1. Recently changed to an unrecognisable *Fred the Shred* type bank.
2. Colleagues hired nationwide with 1 day a month to 1 day a week in office- all agreed in interviews, now all told to RTO 3 days a week, and CEO said like it or leave
3. Vastly effects women negatively, not all but many have a greater share of childcare responsibilities.
Company has gone back to the 90s for inequality and pushing women out.
Where their child used to come home from school, watch TV/do homework while remote worker works in home office. Not now.
Remote worker must travel to office to sit with headphones and laptop from home, to large (300+ person floor) open plan, v brightly lit, noisy office, high traffic areas of people, in rows of desks next to each other, to try and conduct customer calls and make financial decisions), not speaking to colleagues as we still have to on teams 😆 - then drive home at end of day.
So now have to pay for childcare or find neighbours or family to watch them
4. We all know this has been done to make people leave for free.
So no payment for redundancies, instead forcing people to leave of their own accord.
Weekly resignations now so CEO achieved what they wanted.
5. The most talented people are leaving, those with high level skills, experience, awards will not drive to a little village, from Birmingham, Nottingham, Yorkshire, Carlisle, etc 3 days a week, they'll find a company that values them.
6. In 2025 lots were hired nationwide to work remote, agreed at interview.
January 2026 all changed now, nevermind the upheaval of leaving jobs to work for Skipton, learned the Skipton way, the systems, the customer journey, now have to find something else if you don't like it. Job hunting again, when you joined for a long term career.
7. Mentioned in the work releases that if Neurodiverse (ADHD, Dispraxia, Autism etc) they will try and make accomodations, including trying to find a quiet room.
So you drive an hour to 3 hrs from home, with your home laptop, to go alone into a room, sit with headphones on all day making calls, then at the end of the day you leave your solo room to travel home, all the time other colleagues know the person in the room has neurological or mental health difficulties. Talk about singling them out....
8. It's all people talk about. You sit in the office and people stand near talking, while you're on a headset on a call, trying to focus and you hear them discussing the RTO with words like diabolical, cost cutting, stressful, what can they do but leave.
I'm the cafe it's all you hear, loo cubicles!
9. Heard thr union got involved, then CEO settled on a minimum mileage from home 34 miles- allowed 2 days in office but he stated the miles were "as the crow flies"
Well none of us fly in a straight line to work.
We drove in cars, on A roads, on B roads, round bends, zig zagging, hills, diagonals, often twice the mileage as a crow fly measurement
10. Before the RTO was in place, was already so hard to get a parking space, we are told to drive to the castle and use their car park
So after a long drive, you can't park at work, you're expected to park in a castle car park and then walk down, across the busy road, towards the Skipton building, come rain or wind or snow.
In pitch black November to March.
Imagine how it will be once 2000 people have to go in.
11. ANPR being set up to check you're going in 3 times a week. George Orwell would laugh!
12. No allocated desks, so you hot desk, trying to find one with 2 well working monitors, the right level table, enough plugs, clean, is impossible most days.
13. We are told all the above is for collaboration.
Unless you're in advertising, social media, maybe restaurant, none of us know how this is logical, as most staff are on calls to customers on a headset all day.
You can't walk over to someone to ask a question as they are either on calls or have headset on after to drown out the noise
So we all 'collaborate' via Teams!!
We know when someone is free, off the phone via teams and call them.
Ok let's all drive hours to the office to collaborate on a teams call.
