Halifax and Lloyds Banking Group staff outraged after firm forced changes to staff working hours

The company has told employees they must come into the office two days a week and made changes to “compressed” working hours.

Staff who previously condensed five days of work into four longer days, for example, have been told this is no longer an option.

Lloyds said it had not “ended” the practice and there would be some exceptions.

A furious employee who contacted the Courier anonymously said thousands of complaints were raised on the company’s intranet when the announcement was made.

They said: “The comments were a really upsetting read, as people really opened up on what this meant to them and their families and the huge impact on their pocket to find additional childcare or sacrifice caring for elderly relatives.

"I’ve never seen that level of anger from colleagues before.”

There are more than 4,000 people in Halifax who work for the finance giant.

The firms has two corporate centres in the town centre, at Trinity Road and the Collinsons Building.

Banking union Accord said: “Many Accord members have been in touch with us already to express their shock, disappointment and anger at what they see as unnecessary disruption to their lives."We want to make clear that LBG has not asked the union for an agreement on the proposed changes. If it did, it wouldn’t get one.

“These changes will do immediate and tangible damage to members’ working lives, work/life balance and their family budgets.

"Any benefits to Lloyds Banking Group are not immediate or tangible in our view.

"Even if the changes can be introduced for the target population, we believe there will be a tremendous loss of goodwill and other currently unforeseen negative consequences.

“It’s a reasonable and lawful request under the employment contract to ask employees to have exploratory conversations about changing their working arrangements and to agree those changes if possible.

“But some people will not be able to commit to the new requirements without suffering significant personal difficulties.

“In our view, as the employer is initiating the potential changes, it should listen to what colleagues have to say and agree not to implement change where it would cause significant personal difficulty, or it should provide tangible support to enable and facilitate the change it looks for.”

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: “Our hybrid approach to working has been in place since 2021 and has worked well in supporting our customers, while many of our colleagues have also benefited from flexible working patterns.

"Today’s announcement brings clarity on our hybrid approach moving forward and will enable us to continue to best meet the evolving needs of our customers.’”

The firm said it wanted to combine the “best of remote-working with the value of in-person experiences from being in the office”.

It said the changes put it in line with other companies in the market.

Halifax is a brand of the Lloyds Banking Group.