Yahoo Finance Lloyds staff furious at being told to spend two days a week in the office
Lloyds Banking Group has been accused of inflicting “unnecessary disruption” on the lives of its employees after telling them to return to the office for just two days a week.
Accord, a union that represents Lloyds staff, said that members at the lender had been in touch to express “their shock, disappointment and anger at what they see as unnecessary disruption to their lives”.
The union said it was on standby to offer advice and support to Lloyds staff, adding: “We want to make clear that [Lloyds] has not asked the union for an agreement on the proposed changes. If it did, it wouldn’t get one.
“These changes will do immediate and tangible damage to members’ working lives, work/life balance and their family budgets.”
It comes after Charlie Nunn, chief executive at Lloyds, sent a memo to the bank’s 63,000 staff, ordering those who work from home to return to their desks at least two days a week.
He said: “This is about performance, supporting each other and creating equity. We want flexible working to be fair, inclusive and productive for all.”
A spokesman for Lloyds said the move “brings clarity on our hybrid approach moving forward and will enable us to continue to best meet the evolving needs of our customers”.
Mr Nunn added that “card swipe data” will be used to monitor how regularly staff are returning to the workplace and shared with senior leadership teams.
Employees were also told the Lloyds would likely curb its “compressed hours” scheme that had enabled employees to work fewer days as long as they worked the same amount of hours in a week.
The move by one of Britain’s biggest private employers suggests that bosses are finally seeking to return to more traditional work practices following a shift to home working since the pandemic.
Earlier this month, Wall Street giant JP Morgan warned its investment bankers that they would be punished for failing to come into the office as it ordered its senior staff back to their desks five days a week.
Jamie Dimon, its veteran chief executive, has previously said remote working “doesn’t work” for younger staff or “spontaneity or management”.
