Lloyds gives branch staff permanent home working option

Lloyds Banking Group is seeking volunteers who want to transition from branch roles to permanent home working roles in 2021.

The banking giant, which incorporates Lloyds, Halifax and Royal Bank of Scotland, currently has around three quarters of its 65,000 staff working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic and is seeking internal applicants who want to continue remote working in customer service roles on a permanent basis from February.

Earlier this year, around 1,000 workers from branches were redeployed into customer service teams to bolster resourcing in its telephone banking and video chat services. It expects demand for these services will remain high.

A spokesperson said it had not set a target for how many people it wanted working from home.

“As a result of the pandemic, how our customers are choosing to bank with us is changing, with more customers now calling us or using video chat.

“Responding to this we are asking our branch colleagues if they would like to make a move from their branch role to one in our customer services teams. This means we can have the right amount of support in the areas our customers want it,” the spokesperson said.

Bank documents, shared by union Accord, say the roles will be mainly carried out from home, but staff may be asked to travel to an office for events, team meetings and catch-ups with their line managers.

It said the option will provide staff with opportunities to “better manage their work-life balance”. The roles will be more flexible than working in a branch, with full-time, part-time and on-call roles available.

Customer service roles will also be opened up to more people across the country, as they will no longer need to be based near call centres in Leeds, Liverpool or Belfast.

However, applicants will need to have unlimited secure broadband and be able to work in an “unshared” area, free from disturbances from children or animals.

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A notice issued to Accord members said the decision avoids the immediate need to make redundancies.

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