‘Hypocrisy’: Commonwealth Bank called out for work-from-home crackdown while closing branches

Commonwealth Bank sparked an internal revolt by ordering staff back into the office — and one glaring “hypocrisy” has been revealed.

CommBank is being accused of “hypocrisy” after ordering staff back to the office, stressing the importance of face-to-face interactions — even as it closes branches and forces customers online.

With the nation’s largest bank facing a staff revolt over the working from home crackdown, many online pointed out the irony.

“[CommBank is] ordering staff back to the office because face-to-face interaction is important. What about regional customers who have lost their branches and are being told digital is an equivalent substitute?” wrote independent news website The Regional.

According to the Finance Sector Union (FSU), between June 2017 and June 2022 more than 1600 bank branches were closed, with a disproportionate number located in regional Australia.

In the last financial year, more than 300 bank branches closed across Australia, with 95 of those in regional areas.

A Senate inquiry is currently examining the impact of bank branch closures on regional communities, where residents are often left with no option but to drive hundreds of kilometres to their nearest physical location.

The bank has ordered staff back to the office. Picture: Sarah Matray/NCA NewsWire

Julia Angrisano, national secretary of the Finance Sector Union (FSU), highlighted the double standard.

“The Finance Sector Union supports our members who are concerned about being forced back to the office by the CBA,” she said.

“While the CBA is quick to close bank branches on the basis that some customers are using digital banking, it is unfair that its staff are being told they can’t have a choice about when they take advantage of working digitally from home.”

Ms Angrisano said the directive issued by CommBank “suggested collaboration was being reduced by staff working from home”.

“There is absolutely no evidence to support this claim,” she said.

“Millions of employees worked from home during the pandemic and the companies and organisations they worked for remained productive. The banks in fact, have remained so productive, they continue to post record profits that show they haven’t suffered through any work from home arrangements.”

Chief executive Matt Comyn at the bank’s half-year results. Picture: Supplied

The mandate that everyone must come to the office 50 per cent of the time was delivered to the bank’s 49,000 employees by chief executive Matt Comyn and his team on Monday.

But the demand sparked outrage among staff, who lashed out at management during an internal town hall meeting held to discuss the changes.

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review earlier this week, CommBank group executive of human resources Sian Lewis said the bank had “now set the expectation with our office-based people that from mid-July, they will be required to come into the office for at least 50 per cent of their work time per month”.

She said the move was prompted by a decision to drive innovation and collaboration with face-to-face interactions.

“We’ve learnt that on average, we actively connect with 11 more colleagues each day when we are together in the office and spend 20-30 minutes more time collaborating,” she said.

“Our people also spend 40 per cent or more time connecting with their leader and peers when in the office. We have seen that innovation is an outcome of our people physically working together.”

Regional areas have been disproportionately affected by bank closures. Picture: Supplied

The major bank was forced to follow up on the directive in another email on Tuesday.

“We understand how positively everyone has embraced hybrid working and you will still be able to work from home,” the leadership team said.

“However, as we’ve said before, being together in our corporate offices provides stronger levels of connection, which help us in our own learning, as well as in collaborating to build services for our customers and in sharing and co-developing with our colleagues.”

The Senate committee investigating regional bank closures held its first hearing in March in Sale, Victoria, with two more hearings last week in the Queensland towns of Cloncurry and Ingham.

At the March hearing, local government officials explained how the move to digital banking had impacted small communities.

Chief executive of East Gippsland Shire Council Anthony Basford said the region had inconsistent internet signal, which made the pivot to online banking difficult for some locals.

“Regional Australians are not FIFO residents — we live here and we thrive here and we urge banks to reciprocate and invest in us and our regions as well,” he said.

“[Internet] is very intermittent — one of the things we put in the submission is that any internet condition is subject to power outage.”

The old Commonwealth Bank along Victoria Street in Mackay. Picture: Heidi Petith

Chief executive of Latrobe City Council Steven Piasente said the closure of brick-and-mortar banks was a significant hindrance to small business in his community, adding that many of the area’s locals were older or didn’t use the internet, which meant their woes weren’t widely heard.

“[A] primary area of concern for them is how they’ll actually gain cash for their businesses and undertake banking,” he said.

“The community is obviously very disappointed — you don’t necessarily hear from those who are disproportionably impacted, in a loud way. Those segments of the community don’t have a particularly loud voice, especially those who don’t use internet services.”

The FSU claims the death of regional banking has been “engineered”.

“Members have told us they are trained to steer customers towards using ATMs and online banking to decrease in-person visits to branches,” the union says.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano. Picture: Supplied

“This approach leads to job insecurity as FSU members may face disciplinary action or termination if they do not meet the targets. If members do meet these targets, as they have been instructed, then the banks have the evidence they need to implement the branch closures.”

CommBank committed to pause regional branch closures while the Senate inquiry is ongoing, but in late March announced it would be closing three capital city locations — Guildford in Sydney, Mountain Gate in Melbourne and Wanneroo in Perth.

At the time, Ms Angrisano called on the bank to extend its commitment to hold a moratorium on closures to all branches, not just regional areas.

“The CBA should stop all branch closures across the country and wait until the findings of the Senate inquiry are delivered before it even thinks about shutting more branches,” she said.

“The CBA is the most profitable bank in Australia and can afford to put customers, communities and staff first. Unfortunately, CBA only thinks about its super profits at the expense of everyone.”

A CommBank spokesman said, “As Australia’s largest bank, we’re committed to maintaining the largest branch presence in the country and providing the widest possible range of services to all of the communities that we are part of. Decisions on branch locations will continue to be informed by customer preference and demand.”

— with NCA NewsWire

Originally published as ‘Hypocrisy’: Commonwealth Bank called out for work-from-home crackdown while closing branches