The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Financial Services Financial And Insurance Activities Financial Service Activities, Except Insurance And Pension Funding 64.19 - Other monetary intermediation
760 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
26 July 2021
Employment effect (start)
26 July 2021
Foreseen end date
31 December 2021
Description
Portuguese bank Millennium BCP is planning to cut up between 800 and 900 jobs as part of its ongoing restructuring programme. Company's executive president stated that COVID-19 crisis was just a 'trend accelerator', but the restructuring is mainly due to customers' preference for 'the convenience of digital channels'.
Workers will be able to reach an agreement with the bank, although management admits that there is no voluntary exit plan. According to the source, the bank may proceed with the redundancies if the number can not be reached through an agreement with the employees.
Unions fear that the number of laid-off workers can get to a thousand workers.
In the last year, 217 employees left the company's operations in Portugal and 35 branches were closed.
Updated, 27/08/2021 - According to the company's CEO, negotiations with workers and unions were successful. It was possible to reach an agreement with about 80% of the workers contacted. He adds that the number of workers affected by the restructuring plan has been updated to the lower figure of 760.
Updated, 10/09/2021 - 80% of the workers covered by the restructuring programme left the bank voluntarily. After completing this phase, the new one will culminate in the collective dismissal of the remaining 62 workers from ten different areas. As mentioned by the administration, 'the workers covered by this procedure were involved in the previous negotiation phase and will be individually informed through specific communication from the human resources department'.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
