Forced IT retrenchments a last resort: Sasbo
Despite only 62 positions being made available for the 148 affected employees of Standard Bank‘s IT department restructure, finance union Sasbo says that forced retrenchments will only be considered after all other avenues have been explored.
Earlier in June, Standard Bank announced that, after a thorough review of its IT operations, which revealed areas of inefficiencies and duplication, it would be restructuring its IT department, affecting 148 employees.
In an effort to minimize the effects of the restructure process, Standard Bank said it would work with finance union, Sasbo, in reappointing as many employees as it could within the bank.
Staff affected by the move had until Friday (28 June 2012) to apply for 62 positions available at the bank, according to Sasbo assistant general secretary, Eugene Ebersohn.
Ebersohn said that the union is never happy with retrenchments, but it understands that the law allows for restructuring to take place.
“In this case, we are comfortable that the bank did follow the provisions of the law, so our next aim would be to make the process as painless as possible and give staff options. In this case we believe staff do have options.”
If any staff are not placed or did not apply for voluntary packages by Friday, they will still be guaranteed employment until the end of September, Ebersohn said.
During this time, the bank will still have opportunities to place affected employees in alternative positions.
“Only at the end of this period, if there are staff who have not been placed, will forced retrenchments take place,” Ebersohn said.
According to Ebersohn, employees who do not get re-appointed, or those who chose not to re-apply, will be offered an incentive of a 50% enhancement to the agreed retrenchment calculation.
“As an example, if an employee would have received R50,000 as a normal retrenchment package, s/he will receive R75,000 (50% more) under the enhanced/incentivised calculation,” Ebersohn said.
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