoughts
The CEO of JP Morgan Jamie Dimon has now contributed to this ongoing discussion about remote work.
Yahoo reported Dimon’s comments to JP Morgan’s wealth clients, he noted: “You have to look at the flaws of the Zoom world. It doesn’t work for an apprenticeship program. It doesn’t work for spontaneous stuff.”
There is no doubt that collaboration can be improved through face-to-face contact. Dimon went on to say that managing remotely “slows down honesty and decision making”.
Dimon believes that honesty and decision-making “disappear when you do it from home because at home you tend to say, okay, we’ll pick this up tomorrow”.
Interestingly, Dimon’s also made a point on the impact of remote work on diversity goals: “We say we want diversity. When you come [to work] it is a rainbow room.
“But if you live in certain parts of our country and go eat out there, it is all white. You’re losing opportunities to meet other people.”
Interestingly, Dimon also offered insight into “woke capitalism” and the measures many businesses are taking to improve the social and ecological climate.
Dimon said: “Our society is worse off if we don’t lift up everybody. It is far more than woke capitalism. It is a good thing to lift up our fellow citizens. You travel the world and see things that work.
The CEO points to apprenticeships being a success in Europe before noting that if younger generations have high unemployment rates there is a significant problem.
Dimon clearly gave his clients plenty to think about, and moreover the entire working world, as we look at our practices in a new age of work.
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