High street bank Abbey has been criticised by unions after it emerged it has written to former employees asking them what it was like to lose their jobs.
The company has written to staff forced out of their jobs earlier this year and asked them to share their experiences of being made redundant and how it affected them. It plans to use the information, from more than 1,000 online questionnaires, to improve its redundancy processes.
Last week, Abbey confirmed plans to cut more jobs on top of the 4,000 redundancies already made after the takeover the Spanish bank Santander. Analysts believe the bank could cut another 2,500 jobs in the next two years.
But former staff have accused Abbey of being insensitive, just months after many lost their jobs in the last round of redundancies.
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And the finance division of the Amicus union said the letters were “typical of Abbey since its takeover by Santander”.
The bank said the aim of the survey was to gain useful information on the company responsible for finding jobs for redudant staff.
