Entitled or just badly managed?
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon went viral last week for his tirade against ‘entitled’ employees. Of course, this is a well-worn path, with every generation blaming the one before it and despairing of the one after it.
Yet when CEOs blame 'entitled employees', they're often looking in the wrong mirror. The recent tirade against flexible work and productivity reveals a classic leadership blind spot: failing to see that a lack of management training directly impacts employee engagement.
Dimon rightly identifies legitimate issues - meetings where people text instead of participate, Friday absenteeism, and the value of in-person collaboration. His frustration with bureaucracy, unnecessary training and complacency echoes valid concerns about organisational bloat.
But the most revealing statement was this admission: "Our managers simply didn't manage."
If managers aren't managing effectively, is that really an employee entitlement problem? Or are JP Morgan - like most other corporates - simply expecting managers to understand the basics because they have a level of technical expertise or have tenure that qualifies them for ‘the next step’.
Just because an employee has been in a role for a specific period of time or has a certain level of technical knowledge, doesn’t automatically qualify them as a leader of people. And most of them would agree! Consider what's actually happening, according to Dimon:
Managers "making exceptions for exceptions"
Headcount increasing unnecessarily
"Special deals" polluting company culture
Uneven application of policies
Managers unable to set expectations clearly.
These aren't symptoms of entitled employees - they're evidence of management failure. When management lacks knowledge, skills, consistency, clarity and courage, then workplace culture will, of course, erode from within.
The best organisations don't need draconian attendance policies because they've created environments where people genuinely want to collaborate. Their managers understand that leadership isn't about policing bodies in seats but cultivating a culture where excellence happens naturally.
Yes, in-person work offers benefits. Yes, there's value in spontaneous collaboration. But forcing people back through fear tactics while acknowledging "our managers simply didn't manage" misdiagnoses the problem.
Great workplace culture starts with leaders who understand that middle management is the difference between success and failure and that they need to be invested in, so that everyone can flourish.
When managers excel at creating vibrant cultures, communicating expectations clearly, and modelling the behaviours they expect of others, "entitlement" problems largely disappear.
The real question isn't "How do we force employees to comply?" but rather "How do we develop managers who inspire commitment?"
