Low Hanging Fruit

It seems that following the permanent closure of a number of branches on the back of the Covid pandemic, some area directors and line mangers are approaching staff with ‘redundancy’ offers. The offers we have seen are not based on the redundancy terms we agreed and it’s clear the bank is trying to get rid of staff on the cheap. We also know from past experience that an exercise like this – trying to pick off the low hanging fruit on the cheap – invariably takes place before the bank announces redundancies formally.

We know TSB is aware from previous reorganisations of those members who might be susceptible to such offers and is using that information to approach individuals. In a number of cases, the terms being offered are worth less than half what the members would be entitled to under the agreed redundancy terms.

Members who are approached by their line manager with a redundancy offer should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 716029 (Choose Option 1).

Back To Work

The Prime Minister has announced that the government’s “work from home” guidance will end from the 1st August, although it seems that his key senior scientific advisers may not have got the message. Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser, is still insisting that people keep working from home. We all understand why the Government is changing its guidance – the economic recovery will be hampered by unduly cautious behaviour on the part of employers and employees – but members working from home are in no rush to get back to the office. In a recent survey we carried out, 40% of Lloyds staff said they didn’t want to go back to work and 51% said they would work from home for 2-3 days a week if given the choice. 71% said they were saving up to £500 per month by working from home. We will be carrying out a similar survey for TSB staff in the next few days. Lloyds has said that because of the changes to the way it works it will need fewer buildings/offices. A number of other banks have made similar announcements.

TSB – which desperately needs to cut its cost base – will be looking at its building footprint too. It recently said: “Covid-19 has not only changed customer behaviour, but dramatically changed the way we work, from how we run meetings and collaborate with each other when working remotely, to making best use of the technology we have available. As we look forward, we’ll take the learnings from this to strengthen our business for the future”.

Members should expect to see some fundamental changes to way they work and where they work in the future. We will be reviewing these potential changes and will cover in more details in future Newsletters.

In the meantime, members with any comments or issues they would like us to deal with should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 716029 (choose Option 1).