CHANGES IN PERSONAL BANKING
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This week Personal Banking (PB) leadership have announced a series of changes in PB relating to opening hours, shift preferencing and role expectations. There will be no redundancies as a result of these changes. Summary of the changes below:
New Personal Banking opening hours of 8am - 6pm from Monday 17th June 2024
Mass Affluent and Private Banking will remain open until 8pm
PB workers whose current shift parameters fall within the new opening hours will remain on their current pattern and will see the reduction in later shifts on their schedules
PB workers outside of the new shift parameters will have a 1:1 with their LM to review the new shift options available which include the following shift patterns - Early Riser, Mornings, Flexible Mixed, 4 Day Week Days (full details and shift snapshots will be provided during 1:1s)
Teams will be realigned with a maximum team size of 1:14 to assist with coaching and development and this change may result in a change in line management. Teams will be prioritised around same skill and shift pattern to ensure greater LM coverage
Grade A Personal Banking Advisers will become Customer Support Colleagues from the 1st July with a greater focus on Banking Made Easy, directing customers who call in to use the mobile banking app and referring customers to specialist teams if needs be
UNITE THE UNION VIEW
Unite recognises that for the vast majority of PB workers this will result in little to no change and we suspect the reduction in late opening hours overall will be welcomed by most.
That said, we know that there will be workers, who have gone through a couple of recent shift reviews, who will look at this announcement as yet another inconvenience that will cause disruption. Unite wants to reassure all members impacted by these changes that we will support and provide guidance to you during these informal/formal conversations with your line manager as well as the panel review process and or grievance process should these conversations be unsatisfactory.
Your Unite team pressed for greater shift clarity during consultation to ensure all impacted workers can review an example of how the patterns will look to help make an informed decision. Unite have stressed that these patterns need to be transparent and clear so that workers know what their prospective schedules will look like and can make an informed decision taking into account their personal commitments, noting that in the past these examples have not been fully transparent. We also pressed leadership for a longer and more supportive unsociable hours (USH) transition for those impacted by the reduction in USH eligibility. One that exceeds 12 months in light of the current cost of living pressures and to allow impacted workers a longer time to adjust to the impact. Unfortunately, leadership declined our request - we continue to believe a longer transition period is the right and supportive thing to do.
The changes in roles and the move towards greater signposting of digital channels to customers who ring up will naturally cause workers to think about the knock-on impact and the potential long term job security concerns as the bank pushes more customers to self serve. Unite has been leading the way on this issue raising questions with senior leadership around the bank's digital transformation and it’s possible impact on jobs, lobbying for greater skills investment and career pathways and calling for greater planning and transparency to minimise impacts as much as possible. We have been assured that there will be no job losses as a result of these changes but the concerns around AI and further automation are not going anywhere and will no doubt leave workers with concerns about the future. This is why Unite have launched a Technology and Career Mobility survey to canvas worker opinion so we can implement a tech agreement to protect jobs - pay - conditions in light of greater automation and the banks pivot to become a digital bank. The link to the Unite tech survey is on the back of this newsletter - have your say!
In the face of increasing automation of tasks and the upsurge of artificial intelligence (AI) coupled with LBG’s strategic aim to become a leading digital bank and their technology transformation agenda.
Unite the Union in LBG have launched a consultative survey on technology and career mobility in Lloyds Banking Group.
To allow LBG workers to have a say, and together, we can build a technology agreement which protects and covers JOBS - PAY - CONDITIONS!
JOIN Unite today - Uniteinlbg.org/join OR GET IN TOUCH via LBG.SUPPORT@UNITETHEUNION.ORG
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