Banking group Barclays has announced the cutting of 5% of its global workforce by the end of the year. Beyond disappointing quarterly results, Barclays primarily intends to free up the funds needed to invest in artificial intelligence, which trade unions regard as an excuse to justify redundancies.
On 22 October, Barclays announced the cutting of 5,000 full-time equivalent roles (out of 98,000) over the next two months to meet its commitment to save £1.1 billion (€1.3 billion). “60% of these cuts involve support roles, including developer positions, at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is making our employees more productive,” said Anna Cross, Chief Financial Officer of the British banking group.
These support roles, or back-office functions, are predominantly administrative or technical positions, and cutting them is intended to “simplify operations”, in the company’s words.
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Article authors
Emeline Vin
Freelance