The Problem With WFH

This week an audio was released of JP Morgan CEO unleashing on several issues including work-from-home (WFH) challenges, bureaucracies and lack of efficiencies.??

Here is audio if you would like to check it out:?Link

Below I have a 'cleaned-up' transcript of the CEO's remarks.

I appreciated what he is complaining about but one thing stuck out to me when he said about WFH:

"But here is the real issue: the younger generation is being damaged by this. They are being left behind socially and intellectually. They aren't meeting people, exchanging ideas, or building relationships."

I have seen this unfold in real time and I hate it for those young professionals.?

They need community, networking and social interaction...we all do!

I have also witnessed this with older professionals who no longer get out and interact with people.

They have lost their social skills.

For those who have become hermits...it is time to get out and be social again.?

Frankly, I need to do more of it myself.

“Man is by nature a social animal. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.” -?Aristotle

Cleaned-up Transcript:

00:00 A lot of you were on the Zoom call, and you were doing the following: looking at your mail, sending texts to each other, and not paying attention. If you don't think that slows down efficiency, creativity, and creates rudeness, it does. When I found out people were doing that, I was clear: you don't do that in my meetings. When you are in a meeting with me, you have my attention, my focus. I don't bring my phone, and I am not texting people. It simply doesn't work. It doesn't work for creativity, it slows down decision-making, and it kills efficiency.

00:29 And don't tell me that 'work-from-home Fridays' work. I call people on Fridays, and I can't get ahold of anyone. But here is the real issue: the younger generation is being damaged by this. They are being left behind socially and intellectually. They aren't meeting people, exchanging ideas, or building relationships. In fact, my guess is that most of you live in communities that are far less diverse than this room.

00:57 Every area of the company should be striving to be 10% more efficient. If I were running a department of 100 people, I guarantee you I could run it with 90 and be more efficient. I could do it in my sleep. Bureaucracies always say they need more people, but often that's because they are doing tasks that don't need to be done. People are sitting in meetings they don't need to attend.

01:27 Someone told me they had to go through 14 committees to get approval for a wealth management initiative. I would love to get the names of those committees because I'd consider firing 14 committee chairs. I can't stand it anymore.

Now, here's the thing: you have a choice. You don't have to work here. If you don't want to work at this company, that's fine. I'm not mad at you, and you shouldn't be mad at me. It's a free country. You can make that decision. But this company is going to set its own standards and do things our way.

01:57 I've been working seven days a week since COVID, and I come in and wonder, 'Where is everyone?' People are here and there, some on Zoom, some not paying attention, others claiming they didn't get the information they needed. That's not how you build and run a great company. We didn't build this company by following the half-hearted, disengaged practices that others do.