Union tells NAB to treat staff ‘fairly and decently’

NAB’s plan to slash 1000 jobs falls short of community expectations, the bank employees union said.

The bank exployees union has blasted NAB over its plan to cull jobs.

The union for bank employees has lashed out at National Australia Bank over its workplace revolution, saying the bank’s plan to slash 1000 jobs falls short of community expectations.

In language reminiscent of the terms of reference for the financial services royal commission, the Finance Sector Union said any bank that was serious about restoring its reputation had to treat its staff fairly and decently.

“Post-retrenchment support is too little too late; workers need to be re-skilled to move into the jobs of the future now,” FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said.

NAB said in early November that it would remove 6000 roles, or 18 per cent of its workforce, while recruiting 2000 people with skills for the digital age such as data science, robotics and artificial intelligence.

Weeks later, The Australian revealed the bank had started to implement the simplification program, with 55 executive general managers briefed about their positions. A handful of EGMs, whose annual pay can exceed $1 million including bonuses, lost their jobs through compulsory or voluntary redundancies.

Other roles were redefined.

Since then, the program has been extended deeper into the organisation.

NAB’s chief people officer, Lorraine Murphy, said yesterday the next stage of the bank’s three-year transformation, in which 1000 jobs would be lost, was under way.

The objective was to reduce layers and complexity so that ­decisions could be made faster and implemented more quickly.

Ms Murphy said people who left the bank through redundancy would be offered “world-class” support through NAB’s outplacement program called The Bridge.

The Bridge includes a training program, job placement service and support services for people who want to set up small businesses.

The FSU, on the other hand, said workers needed to be re-skilled before they were made redundant.

“Right now the FSU is building an industry plan that will guide a fair transition for workers to the jobs of the future,” Ms Angrisano said.

“It’s critical that government and industry put the workers first. Without workers there is no finance sector.”

NAB’s accelerated restricting program announced in November features an extra $1.5 billion in investment by the end of the 2020 financial year.

Cost savings of more than $1bn have also been identified. “So what we’re doing is simplifying the bank,” Mr Thorburn said.

“And as we simplify, we automate processes and things move to digital channels, we will need less people and as that happens we estimate that there will be 6000 less people needed in three years’ time.”

Part of the challenge for the bank will be managing voluntary attrition, as the bank loses about 3000 people each year.

All the major banks have significant restructuring programs under way, although some are more public than others.

NAB will book a restructuring provision of $500 million to $800m in the March half-year.