Lloyds Banking Group will monitor its Workday HR software to help it select the lowest performing staff who could be cut as part of its latest cull, according to union.
A Financial Times report said that the UK banking giant plans to cut what it deems the lowest performing staff, with around 3,000 staff at risk, half of which could lose their jobs.
According to the independent union for Lloyds employees, the BTU, bank bosses will monitor data on its Workday HR software to select low performers.
The BTU said in a newsletter to members: “There aren’t ratings in Lloyds anymore, but line managers will increasingly come under pressure to identify those employees whose performance should be managed more closely through ‘structured support’. And those who don’t meet the required standards will be ‘yanked’ out of the Bank. Lloyds will deny that’s happening, of course it will, but over the next few months we’ll see more staff being managed through ‘structured support’, which means action plans, formal review meetings and eventually dismissal on grounds of capability.”
The BTU added that the bank’s executive team will be monitoring statistics in Workday to ensure a 5% job cut target is achieved.
A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson denied there are any targets for job cuts.
One senior IT professional in the UK finance sector said it is normal practice for banks to use HR software to select the employees to cut: “Software like Workday contains things like performance ratings and objectives. It therefore holds information about employee performance against objectives, so you can see who is not performing.”
The IT professional, who wished to remain anonymous, added: “This is totally normal in my experience at banks. One of my former employers used to cut the lowest performing 10% every year to keep people on their toes. Staff at banks have to do a good job.”
A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: “To achieve the ambitious strategy and deliver brilliant service to customers, we are transforming our business. As we build highly skilled teams to move faster forward and deliver great outcomes for our customers, we are striving to embed a high-performance culture in the organisation.
“To achieve this, and in line with wider industry practice, we continuously look for ways to help our colleagues perform at their best. We know change can be uncomfortable, but we are excited about the opportunities ahead as we propel forward to achieve our growth ambitions and delivering exceptional customer experiences.”
Separately, banks are investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) to automate tasks traditionally carried out by humans.
Bloomberg Intelligence recently put the number of jobs set to be replaced by AI in the US finance sector – Wall Street specifically – at hundreds of thousands. CIOs questioned by the organisation expected 3% of their workforce to be cut on average. Around a quarter of respondents expect the workforce to be cut by between 5% and 10% as AI takes over roles, with the back and middle offices to be most affected.
Lloyds Banking Group is, for example, training 200 of its senior leaders to ensure the organisation can get the most out of AI technology. The bank is working with training provider Cambridge Spark on the programme, which will embed AI skills in the leadership ranks.