Westpac is not ruling out potential job cuts amid reports it is planning to shed more than 1500 positions.
According to sources who spoke to the Nine newspaper anonymously, managers have been instructed to assess how they will reduce their teams’ workforce by 5% in the next few months.
Westpac, which employs over 30,000 people in Australia, is planning another round of job cuts following its first-half results released this month, which fell short of investor expectations.
A spokesperson for Westpac told 9news.com.au they could not confirm precise numbers, but confirmed some redundancies were under being considered.
“We adjust the composition of our workforce according to our investment priorities,” the spokesperson said.
“Although we are continuing to invest in hiring more bankers and customer service positions, certain programs and initiatives might require fewer resources. As a result, we occasionally make adjustments that could affect some job roles and responsibilities.
“As the skills and capabilities required in banking continue to evolve, so will our workforce.
“We try to keep as many employees as we can, through retraining and redeployment.”
The spokesperson also said Westpac hired nearly 5000 people over the past year.
Any 5 per cent cut in staff numbers would mean 1700 staff exiting the company, based on Westpac’s last publicly available full-time head count.
It would be in addition to the nearly 900 full-time jobs shed in the last financial year.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has been cutting jobs in the wake of last week’s quarterly results.
The Finance Sector Union said yesterday managers have announced they were shedding 163 positions.
This brings the redundancies across CBA and Bankwest to nearly 800 over the past year.
