The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Financial Services Financial And Insurance Activities Financial Service Activities, Except Insurance And Pension Funding 64 - Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding
1,400 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
5 August 2020
Employment effect (start)
1 November 2020
Foreseen end date
30 June 2021
Description
Bank of Ireland has reported that it will cut 1,400 jobs in the coming years after reporting heavy losses in the first half of the year as a result of loan impairment losses due to the COVID-19 crisis. The job losses will be achieved through a voluntary redundancy programme with relatively generous terms - four weeks per year of service in addition to the statutory two weeks per year of service up to an extended maximum of 2.5 times annual salary.
The Financial Services Union subsequently referred the bank to the Workplace Relations Commission indicating that the restructuring announcement had been made unilaterally and without advance consultation despite longstanding agreements with the Union.
Ireland's main five banks have cut staff headcount by 45 percent since 2008 to around 26,500 today. Further reductions are foreseen in coming years as much banking activity moves online. The bank is also reported to be reconsidering its future activities - including possible retrenchment - both in Northern Ireland and in the UK.
Update, 26/9/20: around 2,000 applications were received from Bank of Ireland staff wishing to avail of voluntary redundancy.
Eurofound (2020), Bank of Ireland, Internal restructuring in Ireland, factsheet number 102086, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/102086.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
