The JPMorgan tech analyst who almost lost his job after slamming Jamie Dimon over the bank’s return-to-office policy is also allegedly behind a string of inflammatory Reddit posts that skewered the legendary CEO, The Post has learned.
Leaked screenshots from a chat group on the encrypted messaging app Signal and reviewed by The Post appear to show Nicolas Welch — who grabbed headlines last month when he publicly challenged Dimon over the bank’s work-from-home clampdown — boasting about sarcastic Reddit posts he had written under the headline, “Hey there, Uncle Jamie.”
Posting on the popular message board under the pseudonym Hungry_Walrus2736, Welch seemingly had ripped Dimon’s “archaic sensibilities” over his drive to ban people from working from home.
“As much as you are the figurehead, the reality is that we built this company. We are responsible for that value increase. And one-third of your employees accomplished that from home,” Welch apparently ranted.
Welch, who publicly clashed with Dimon at an all-hands meeting in Columbus, Ohio, posted in the Signal group that he was able “to maintain plausible deniability by not using my name” on Reddit.
But screenshots obtained by The Post show that the feisty technology analyst failed to use a pseudonym on the encrypted chat service.
Sources told The Post the Signal group had been created to organize against the company’s new requirement that employees come to the office five days a week instead of three.
Welch went on to reveal that he had a rapport with a Business Insider reporter, boasting that “I’ve got her cell number” and saying he worked with her “on a couple of articles” in the past.
Welch added that the outlet, which first reported the existence of the Signal group, was planning a piece on how the RTO mandate will force JPMorgan’s employees into “paying a ton more for childcare, figuring out how they will car[e] for aging loved ones, etc…”
Another member of the chat posting as ‘Bob Banker’ then weighed in on how the Signal group’s members might continue engaging with the media in the future.
“I might wait to post more stories on Reddit,” the user wrote. “That way, we conserve our stories for moments of maximum impact instead of drip by drip.”
Welch did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for JPMorgan did not respond to a request for comment.
Leaks from the Signal group chats could land Welch in hot water again after he managed to narrowly cling to his job just over a month ago.
The Signal chat members repeatedly refer to Nicolas Welch as the same person from the town hall.
A JPMorgan rep insisted at the time that Welch “didn’t say anything wrong in the town hall.”
The company also disputed a report that he was fired and then rehired.
Welch, who is reportedly going through a divorce, had publicly questioned Dimon at the mid-February powwow in Columbus — where Dimon grabbed headlines for going on a foul-mouthed rant in response to pushback against his RTO policy.
The 69-year-old CEO said the COVID-era work-from-home policy was stifling innovation and efficiency.
It prompted Welch, who has been with the bank for 10 years, to ask at the event whether the decision should be left to lower-level managers.
Dimon told his rank-and-file that they should not “waste time” by signing a petition that had been circulating demanding that the company hold off on bringing back RTO five days a week.
“I don’t care how many sign that f—-king petition,” the JPMorgan boss was quoted as saying by Barron’s, which first obtained a leaked recording of February’s meeting.
The petition claimed that the new mandate disrupts “work-life balance, increases commuting costs, and dismisses the lessons learned during the pandemic.”
Dimon also complained that employees do not concentrate when taking part in Zoom calls.
Dimon’s stance comes amid a nationwide crackdown on remote work by several major firms, including crosstown rival Goldman Sachs.
Even US government pen-pushers are being forced back to the office five days a week after an executive order from President Donald Trump.
All of JPMorgan’s 317,000 employees were told Jan. 10 that they had to end their hybrid work and go back to the office five days a week, effective from earlier this month.
Dimon also has another reason to demand his staff clock back in.
The bank is building a $3 billion, 60-story headquarters at 270 Park Ave that will include a yoga studio, a food court, and even a pub.
The long-serving chief executive, who raked in an eye-popping $39 million salary last year, recounted a story at the now-infamous town hall about a wealth management matter that required 14 committee approvals.
“I feel like firing 14 chairmen of committees, I can’t stand it anymore,” he told employees. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I’m the boss.”
Dimon, who also lashed out at DEI-inspired bias training, also slammed performance reviews for the bank’s operating committee that could stretch to six pages.
“Because of legal and risk, they have to look at it, the regulators might say,” Dimon said. “I get the thing, I throw it in the God-damned garbage can.”
Credit: Source link
