More than 10,000 financial sector employees affected by mergers
The many mergers in the financial sector are impacting thousands of employees. "Life must go on, but obviously, issues such as jobs and the future remain pressing," says the president of Finansforbundet.
Keeping a close eye on the situation
She paid attention when the plans for AL Sydbank were announced last week.
"It's becoming increasingly complex to run a bank, which is undoubtedly one of the drivers behind the consolidations we're now witnessing. In that light, the model in place for AL Sydbank seems sensible. Both from a business perspective and for the employees," says Dorrit Brandt.
At the same time, she has latched onto CEO Mark Luscombe’s comments about synergies.
“We're not blind to the fact that cost synergies are also mentioned in the AL Sydbank plans. That's very often the case in mergers, but I'm noticing the ambitions of finding solutions by natural wastage."
"We'll keep as close an eye on this part as possible, because the visions for AL Sydbank require employees to run the business," Dorrit Brandt says.
A loss or potential
Generally, employees find it quite emotional when they suddenly have to appear at a work place with a new name on the door. Or when they, as employees, get new colleagues from an entirely different corporate culture.
"As an employee, you identify yourself with your place of work, and many employees in the sector give their life's blood to their jobs. Understandably, it may therefore feel like a loss when a merger is carried out," explains Dorrit Brandt.
But she also believes that these cultural meetings have great potential.
"When you succeed in creating a new culture with the best from more worlds. It’s very important to keep in mind that a merger is not simply an organisational exercise, but a cultural journey whose goal is a new shared story about who you are,” Dorrit Brandt says.
Ready to help
Dorrit Brandt finds it important to emphasise that the members affected may ask for help both locally at the workplace, where they will find their union representatives, and centrally from Finansforbundet.
“Merger processes naturally give rise to lots of questions, but unfortunately, many of them may not necessarily be answered straight away. We're focused on engaging in a close dialogue with our local delegates to ensure that we're available to members during the sudden changes they're facing. These may be experienced very differently, but our priority is to be as present and available as possible," she says.