In devastating news, TSB has confirmed today that Area Directors, staff working in ADO and BDO offices, Branch Managers and Cluster Managers across the distribution business are all at risk of redundancy. Having saved TSB from IT meltdown last year, loyal, hardworking staff are paying the ultimate price for the failings of senior management. The BEC and members of the senior executive team should hang their heads in shame for what they have done to this business. Yet again it’s going to be ordinary members of staff who are going to suffer.
The number of Area Director Groups is being reduced and the number of standalone and cluster branches will be reorganised. The new structure will be effective from 1st September 2019. The number of redundancies, many of which will be compulsory, could run into the hundreds once this exercise is completed. Those staff affected by today’s announcement will receive letters notifying them of their position in the next few days. Those at risk of redundancy will have one-to-one meetings with their Area Directors over the next few days and will then be required to complete preference forms. Staff will be required to preference for one job in the new structure and can volunteer for redundancy if that’s what they want to do. Staff will have to wait until the middle of August to find out if they’ve got a job in the new structure. To make staff wait so long to find out if they have got a future in TSB is cruel. We will return to this issue in a future Newsletter.
Whilst the rest of the branch staff are not at risk of redundancy yet, that will come in the next announcement, many will be directly affected by the announcement today both in terms of where they work but also when they work.
As we said in a previous Newsletter the new Chief Executive has been brought in to reduce costs – by cutting staff numbers and closing branches – and setting the business up for either a sale or merger. This will not be the last reorganisation and those staff working in head office, processing centres and contact centres across the country should be worried because Debbie is coming for your jobs next.
When we first said 2 years ago that following migration the bank would cut costs drastically, we were accused of scaremongering by both TSB and Accord. Unfortunately for staff, our predictions have been proved right.
In our next Newsletter we will analyse TSB’s proposals in more detail. In the meantime, members with any questions can contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 716029 (Choose Option 1).