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ANZ staff are shocked after an email glitch saw the bank prematurely notify a number of employees that their positions had been terminated.
An email to staff that had been marked for redundancy was sent early, detailing their final date of work as well as instructions on handing back their company laptops, all before staff were notified that jobs were being made redundant.
Earlier this week, a crisis meeting attended by roughly 300 staff was held. It is unclear how many staff were made redundant.
While ANZ has not disclosed how many staff received the emails, the bank did say it halted email sends once the issue was identified. Staff were then rushed into rescheduled meetings the same day.
“A few weeks ago, I announced changes to our leadership structure in Australian Retail,” said Bruce Rush, ANZ acting group executive for Australian Retail.
“Earlier today, automated emails were sent to some Group 2 and 3 individuals ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, these emails indicate an exit date for some of our colleagues before we’ve been able to share the outcome with them.
“It was not our intention to share such sensitive news this way, and I apologise unconditionally.
“I deeply regret the distress this situation may have caused. Please know that we are committed to treating every colleague with dignity and respect as we move through the process.”
ANZ has reportedly offered psychological counselling to those impacted.
Finance Sector Union president Wendy Streets condemned the mistake and said that ANZ had not yet spoken to the union about the issue.
“This is a disgusting way for workers to learn about job cuts, through a botched email instead of a respectful conversation,” Streets told The Sydney Morning Herald.
The redundancies follow a company restructure that was announced earlier this month affecting its technology division. While the restructure did not explicitly state it was AI related, the company has also begun using Now Assist generative AI tools within its ServiceNow operations.
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