Bank of Ireland has warned staff that they could face disciplinary proceedings if they do not meet the lender’s minimum office attendance policy, introduced last year.
Most employees of the bank are required to attend the office for at least two days a week, or eight days a month, under the policy, which was criticised by the Financial Services Union (FSU) last year.
In an email to staff on Monday, Bank of Ireland’s chief people officer Matt Elliott said that not enough staff are meeting the minimum requirements.
To combat non-attendance, he said that from June, all swipe-in data for colleagues would be visible and reported on a monthly basis to line managers.
“This will show the number of days each month that each of us attends a Bank of Ireland office or hub,” Elliott said.
Attendance records will also be taken into account as part of employee performance assessments.
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“If any colleague is not meeting the minimum in-person requirement they will receive a full year rating of ‘inconsistent’, unless the line manager deems there to be good reason,” Elliott said.
“As you know, performance rating impacts any bonus the group may award, and future pay increases.”
Failure to meet the attendance requirement can also result in disciplinary proceedings, “as it would for any matter of non-compliance”, he added.
“Our hybrid approach is market-leading in terms of flexibility,” Elliott continued.
“We pair that with a network of remote working hubs that is unparalleled in [the Republic]. We are to the forefront of companies that recognise the value in blending in-person collaboration with remote working flexibility.
“We also know that colleagues who are meeting the requirement have a more positive experience of what it is like to work here, with higher engagement. For these reasons, achieving consistency is essential, requiring this approach.”
When the new hybrid policy was announced last year, the FSU said the arrangements were problematic and went against the views of staff.
The union referred Bank of Ireland to the Workplace Relations Commission over the changes last August.
John O’Connell, general secretary of the FSU, said it had given the bank “every opportunity to hold meaningful negotiations” over the proposed changes, which it said had been made unilaterally.
“The intransigence of BOI, their continued refusal to listen to the concerns of their staff, is a worrying and disturbing development,” he said, noting that the union has written to the Irish Banking Culture Board (IBCB) to bring the bank’s “recent behaviour” to is attention.