You know things are not going to plan when someone starts checking the taxi receipts. Lloyds is two years into a £4bn strategic plan to diversify income streams away from those, like mortgages, that are dependent on interest rates. It’s not quite going according to plan, so Lloyds is bearing down on costs to divert attention away from its loss of market share in key areas.
When he joined Lloyds, Antonio Horta-Osorio, famously banned staff from using colour photocopying because it cost too much. It was emblematic of his new cost cutting regime. And now, under the guise of saving the planet – it’s got nothing to do with that whatsoever of course – Lloyds has just issued new guidance on travel costs.
In a note to staff, Lloyds has said that staff should avoid domestic flights and should use trains or other public transport instead. The question the Bank should be asking is why staff are travelling in the first place? We think that since Lloyds enforced its 40% in the office policy (travel more!), with the support of the in-house door mats, Accord and Unite, staff have gone back to making unnecessary journeys to and from offices because that’s what’s expected of them. Most staff would sooner not travel and would prefer to work from home; or at least have the choice. If Lloyds is really worried about its carbon footprint a more nuanced policy on home working would be a good place to start.
And who says that domestic flights aren’t a more cost effective option than than rail travel? Anyone who has suffered inter-city travel on trains from London to Glasgow or Edinburgh and vice versa will know that they tend to be packed, with no possibility of working during what are 5 to 6 hour journeys. Return trips add up to more than a lost day of working time!
It’s interesting to look at the lost working time involved in those long distance train journeys. Ignoring getting to and from the station or airport, an inter-city train from London to Glasgow takes just under 6 hours; a flight takes about 1.5 hours. That represents a complete lost working day!
And flights are cheaper. Our review of the relative costs showed that for most people the London to Glasgow journey would cost between £50 and £100 more using the train.
In respect of international travel, the guidance says, rather tellingly, that: “travel should be for a specific purpose”. Why else would people travel if it’s not for a specific purpose? And let’s not forget, senior executive and members of the GEC are the biggest consumers of international travel. How many senior executives have travelled to the new IT centre in Hyderabad, India? Was that for a specific purpose or just a jolly?
In respect of taxi journeys, the Bank says these should only be booked when: “no other viable or safe method of transportation is available.” Who decides what’s a safe method of transport? A male member of staff might determine that travelling on the tube at night is safe, but a female member of staff might determine that it’s unsafe! And do the new rules apply to everyone in the Bank equally? It’s a fair bet that these guidelines have been driven and approved by people who have chauffeurs or other drivers on call and won’t be spending 6 hours travelling in standard class on a crowded train to Glasgow. Whenever guidance like this is introduced, it is usually junior members of staff who are on the receiving end not senior executives and we don’t expect this to be any different.
The Broader Issue
Cutting out unnecessary costs is an important function of management and no one with any sense would argue otherwise. But, as we’ve said before, a drive to reduce what is small beer in terms of Lloyds’ overall costs represents a diversion from what should be top management’s main focus, growing revenue. Increasing revenue is much harder to achieve and it’s easier for very senior managers to shoot at apparently simple targets: travel costs is about the simplest target, particularly for those not affected!
Any member who is criticised for travel expenses or who has perfectly reasonable claim refused should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 262868 (choose Option 1).
MEMBERS SHOULD PASS THIS NEWSLETTER ON TO THEIR COLLEAGUES SO THEY TOO CAN BENEFIT FROM THE ONLY INDEPENDENT TRADE UNION IN LLOYDS AND HALIFAX