Jamie Dimon’s reality check for ambitious workers: ‘There’s going to be a grunt part to every part of a job. Get over it’

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon didn’t mince words in his message to workers: Get over the fact that work is hard.

Speaking with Patricia Devine, JPMorgan’s global head of corporate sales, at the Female Quotient lounge in Davos, Switzerland, in January, Dimon laid out the harsh reality for workers striving for instant gratification: “There’s going to be a grunt part to every part of a job. Get over it.”

Dimon’s advice stands out in an era of growing disengagement among young workers, a demographic that recently showed notable declines in workplace engagement, according to Gallup, with Gen Z employee engagement dipping five percentage points between 2024 and 2025. A 2025 report from recruitment firm Randstad also shows the average tenure at a company for a Gen Z worker in their first five years of work has shrunk to just 1.1 years. This stands in stark contrast to the 2.9-year average tenure for baby boomers when they were early in their career. While the Randstad study attributes these short stints to a desire to grow rather than a matter of job hopping, Dimon says young people ought to see a job through to further their career. He didn’t clarify how long he recommends a young person stay in a job. 

“Do not get a new job,” Dimon said. “Some people are always thinking, and they’re ruining their lives because they should just enjoy what they’re doing.”

Dimon critiques the much-lauded preference for work-life balance over other priorities, such as competitive compensation and benefits packages, or purpose-driven work. The CEO has been a vocal advocate of in-person work, enforcing a full-time office policy in 2025. Work-life balance today dominates workplace discourse, and now outranks pay as a top motivator for job seekers, according to Randstad. Dimon has also said work-life balance should be a priority for his workers, especially those with a family. But he says that to balance the two, one must “work smart.” 

Still, nothing can replace hard work in the pursuit of career success, according to the CEO. 

“Work hard. There’s no replacement,” Dimon said. “I still see a lot of people who think they can make a shortcut to a heroic ‘something’. It’s almost never true.” 

Why does Gen Z’s early career look so different from their parents’?

Young workers are entering a dramatically different workforce from that of older generations. Many Gen Zers came of working age during the COVID pandemic and have assumed remote or hybrid work as the norm. However, Dimon has said that mindset may be detrimental to career growth, telling Gen Z workers “you can’t learn from your basement,” after urging corporate workers to return to full-time in-person work, adding the move would push workers to innovate.

Yet, Gen Z’s defiance may not be about laziness. Part of the backlash is structural. Junior opportunities are dwindling for young workers as entry-level skills are increasingly becoming automated, leaving a void where traditional early growth used to take place. The CEO recently acknowledged the current hardships of the economy, noting that the American dream is slipping out of reach for many Americans.

But in another interview with The Economist at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Dimon advised workers: “Don’t put your head in the sand,” in the face of AI automation. “It is what it is,” he said, as he admitted he’d probably hire fewer workers in the coming years because of AI.

Jamie Dimon’s top career tips

Aside from telling workers to work hard, talk succinctly, and develop empathy, Dimon advised workers to remain open-minded, especially in an era in which career trajectories are swiftly changing.

“Be open-minded about relationships, changing jobs, trying something different,” he advised. “Then you’ll have a great career.”

Dimon also emphasized the necessity of purpose in a career. The “grunt work” he implores workers to face isn’t necessarily a hurdle, but a step on the road to accomplishment. He says purpose can be found in a variety of professions, not just in banking and finance, but in teaching or caregiving. 

“When they say ‘the pursuit of happiness’ in the Declaration, this was about accomplishing something in life, doing something meaningful,” Dimon said.

A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on Jan. 23, 2026.

More on the future of work:

• Gen Z is turning “welcomer cities” into America’s next big tech towns.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang tells workers scared of AI they’re confusing their job with the tools needed to do it.
• Some companies across the globe are moving to a four-day workweek due to the Iran war.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com