JPMorgan Staffer Fired and Rehired After Questioning CEO

One JPMorgan Chase & Co. staffer was told to leave after questioning the company's strict return-to-office policy.

During a Wednesday, February 12, town hall in Columbus, Ohio, analyst Nicholas Welch pressed CEO Jamie Dimon about forcing employees to nix remote work completely. Unfortunately, the man's bravery may have cost him his job — at least for a few hours.
Join us to hear what happened to Welch after speaking out against the order…
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In January, a memo was sent to everyone at the bank, stating everyone had to be in the office five days come February.
According to Fortune, during the company-wide gathering, Welch — who is in the midst of a divorce and liked working from home to care for his kids — stood up and asked Dimon if he would consider allowing lower-level managers to decide how many days their people should be in the office.
The courageous staffer noted that his team members are in different time zones worldwide, so there is "no way that being in an office makes any difference for us specifically."

"So, all I'm asking is that — I'm not suggesting you rescind such an order — but suggesting it be left up to managers of individual teams themselves on [the] necessity of an office workplace," Welch said to the business leader.
As fellow employees clapped and praised the statement, Dimon was less than thrilled. "That's it?" he asked before delivering a blistering response.
"I'm going to give you a complete answer: There is no chance that I would leave that up to managers. Zero chance," Dimon shot back.

The billionaire went on a rant, claiming the "abuse that took place was extraordinary" while people worked from the comfort of their homes.
"We don't need all those people," he said. "We were putting people in jobs because people weren't doing the jobs they were hired to do in the first place."
Dimon then touched upon the appeal signed by 13,000 people employed by the bank to stop the harsh order. "I don't care how many people sign that f—— petition," he added.

Following the meeting, Welch allegedly received a text from the company's Vice President Garrett Monaghan, which read, "I don't know what the f— you just did, but come to my desk immediately when that town hall ends. Please."
The executive claimed Welch "just dragged our whole organization through the mud" and instructed him to "go clean off your desk and get the f—out of here."
"I've never been told to get the f— out of the office before," Welch told the outlet about being fired.

However, only hours later, Welch received a message from the business' Global IT Support Executive Director Megan Mead claiming she'd "smoothed things over" with Monoghan and he was still employed at the bank.
Now, the entity is scrambling over the knee-jerk reaction. "He didn't say anything wrong in the town hall," a representative for the company said in a statement.
Despite returning to his post, Welch is not happy with how he was treated. "I want to do the job that I love in the way that I want to do it," he explained. "That's what I hope to get out of all this."