JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon doesn’t mince words in his message to employees: Get over the fact that work is hard.
Speaking to Patricia Devine, head of global enterprise sales at JPMorgan Chase, in the Businesswomen’s Lounge in Davos, Switzerland, Dimon pointed out the harsh reality faced by employees seeking instant gratification: “Every part of the job has a boring part. Get over it.”
Dimon’s advice is particularly salient at a time when young workers are increasingly alienated. According to Gallup, work engagement among younger workers has shown a significant decline recently, with Gen Z employee engagement falling 5 percentage points between 2024 and 2025. A 2025 report from recruitment firm Randstad also showed that the average tenure of Gen Z employees in their first five years at a company has shrunk to just 1.1 years. This contrasts with the average tenure of 2.9 years for baby boomers early in their careers. While the Randstad study attributed these short-lived jobs to a desire to grow rather than job-hopping, Dimon said young people should stick with their jobs to further their careers. He did not specify how long he recommended young people stay in the workforce.
“Don’t look for a new job,” Dimon said. “Some people always think they’re ruining their lives because they should be enjoying what they’re doing.”
Dimon criticized the preference for work-life balance over other priorities, such as competitive pay and benefit packages, or purpose-driven work. Randstad says work-life balance now dominates workplace conversations and has now surpassed salary as the top motivator for job seekers. Dimon also said work-life balance should be a priority for his employees, especially those with families. But he said it was necessary to “work smart” in order to balance the two.
Still, the CEO said nothing can replace hard work in pursuit of career success.
“Hard work. There’s no substitute,” Dimon said. “I still see a lot of people who think they can find a shortcut to a heroic ‘something.’ That’s almost never true.”
Young workers are entering a very different workforce than older generations. Many Gen Zers have reached working age during the coronavirus pandemic and believe remote or hybrid work has become the norm. However, Dimon said this mentality could be detrimental to career advancement, telling Gen Z employees “you can’t learn in a basement” after urging corporate employees to return to full-time in-person work, adding that the move would drive employee innovation.
Gen Z’s rebellion may not be due to laziness, however. Part of the rebound is structural. As entry-level skills are increasingly automated, entry-level opportunities for young workers are shrinking, leaving gaps where traditional early-stage growth would have been. in another interview The Economist At the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Dimon advised workers: “Don’t bury your head in the sand” in the face of AI automation.
“That’s just the way it is,” he said, acknowledging that he may hire fewer workers in the coming years because of the impact of artificial intelligence.
In addition to telling employees to work hard, speak concisely and develop empathy, Dimon also advised employees to keep an open mind, especially in a time when career trajectories are changing rapidly.
“Be open to relationships, changing jobs, trying different things,” he advises. “Then you’re going to have a great career.”
Dimon also emphasized the need for career goals. He implored the “heavy workload” workers faced not necessarily as an obstacle but as a step on the road to achievement. Purpose can be found in a variety of careers, not just in banking and finance but also in teaching or nursing, he said.
“When they say ‘the pursuit of happiness’ in the manifesto, they’re talking about accomplishing something in life, doing something meaningful,” Dimon said.
This story originally appeared on Fortune.com