ANZ will cut 3,500 jobs over the next year, while NAB has announced more than 400 redundancies alongside plans to hire staff overseas.
The move comes as ANZ faces a record $240 million penalty from ASIC for misconduct.
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On Wednesday morning’s episode of The Briefing, we sat down with Swinburne law and corporate governance expert Helen Bird to break down what happens in a mass redundancy, and why the impacts can last for years.
Bird criticised ANZ’s vague explanation. “Essentially, the message was that the bank had to deal with what it referred to as complexity and duplicity, which seemed very vague terms to describe what was essentially 3,500 staff to be sacked,” she said.
She said the language used by ANZ management raised doubts about its true motivations.
“While that may resonate with some people, a great deal of investors and the corporate governance community were somewhat perplexed by what pace means in this context,” Bird said.
She warned that mass redundancies can backfire if not properly managed.
“First off, it’s dimmed very, very poorly by those who work for the bank and that affects morale and productivity,” she added.
“Outside the bank, people looking on [are] lacking trust and confidence in the management of the corporation.”
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