Mayor Eric Adams is urging CEOs like JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon to ride the subway to work as he pushes to bring the city’s workers back to empty office buildings in Manhattan.
“We’re telling our corporate leaders: ‘Hey, get on the train!’” Adams said in an interview with the Financial Times. “We need to advertise that New York is back.”
In addition to Dimon, Adams is hitting up the bosses at Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and the real-estate giant Related Companies to “ditch their customary black cars” in favor of the subway, according to the FT.
“We’re going to get him on the train,” Adams said of Dimon. “We’re going to get everyone on the train. He understands the need of getting his people back and leading from the front.”
JPMorgan didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Adams’ comments come as the mayor tries to crack down on a surge in violent crime that is scaring many away from taking public transportation.
Only 8% of Manhattan office employees are back in the office five days a week and 38% are coming into the office part-time under a hybrid work schedule, according to data from the Partnership for New York.
That’s dramatic departure from pre-pandemic when 80% of employees were back in the office full-time, according to the group, which says crime rates are a big part of the problem.
“When we asked employers what’s the factor that would be most effective in bringing people back to the office, they said, ‘Reduce the presence of the homeless and mentally ill individuals, and expand police presence on the streets and subways,’ president of Partnership for New York Kathy Wilde told The Post earlier this month.
Adams, a former cop, ran on a pro-police platform and has increased funding for police by $200 million. Despite these efforts, Adams has struggled to rein in the rampant crime. Shootings are up 75% from two years ago and hate crimes are up 103%. Overall crime was up 34.2% last month.
Dimon has emphasized the need for workers to be in the office — and noted that young employees in particular learn from an apprenticeship model.
Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon meanwhile has called remote work an “aberration” and said even thought the bank only has around 50% of workers back any given day, he expects to bring all staff back eventually. Morgan Stanley chief James Gorman has slammed workers who go to restaurants but won’t show up to the office.
Not all junior staffers are on board with the stringent in-office policy. The Post has reported that some employees are threatening to quit over demands they return to the office five days a week.
And Adams said as he tries to rein in crime, he’s been looking to former mayor Michael Bloomberg for advice. “Every Wednesday, just about, we chat,” Adams said. He added the best piece of advice the former mayor shared, “ignore the press.”