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 Insurance, Reinsurance And Pension Funding, Except Compulsory Social Security 65 - Insurance, reinsurance and pension funding, except compulsory social security
New offshoring locations
250 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
25 September 2006
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date
Description
Insurance firm Scottish Widows has announced the closure of its Chatham operation, threatening 250 jobs. The company, owned by Lloyds TSB, is transferring 75 of the positions based in the Kent town to India. Other employees face being moved to Tonbridge or Edinburgh, or redundancy. The Amicus union said it was deeply concerned at the job losses and did not want to see the organisation disappear in a 'death by a thousand cuts'. Workers leaving the Chatham office on Monday confirmed the news. In a statement, Amicus said it had received an assurance from Scottish Widows that the extension of the company's plan to offshore more work would not lead to any job losses. David Fleming, national secretary, said: 'We are engaging with the company regarding their longer term offshoring strategy.' 'Although there are no compulsory redundancies on this occasion, we want to send a clear message that the union takes a "zero tolerance" approach to compulsory redundancies from offshoring.'
Sources
25 September 2006: BBC News
Citation
Eurofound (2006), Scottish Widows, Offshoring/Delocalisation in United Kingdom, factsheet number 64166, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/64166.
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.
