JP Morgan Chase President and CEO Jamie Dimon visited Columbus to open a new community center bank branch in Linden's Northern Lights neighborhood.
Dimon spoke about his company's efforts to improve communities like Linden and he stood by his company's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts and his choice to call all employees back to the office five days a week.
The two issues are sparking conversation as businesses change pandemic-era policies. Businesses are grappling with how to work with a Republican trifecta in the federal government that is against diversity initiatives many of the companies have used since 2020.
Dimon says the 19 community center bank branches across the country are being built in lower-income areas to provide public space for the community. Dimon says the first was built in New York City's Harlem neighborhood five years ago.
"We're here permanently. JP Morgan is not a fair weather friend. Every community is different. We want to be part of it here. There's evidence that when we come into town that it helps other businesses here," Dimon said.
Chase's community centers are designed to improve access to reliable, affordable and local banking, according to a press release from the company. They also serve as hubs for financial education and community engagement.
The branch will have community managers that will act as liaisons that will host free financial health workshops on topics like budgeting, credit and savings.
Chase is one of several companies that are pulling back from pandemic-era work-from-home policies and calling all employees back to a five-day work week in the office. Along with dozens of branches in Columbus, Chase has a headquarters in Polaris, and employs almost 19,000 employees in the area.
Dimon said Chase already had 60% of their workforce full time and the bank branches were occupied full time. He said about 10% of their workforce worked fully from home.
Dimon also said he's not against working from home as a concept if it works. However, he doesn't think it works for Chase.
"I'm not against people wanting to work from home, but if you were young, you'd get set back. It hurts you. You have less relationships. There's less diversity at home than there is in the workplace. You are a slower learner. We already see them being left behind," Dimon said.
Dimon said he thinks the return to work move from many companies will help local communities, especially retailers and restaurants in business district areas. He said Chase's Polaris location has enough capacity to accommodate a fully in-person workforce.
Dimon had a blunt message for people who disagreed with him.
"I completely respect and appreciate anyone who doesn't want to do it, but they can vote with their feet and work elsewhere. They aren't going to tell J.P. Morgan Chase what to do," Dimon said.
The Chase company has stood behind its workplace diversity initiatives, while President Donald Trump and Republicans have railed against such programs and removed them from government. Dimon said he dislikes "monikers" like DEI that he says get misused. He said branches like this new one are an example of a diversity policy being done right.
Dimon said he doesn't think companies like Nationwide and Target are actually backing down from supporting these programs despite removing references to DEI from their websites.
"They're not scrapping all these programs. They're modifying them, changing some of them," Dimon said. "(Chase) recruits at 26 HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). We're going to recruit. And when you come to a community like this, we hire locally."
Mayor Andrew Ginther thanked the Linden community and the creation of the One Linden plan to help organize the public and private sectors to lift up the community. He said the city is thrilled Linden was included as one of only 19 communities to get a community-focused Chase branch.
"(The One Linden Plan) has culminated in today's announcement, because (Dimon) and Chase have been very focused and all in for Columbus," Ginther said.
