Hundreds of workers at the Brierley Hill base of Egg are preparing to leave their posts as the cull in the workforce gets under way.
A hundred will be left at the end of April following a decision to slash the 450-strong workforce by 350.
Workers were given the opportunity to transfer to the internet bank’s Derby headquarters but the Express & Star understands the majority have taken redundancy and will leave over the next four weeks. With three quarters of the workforce cut, the future of the building is in doubt.
It is believed Egg is considering putting it up for sale following the move to cut jobs in a cost-cutting exercise.
Adrian Russell, bank spokesman, refused to disclose exactly how many workers had taken redundancy. “We have been working very hard with our employees to help them find alternative employment and have held in-house job shops, as well as meeting with local employers and organisations,” he said.
“We offered relocation packages to everyone involved but some have taken redundancy. We do not have the exact figures of how many are leaving the company as the consultation process does not finish until the end of March.”
Jobs are being slashed in technology and operations. The financial crimes department, which detects banking fraud, will be the only unit remaining at the Brierley Hill base.
One worker, who did not want to be named, said:”It’s no surprise that most people wanted to leave instead of commuting to Derby 56 miles away.
“It’s a very sad atmosphere there at the moment because such a huge number of people are affected.”
The decision to axe jobs was announced in November. It came just months after the workforce was assured their jobs were safe.
Citi, the US-owned bank that bought Egg for £575 million this year, promised staff in April 2007 that they would not be affected by plans to slash 17,000 from the company’s worldwide workforce.
This month the boss of Egg Ian Kerr announced he would be resigning.
By Becky Sharpe
Share this article:
What are these?