Lloyds has opened voluntary severance registers in several Divisions with staff given until 28th October to declare an interest with a leaving date of Q1 2027.
Last week Barclays announced it was cutting 5,000 jobs as part of wider cost saving plans driven by AI. Standard Chartered announced plans a few months ago to cut 7,800 jobs in the next few years. Members will recall the Standard Chartered CEO, Bill Winters, faced a backlash when described employees whose jobs were vulnerable to automation as “lower-value human capital”. It was also reported recently that HSBC was looking to reduce management and specialist roles in its Wealth Division by half including 70% of its financial advisers.
We don’t expect any similar announcements by Lloyds. It will achieve its staff reductions by more subtle moves, which should reassure no one.
In a recent update to staff, Lloyds said:
“As we head towards the end of the year, it feels like a timely opportunity to understand how people are feeling about their futures and their careers with the Group. To help us with that, today we’re just starting an exercise to see whether people are interested in leaving the Group through voluntary redundancy.
Whilst we want to provide more choice, we won’t be able to agree every request. We need to balance individual preferences with the needs of the business, including the skills, capabilities and capacity we need now and in the future”.
Staff have until 28th October to declare an interest in leaving on the basic rather than the enhanced redundancy terms. The difference between the two sets of terms is significant.
Lloyds is opening these registers now so that it can reduce staff numbers on the cheap rather than paying the full redundancy terms. And let’s be clear: Lloyds knows that it’s going to be making thousands of redundancies over the next years. The exact number won’t be dissimilar to those announced by Barclays, HSBC etc.
Just as important is what happens to those staff whose applications for voluntary redundancy are turned down? How will those members of staff be viewed by the business? One obvious concern is that Lloyds will use that information to decide who to manage out of the business on trumped up performance plans. My colleague Emma Stopford has covered Lloyds’ current performance case offensive in previous Newsletters.
Performance Plans – What’s Going On?
Performance Plans – Above The Law?
We expect similar voluntary severance registers to be rolled out in other Divisions over the next few months.
We will be returning to this issue again in our next Newsletter. In the meantime, members with any questions can contact the Union’s Bedford Office on 01234 262868 (Choose Option 1).
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