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At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

bloomberg.com

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Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#41
> The bank has noticed the productivity decline among “employees in general, not just younger employees,” JPMorgan spokesman Michael Fusco clarified in an emailed statement, adding that younger workers “could be disadvantaged by missed learning opportunities” by not being in offices.

From the article

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#42
post #4
post #2

Dimon kind of throws them under the bus, doesn't he: "Work output by younger employees was particularly affected on Mondays and Fridays, according to findings discussed by Chief Executive Office Jamie Dimon in a private meeting with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts. That, along with worries that remote work is no substitute for organic interaction, are part of why the biggest U.S. bank is urging more workers to retur…

Do you think he’s just lying about it? When I was a younger worker I certainly did slack off on Friday and Monday when I could get away with it. I’ve worked in more than one office where people started drinking on Friday afternoon in the office when the CEO was out of town.

As a senior manager, he's a professional liar first.

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#43

I’m inclined to believe he’s afraid of change and is abusing his power to push his feelings-based agenda. To me, this goes one of two ways. One, he loses a huge swath of young workers that apply to different companies instead and his company folds. Two, he still loses a huge swath of young workers who don’t apply but his feelings turn out to be true and the company comes out stronger. Either way, we won’t know until…

You seem to be operating under the assumption that all young employees want to work from home. I'm a young person who can't wait to go back to the office, and I know I'm not the only one. WFH is a much better setup for people who have two kids and a dog, not single people in small studio apartments.

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#44
post #35

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I honestly can't wait to get back to the office (or any other workspace that isn't my home). I really hate working at home. I don't have enough space or privacy, it becomes far more difficult to partition work and play when they occur in the same spaces / I find myself distracted more easily, and there is no one to socialize with when I'm sitting by myself every day. Could I reme…

I've officially reached zero productivity today. I'm sick of being stuck in my tiny condo with the noise from neighbors and zero work/life balance. The constant streams of asks on Slack that wake me up in the morning and keep me up at night. I'm making more in the stock market than my job.

Slack literally has a Do Not Disturb schedule built in, its very useful. It silences all pings.

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#45

I'm not nearly as productive in my 1 bedroom apartment as I am at the office. I try to only go to my desk during work hours but it's where my dining area would be, so while cooking I like to browse the internet/watch Youtube on my ultrawide monitor. At the same time, it's a small apartment, so the dining area is part of my living room. This means I'm in the same room for pretty much the entirety of the day. I try to…

It sounds a little silly, but a uniform can help. Pick some clothes that are work clothes, put them on when you "go to work" and then switch back out when you're done. Sort of like how changing into gym clothes helps (me anyway) motivate myself to go out and excercise.

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#46
post #39
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've officially reached zero productivity today. I'm sick of being stuck in my tiny condo with the noise from neighbors and zero work/life balance. The constant streams of asks on Slack that wake me up in the morning and keep me up at night. I'm making more in the stock market than my job.

Can you sign off from slack when you finish working for the day? That should be step one for getting a balance.

I don't use Slack anymore but I think there is a feature to specify your working hours so it will not notify you outside of those hours.

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#47
At this point I'm not sure I care whether I'm more productive at home or in the office. I'm simply not going to consider ever going into an office again unless someone wants to pay me at least double what I'd make working at home, and that's that.

FWIW my honest assessment is that I'm more productive at home on average, but with much higher variance.

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#48
post #35

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I honestly can't wait to get back to the office (or any other workspace that isn't my home). I really hate working at home. I don't have enough space or privacy, it becomes far more difficult to partition work and play when they occur in the same spaces / I find myself distracted more easily, and there is no one to socialize with when I'm sitting by myself every day. Could I reme…

I've officially reached zero productivity today. I'm sick of being stuck in my tiny condo with the noise from neighbors and zero work/life balance. The constant streams of asks on Slack that wake me up in the morning and keep me up at night. I'm making more in the stock market than my job.

Just close slack at 5 or 6 or whenever your day is over. That's what I do. Don't be dumb enough to install it on your phone. Unless your job explicitly says "on call 24/7" you're doing it for free.

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#49
post #33

Landlords in NYC will feel happy about this.

From their perspective, it would be rational to cut a deal with JPMC: they bring workforce back to offices, landlords get their money and give a % of that to a few execs at JPMC. And all the health related problems won't be a JPMC's problem. In some sense, JPMC's execs suggest to burn the workforce now, pocket the extra money, and depart to greener pastures (less contaminated with viruses) shortly before the fallout.

Re: At JPMorgan, productivity falls for younger employees at home

#50
I want to bring up another question: How much of the work was synchronous vs asynchronous?

A company that is deeply in bed with meetings and face-to-face cooperation will suffer in a remote-first environment. The article, as others have noted, talks a lot about feelings of the upper management rather than any hard data.

Reading a linked article further down [0] says that JPMC, and other banks, were ramping up the return to the office for months, and it's now when they are making it mandatory.

Also, several weeks ago large New York landlords [1] were urging Wall Street banks to bring their staff back into work. Might be a coincidence, but the timing certainly warrants a look.

[0]: https://archive.is/qJYRo

[1]: https://archive.is/LSp9t

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