{"id":445137,"date":"2026-04-20T19:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/445137\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:04:12","slug":"union-to-raise-concern-over-bank-of-irelands-hybrid-working-crackdown-with-data-watchdog-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/445137\/","title":{"rendered":"Union to raise concern over Bank of Ireland\u2019s hybrid working crackdown with data watchdog \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Financial Services Union (FSU)<\/a> has said it strongly opposes Bank of Ireland\u2019s intention to link staff office attendance to performance ratings and that it plans to raise concerns about the collection and processing of staff swipe-in data with the Data Protection Commission.<\/p>\n

Bank of Ireland<\/a> said on Monday that staff could face disciplinary proceedings if they do not meet the lender\u2019s minimum office attendance policy, introduced last year. <\/p>\n

Most employees of the bank are required to attend the office for at least two days a week, or eight days a month, under the policy, which was criticised by the FSU last year. <\/p>\n

In an email to staff on Monday, Bank of Ireland\u2019s chief people officer Matt Elliott said that not enough staff are meeting the minimum requirements. <\/p>\n

To combat non-attendance, he said that from June, all swipe-in data for colleagues would be visible and reported on a monthly basis to line managers. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis will show the number of days each month that each of us attends a Bank of Ireland office or hub,\u201d Elliott said. <\/p>\n

Attendance records will also be taken into account as part of employee performance assessments. <\/p>\n

\"\"Has the fuel protest shown that the loudest lobby generally gets what they want?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf any colleague is not meeting the minimum in-person requirement, they will receive a full year rating of \u2018inconsistent\u2019, unless the line manager deems there to be good reason,\u201d Elliott said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, performance rating impacts any bonus the group may award, and future pay increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Failure to meet the attendance requirement can also result in disciplinary proceedings, \u201cas it would for any matter of non-compliance\u201d, he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur hybrid approach is market-leading in terms of flexibility,\u201d Elliott continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe also know that colleagues who are meeting the requirement have a more positive experience of what it is like to work here, with higher engagement. For these reasons, achieving consistency is essential, requiring this approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a text message sent to its members in Bank of Ireland on Monday, the FSU said it strongly opposes the crackdown. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a serious departure from commitments previously given to the union by the bank, where they stated that they would not be monitoring any individual digital swipes,\u201d the union said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have data protection concerns about the collection, processing, and use of your individual swipe-in data for performance management and disciplinary purposes. We will be raising these matters with the Data Protection Commission and the Bank as a matter of urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the new hybrid policy was announced last year, the FSU said the arrangements were problematic and went against the views of staff. <\/p>\n

The union referred Bank of Ireland to the Workplace Relations Commission over the changes last August.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the FSU told its Bank of Ireland members that it will \u201cin good faith\u201d attend an arbitration session scheduled for Tuesday, April 21st. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, the union is asking staff to email Bank of Ireland\u2019s human resources department and their line managers with their views on Monday\u2019s developments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Financial Services Union (FSU) has said it strongly opposes Bank of Ireland\u2019s intention to link staff office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[625,79,18,78389,19,17,81],"class_list":["post-445137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bank-of-ireland","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-financial-services-union","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116438595586797691","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}