Closer cooperation, clearer communication
A summary of the annual report from Finansforbundet in Nordea.
A summary of the annual report from Finansforbundet in Nordea.
Read the full report in Danish
“Our ambition is that nobody – neither members nor management – should be in doubt about what we stand for. We’ve been communicating a lot to our members through Intra, union representatives, e-mails and videos. When the bank announced its decision to cut costs in Q3, we urged them to look into how to increase business and profits , and we did so also in the external media,” says Dorrit Brandt, President of Finansforbundet in Nordea in Denmark.
Members’ wellbeing in Nordea is under pressure. A Nordic survey showed that 9 per cent had been sick due to stress within the past 12 months. The bank’s decision to cut costs has increased the level of insecurity and fear and many feel isolated at work because they work in Nordic teams with co-workers and managers far away.
Dorrit Brandt and Mette Balck Mejlby were elected as the new presidency at the Annual General Meeting in 2019. They experience closer cooperation with the bank – not just with the People organisation but also with the business areas.
“Closer cooperation is the way forward. The fact that we’re cooperating with the bank’s management doesn’t mean we agree on everything. We ask many critical questions, challenge business cases and highlight risks caused by the changes,” says Vice President Mette Balck Mejlby.
Nordea wants to save costs by moving tasks to Poland. The number of Nordea employees in Poland is approaching 5,000.
“It’s a difficult discussion for me. I don’t want to criticise my Polish co-workers, who are as much part of Nordea as my colleagues in the Nordics. But I want to challenge the nearshoring strategy and the strategy behind the business case. It may lead to a decreased value chain, brain drain and fewer career opportunities for our Danish members,” says Dorrit Brandt.
From job security to career security
Finansforbundet has worked several years to improve the members’ employability in order to ensure that each member has strong competencies, enabling them to easily find another job, should the current job disappear.
“Nordea has put external recruitment on hold because of New Phase. This means that vacant positions will be offered to internal candidates. We support the bank’s job mobility set-up and help in writing unsolicited applications and we hope it will work,” says Dorrit Brandt.
The challenge is that the bank has reduced its learning activities. The risk is that employees who are moved internally to other jobs will not be able to develop their competencies sufficiently to perform their new tasks.
Join the Annual General Meeting!
Finansforbundet in Nordea invites all members to our virtual Annual General Meeting Thursday, the 18th of June from 3.00 pm to 5.15 pm.
Read more about the Annual General Meeting (scroll down for English text)