Dimon: 'We're not going to pay you not to work in the office'

Dive Brief:

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon hinted that unvaccinated employees may soon find their careers with the bank imperiled, according to a Monday interview with CNBC.
“To go to the office, you have to be vaxxed, and if you aren’t going to get vaxxed, you won’t be able to work in that office,” Dimon said. “We’re not going to pay you not to work in the office.”
JPMorgan is the second Wall Street bank to chime in on its COVID-19 vaccination policy in recent days. Citi told employees in a memo Friday it would fire office workers who don’t comply with its Jan. 14 deadline to upload their vaccination card or request an exemption. Unvaccinated employees will be placed on unpaid leave Jan. 15 and will be terminated Jan. 31, Citi said.

Dive Insight:

JPMorgan has not implemented a vaccine mandate for employees outright.

But the bank has adopted a hard-line stance since the early days of the pandemic, encouraging employees return to their offices instead of working remotely.

JPMorgan had permitted unvaccinated employees to work in its office buildings as long as they were tested for COVID-19 semiweekly. That changed in mid-December, as the omicron variant spread rapidly throughout the country. In response to a mandate by the New York State Department of Health, JPMorgan began to require that everyone entering nine Manhattan office buildings be vaccinated.

JPMorgan has not adopted a one-size-fits-all company approach to vaccinations. Rather, the bank said it would rejig its vaccination policies according to local restrictions.

“Unlike any other policy we’ve ever had, we’re not trying to be consistent,” Dimon told CNBC. “As buildings get to 95% and 97% vaxxed in certain states, that may end up with a different policy than a different state. And that's fine."

JPMorgan touts a 97% vaccination rate in the firms’ New York offices, Dimon said.

The variable policy will afford the bank flexibility as the public health and regulatory landscape continue to evolve, he said.

“There are different laws and different requirements in cities and states and schools, and so here we’re adjusting locally,” Dimon said.

In the CNBC interview, Dimon also discussed inflation.

Consumers are “spending 25% more today than pre-COVID,” he said. “Home prices are up, stock prices are up, jobs are plentiful and wages are going up.”

Dimon forecasted that the U.S. economy will see major growth in 2022, although the stock market may be turbulent.