Jamie Dimon: No bonuses for you!

Justin, I love people like you…Layoffs do not take into account how valuable you are to the company. It comes down to numbers, can we pay someone less than we pay you, then you are expendable.

I am a Chase employee, and I frequently work off the clock to complete projects, put in 10 to 12 hour days, and see more and more people let go. It isn’t about how much work there is, it isn’t about the work these people are doing, it is about the numbers, nothing else. When the first level management begs second level to keep people, and no one up top understands, you learn that your worth is decided not by the work you do.

I wonder how often any of those who complain about offshoring, outsourcing, or layoffs have had to look beyond the fear of losing their own jobs. Do you know what it takes to run a business and a company? Do you even know what your company’s financial’s look like? Have you considered the weakpoints and strongpoints of your business or any business you have worked for? I am not talking about lost benefits, decreasing staff, or zero perks. I am talking about unable to sleep at night trying to figure out how to keep a company employing thousands afloat. If the company goes down, a lot more people are hit hard. Everyday people have trouble managing their own lives. CEO’s have to manage large numbers of people, departments, battle market conditions, feed the needs of the customers. True there are some great CEO’s out there, and even truer there are some bad ones! In the end, do you know what it takes to be a CEO? If you did, you would be out there becoming one rather than complaining about how much CEO’s are overpaid and how little they do. The trouble is people too often think that they are the ones making companies money. That’s faulty thinking. I am a bean counter – if my company fails I am homeless. I don’t care how much the CEO makes, as long as I am still employed I am OK. Will I get layed off? As long as I do more than gripe and the bare minimum the future looks ok. As long as I am innovative and care deeply about the company enough to do what it takes to survive a layoff, I will. If I get layed off, then I did not do enough for my company. If you need to keep your job so much, then act like it. Go the distance, excel, go above and beyond. Never say they don’t pay you enough to do something. Because if you do more than you should and think you aren’t rewarded accordingly – that’s like putting a great big notch in your belt that you can take to the next big opportunity in life.

I agree with many comments below. We have to the “must” to survive in this economy, and for sure tough time is ahead of us (actually it’s here already). To the greedy corporations out there who contribute largely to this mess, it is time for you to reconsider the strategies, think about so many people are without home and food, you can’t avoid the blame. Hope in the future government will put somekind of anti-recession proof act out there to limit these companies and individuals.

I am also a current JPMC employee.

Our jobs at the Dallas Downtown Call Center are being outsourced to Manilla.

When I have called Human Resources to check on a variety of issues, I get the outsourced Human Resources people in India.

I usually have to call several times before I can get someone whom it is easy to communicate with.

My last 4 jobs left me…

… outsourced to Canada, outsourced to India, Outsourced to Phillippines, yada yada…

A lot of the people I work with have seen there 401K and retirement monies decline by over 30% in the last year.

OT is being eliminated. I see people actually working OFF the clock to get all the work done that has to be done..

Vacations are nearly impossible to plan when you have positions that CANT be filled and other employees are expected to absorb that work too..

Don’t know what if any raises will be forthcoming in the next month or so..

Welcome to reality.

The two execs were Mike Cavanaugh and Charlie Scharf.

JPMorgan Chase has gotten $25 billion in bailout money. Its chief, James Dimon (pictured left), took $211 million worth of use of a company jet last year. He used company cars at an estimated cost of $68,000. So far, neither company has indicated it will cut back on CEOs’ personal use of corporate jets as part of its acceptance of taxpayer bailout money.
Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase each spent around $5 million lobbying the federal government during the first nine months of 2008. Citigroup is getting $45 billion in bailout money, while the two others are getting $25 billion each. You can expect millions of dollars of that money to be spent on wining and dining Washington lawmakers; none of the banks has indicated it plans to cut back on lobbying.

Money well spent, people WAKE UP and move your business away from these thieves.

I believe the two execs were Scharf and Jim Boshardt.

The problem we have today is an unhealthy/extremely greedy unbalance of money between rich and poor. I don’t care what you do or who you are, to those hedge fund managers with salaries in the billions and holding trillions of US dollars with no real regulations/reporting, to those CEO’s making millions in bouns , your not worth it. As soon as we start realizing that in this country the better off we’ll end up. If you let these people tie up most of the money and make dumb ass decisions the only people you have to blame is yourself.

People, last time I checked we still lived in a capitalist society. Why do you (Anonymous and NY) think everyone should be treated the same? Pullllease! So Jamie is laying some people off…business has slowed and he is ensuring the strength of the firm and acting in the best interest of the shareholders. It just so happens that the market for experienced and successful financial CEO’s is booming so pay the man. Why should he take less so someone else whose skill set is not in demand can retain their job? And as to the point of working 1000x harder, I think he probably works 24×7 (would you? even for $41mm) and adds at least 1000% more value.

Sorry for taking so long to respond. Took some time to close a Chase business account, a Chase business line of credit, working on rolling a citi mortgage, closing another citi personal line of credit to my local credit union. Wall Street – stick a fork in you, my money and future revenue streams (as long as I can keep them) are now going to main street. When will Wall Street learn common sense? How will laying off 3M will fix a consumer crisis of confidence? I am NOT a UAW worker, but I need a car to get to work EVERY DAY. And I hope that people in this country will wake up to the robbery of the TARP by sending their banking business to groups that deserve the work.

<GC – I too am a JPMC employee whose job has been eliminated – Dimon should stop sending jobs offshore and outsourcing to INDIA at the expense of skilled and dedicated employees.If, Dimon wants to cut down expenses should start from the top not from the bottom up.

I am a mid level manager – I don’t agree with both

1) Executives earning insane amount of salaries, perks compared to the average employees. Taking an example to the Big 3 – GM, Ford their CEOs earm multiple of salaries of what is earned by Toyota, Honda and other Asian manufacturers. I worked at Microsoft and Bill Gates used to travel Coach for a long time (till I think 1996) even when his company made more profit than all the Big 3 combined every year for last 15 years.

2. UAW – The salary difference is not very big if you see what Asian auto-makers pay to non-union employees. If you see the discussion that is going on in Senate the difference is $3-$4 let assume it is $10 -$20. I have to pay $70-80/hr for a plumber/electrician/air-conditioner person. I felt the issue with UAW was there were number of employees who didn’t work and companies could not kick them out even when their performance was bad. Also, companies had to pay money even when there was no work.

If you ask me who is the bigger evil out of the two – I would definitely link it to the Executives – who earn ton of money along with the perks and powers that are difficult to justify and have egos that hurt the company. They are so selfish that they would do anything to keep their job while would n’t care about the job of worker. e.g. Let’s take the example of GM – Nissan was ready to merge(actually buy) GM to optimise producttion and reduce costs. Rick didn’t agree to it as he was going to lose his Job as a top man. Another example – the current CEO of Ford – he was paid $30-40M dollar (I don’t remember exact amount) as a sign-on bonus when ford was trying to cut jobs and negotiate lower worker salarly.

As a fellow bank exec, I feel that there are many of us that are honest, hard -working fiduciary officers of our banks. If we turn a profit for the bank, we should get rewarded. So should all of the employees. I think Jamie Dimon is a brillant man and has done great things for many people. If the company makes a profit, he should be rewarded. If not, no reward. SImple.

To the guy that said the UAW makes something other than debt…I laugh at you. The UAW is the reason the Big 3 cannot compete. I understand back before labor laws and such were in place during the 40s-70s but now they are their own worst enemy. I love how people moan about taking a pay cut but it is take a pay cut or lose your job.

As for bonuses, I agree with many of the comments below from people that work at the Banks. If I was a CEO I would put my company first and I would deny my salary from the board. The CEO does not pick their bonuses they are given by the board. The board is elected by the stock holders, and if the board is not doing what you like get rid of them.

My thing is that in this horrible time their will be people that will be fired. It is how the business works. Life isn’t fair, but I understand why would you want to work at a place that cuts your bonuses but you work the same amount.

I do understand why those complain about the big CEO bonuses and that they should be lower but talent brings a price and if you want to lower your price that talent will flee and go somewhere else.

Since the Federal Reserve reimbursed J.P. Morgan, presumably and ostensibly, with public monies [that taxpayers will be on the hook for] – doesn’t the public have the right to know what that 138 billion was spent on?

Investment banks are dropping like flies, owing to their involvement in credit derivatives – this is a fact.

J. P. Morgan is – HANDS DOWN – the largest derivatives player in the world with a book of 90 Trillion in notional value at March 31, 2008 – with 9% of the book composed of Credit Derivatives. That amounts to a cool 8.1 Trillion worth of Credit Derivatives. We know this from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Quarterly Derivatives Report – pg. 24

Wouldn’t you suppose that would be enough to bury any institution?

Who knows, maybe it did. We only learned about the 138 billion advance from a court document where Lehman was seeking to give claims of J.P. Morgan “special status”.

I must admit, this looks special indeed

http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/kirby/2008/0918.html

It’s uplifting to work at a company such as JPM, run by good management. Right up until the time you are informed your job is being shipped to Mumbai, India. Things like tax preparation, court paper preparations, etc. Now all those people at the top (for whom jobs are created and who are kept at all costs) might be fine in managing the big picture. On down the line–no way. JPM’s/Jamie’s model seems to be “As New York goes, so goes the Company.”

Yes, with Jamie’s direction JPM single-handedly saved Wall Street–while shipping jobs offshore at incredible rates. Those jobs are not outsourced jobs–they’re sent to employees of JPM in Mumbai. So, of course, that makes it right. J Pierpont Morgan should be rolling over in his grave.

Back to the topic at hand, Jamie and his cohorts may be saviors of Wall Street, but until the workers who really make this company what it is are rewarded for their part, Jamie should at the very least take a much, much reduced bonus.

There NO increase whatsoever for the sales force in retain banking for at least 6 years! SO UNFAIR! The top exes should look at the consequences that the auto exes are facing now… ooppsss, why would they?? As they are all evil!

Let’s not forgot that JPMC attempted to purchase WaMu for about $8.00 per share back in the March 2008 timeframe. WaMu management snubbed the deal, and decided to sell a stake to private equity. Mr. Dimon is brilliant and JPMC is lucky to have him at the helm.

one of those executives was bill campbell.

I agree that during hard times, the executives should not take large bonuses. Regardless of what you have done for the company, if the company is not making a lot of money, you shouldn’t be either. That being said, Jamie has taken large bonuses in the past and is not facing any financial difficulties himself. If I was in his position and my pockets were overflowing, I would take no bonus and live off the millions of dollars I made in the past.

Jamie and his team have made the company into the powerhouse it is today and deserve to be rewarded, but that can come at a later time. If the employees have to forgo pay raises and bonuses, pay more for the cost of their benefits and work longer hours, the executive team should as well. After all, they should lead by example.

Regarding the takeover of Bear and WAMU, the previous posts were right, the remaining people should be happy to have a job and it is unfortunate that some had to lose their jobs, but the companies (and a piece of the economy) were saved. Job cuts are expected in a merger such as this. Wouldn’t you expect job cuts if GM merged with Chrysler?

It’s a shame Jamie wasn’t able to save Lehman Brothers and single handedly avoid the total global financial collapse, but he did what he could. Lehman was the straw that broke the global back and I fault the US Government for failing to have the foresight to save Lehman. Instead they mismanaged the AIG bailout and caused the credit crisis that paralyzed the auto industry and most of ‘Main Street’.

JPMorgan Chase is being run tight and all the workers are feeling the pain of the global financial crisis. Yes, people have lost their jobs, Yes employees have had to sacrifice. We don’t have a union telling management we won’t make concessions to make us more competitive. But we don’t work 4 hours and get paid for 8, have a job bank, juicy pension and lifetime medical benefits like the UAW workers have.

In my opinion, the Big Three auto companies must be allowed to go bankrupt so that they will rethink and restructure the companies. Any bailout money given to them will go into blackhole (similar to the one given to AIG.)

Bonuses should also be handed out for all the jobs they have offshored as well.

@Jill: I too am a JPMC employee and stockholder, and I do NOT think Dimon should get a raise or bonus until the rest of us do. Fact is, we have all had our raises frozen, our training funding withdrawn, seen our colleagues get laid off, cost of benefits go up, and yet we are all expected to work harder and harder even though we are already working hard. Dimon already makes $41 million/year. I would like to guarantee you that no matter how good a CEO he is, he does not work 1000 times harder or 1000 times more hours than the average JPMC employee. He should only be compensated when the rest of us are also compensated. Fair is fair.

The brilliant (if understated) Mike Cavanaugh (the first Citi employee to join Dimon at Bank One). He now serves as CFO of JPM. Scharf would be the second.

Black was never Bank One – he left Citi for JPM and was reunited at the merger. Heidi came later in Dimon’s tenure.

I used to work with Dimon. He is flat out the most brilliant executive I’ve ever met.

I guarantee that one of the loyal executives is Charlie Scharf (sp?)

Hey Steve @ 3:07pm: How about having everyone take the 66% pay cut I took from a financial services company? Would that make you happy?

All of the comments so far have been:
1) Bloody clueless
2) Twisted, biased, and misleading – which resulted in being irrelevant to the topic
3) Full of information that is not only incorrect and/or false (one being intentional, the other – unintentional)
4) Twisted, biased, and misleading – which resulted in being unreasonably pretentious and thick with uncalled for “loyalty”
5) A combination of any of the above.

- Taxpayers are not stakeholders in JPMChase with their own money (taxes are paid regardless of how the government uses or abuses it) – unless they own stock… The government did not purchase VOTING stock anyway! If that helps…

- Everyone can have a customer experience (positive or negative) that does not reflect the values of a company. This does not warrant a broad statement against or for that company. JPMChase’s balance sheet is quite clear; however, that does not mean every employee is made of gold…

- The layoffs that occurred in the WaMu purchase were quite expeected, and estimated (or overestimated) by opposers to a number that was not realized. Furthermore, the majority were given VERY REASONABLE AND UNDERSTANDING pay privileges that NOT ONE OTHER COMPANY did, or probably could have given, considering the “economy” we are dealing with… -LOOK IT UP

- Lastly, what does 70% of the comments here have to do with the spotlight being given to a company’s management that is interested in not taking unfair bonuses during the company’s hard times. This is not an insight into how JPMChase is being run, but on how its leaders are at least pursue a healthy approach to running a business.

John from WI is obviously either a union member, clueless or both. The UAW is one of the main reasons why the automakers are where they are. They have forced the automakers into drastically overpaying their line workers/UAW members for doing basic brainless jobs for years and thats a huge reason why they are now all in this position. A 40% cut is on pace with what someone in those line positions should be making. So sorry that you are only going to make $24 an hour instead of $40 for pushing a button all day long, John.

How about those WAMU employees? Well consider how many thousands of WAMU employees still have jobs because JP Morgan Chase bought it. Wamu was going out of business folks. The holding company declared bankruptcy. Thanks to Chase thousands of people who wouldn’t have had jobs still have them this christmas.

Secondly, the FED and the Secretary of the Treasury asked Chase, and other banks to take the money, not the other way around. Chase has been using the money to lend to other banks.

Thirdly, many, many Chase employees make a lot less than Autoworkers at any auto plant. Why don’t we just raise everyone to what the autoworkers get and cap it off there?

I would rather see Dimon in jail than exalted as a hero in banking over WaMu.

“I would think that unless ALL JPMorganChase employees are willing to take a 40% haircut as is being asked of UAW workers, no soup for you. At least the UAW makes something other than debt.”

Because most JPMorgan employees don’t make $78/hr like UAW. And at least JPMorgan does not make sub-par, zero quality cars that no one wants to buy.

I remember meeting Jamie at Citi as an associate; he was the most useful and has done a great job entertaining some of us that year. I was quite upset when he was fired at Citi. I am not surprise to see him where he is at. He deserves it and I wish him further success in the future. Now only he would give Citi the finger But he is too much of a gentleman to do that, but I’ll do it for him the next time I walk pass Citi’ headquarter. Go Jamie.

Charlie Scharf was one of the people, if you really want to know.

As an ex-Chase employee who was there when the banks merged, I just want to say, as a low level employee, MY bonuses were cut too, by about $10,000.00 in a year. When I was forced to work 50+ hours a week with $10,000.00 less that year (about a quarter of my pay), with a newborn baby and told if I didn’t work ot I’d be fired, I quit. Thankfully I did then, since a year later they shut down the whole location. Good for you, the bank survived while the ex-employees are STILL suffering.

To take a stab at the PS, perhaps Heidi Miller and Steve Black?

If anyone deserves a bonus it’s Jamie. JPMorgan is one of the few financial firms on Wallstreet still posting positive EPS. JPMorgan is also growing (acquiring Bear Stearns, WaMu..). Atleast Jamie was able to keep the vast majority of Bear Stearns and WaMu employees on payroll. What if JPM didn’t buy them?

Yeah, I’m sure you would be happier seeing those tens of thousands of WaMu/Bear Stearns employees be completely left out in the cold of Chapter 7 – no pension, no vested stock, no paycheck.

Be thankful that the one company that didn’t fall into the greed of the mortgage security business was gracious enough to come to the rescue.

I’m going to guess the two former Citi execs were Steven Black and Frank Bisignano.
I’m still here at Citi – and when I worked with Jamie here, and prior at Smith Barney he was always the smartest person in the room – a tough SOB – but the man knew what he was doing. Sandy’s greatest mistake was forcing him out.

It is not what WaMu was worth but what another firm was willing to pay for a risky franchise. Think about the number of jobs retained! Jamie probably won’t take a huge bonus but he deserves something.

I’m sorry. Did Jamie Dimon make WaMu go out of business? I think that was WaMu’s fault. Don’t blame him for their careless mistakes.

“At least the UAW makes something other than debt.”

Yes, UAW workers do make something. Overpriced, inefficient cars, and too many of them.

Jill,
With that being said what about all the consultants who were forced to take a pay cut and are being laid off today .. I dont think Dimon needs a bonus !

One was charlie scharf, not sure of the other. Dimon likes these stories but what he does not tell you is that he does well and those others are still waiting for that “money” due them. Big words from a silver spoon egomaniac.

J.P.Morgan purchased Washington Mutual for pennies on the dollar with a sweetheart deal with FDIC…and then punishes WaMu employees by massive layoffs. WaMu’s real estate holdings are likely worth far more than what J.P. Morgan paid the FDIC for WaMu. Large bonus deserved? What about the severed WaMu employees, Jamie? They are just plain out of luck. Where is their sweetheart deal?

As a taxpayer, now a major stakeholder in JPMorganChase and soon to be former customer. Making 25 billion in TARP funds is quite enough thank you.

I would think that unless ALL JPMorganChase employees are willing to take a 40% haircut as is being asked of UAW workers, no soup for you. At least the UAW makes something other than debt.

A bonus for losing shareholder value? This is doing an outstanding job? No bonus for you!

It all sounds well and good. But my experience as a customer did not reflect the values.

As a shareholder and employee of J.P. Morgan, I hope Dimon takes a bonus, and a big one too. He has clearly done an outstanding job leading his organization which is now the strongest and best positioned firm on Wall St. Well Done Jamie! Take your hard earned pay and celebrate your success!