JPMorgan Chase Calling Employees Back to Office Full Time

JPMorgan Chase has instructed most employees on hybrid schedules to begin working full-time in the office starting in March.

The decision, communicated in a Jan. 10 memo from the bank’s operating committee, affects thousands of employees globally, including about 18,500 workers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

The company cited the benefits of in-person collaboration, such as enhanced teamwork, faster decision-making and improved opportunities for mentoring and networking, as the primary reasons for the policy shift.

While more than half of the company’s 316,000 employees already work full-time in the office, the remaining hybrid workforce will now follow suit, with limited exceptions for specific roles.

The New York financial giant, led by CEO Jamie Dimon, operates from several key locations in DFW, including 1900 North Akard Street in downtown Dallas, which accommodates about 700 employees, and a large campus in Plano’s Legacy West that houses over 12,000 employees.

The company expanded its Dallas footprint last year with a 31,000-square-foot space at Hunt Tower, upping its occupancy in the 14-story building to 167,000 square feet across the first six floors.

Chase also operates 186 branches in the area and plans to add five more as part of its national retail network expansion.

The policy brings JPMorgan Chase in line with other major financial institutions, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which have also mandated employees return to the office. In contrast, competitors like Bank of America and Comerica continue to offer hybrid work schedules.

Outside of the banking sector, companies such as Amazon and AT&T have also restricted remote work as part of broader efforts to enhance workplace collaboration. Amazon, however, is postponing its return-to-office mandate for Texas employees due to space limitations in cities like Dallas, Austin and Houston.

The latter two cities are experiencing downtown office vacancy rates of approximately 26 percent.

Along with its office return policy, JPMorgan Chase is expanding its operations, with plans to open 500 branches across the U.S. JPMorgan Chase was the second-largest bank in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by deposits, as of June 2023, holding more than $86 billion, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

— Andrew Terrell