Swindon building society to axe 500 jobs

Nationwide building society looks set to axe 500 workers.

The Swindon lender said that 500 workers are at risk of redundancy as part of an overhaul of head office operations.

Nationwide said the redundancy consultation is part of a ‘streamlining’ to improve efficiency and help it direct investment to other parts of the business.

The building said it expects 200 workers to leave, following a process which will seek to find some new roles.

Nationwide said ‘customer-facing colleagues’ will not be affected by the shake-up, as it reiterates its commitment to running branches across the country.

A spokesperson said: “Our strategy is to give customers greater value, better products and a distinctive customer experience.

“To do this our systems and operations must be best-in-class and we need to be more agile and efficient.

“We are streamlining some of our head office teams and expect around 200 people to leave the society.

“This will enable us to increase investment in the value and service we provide our customers.

“We have worked hard to keep the number of affected colleagues to a minimum and are ensuring we provide the right support for those impacted.”

The move also comes a day after the building society said it was ending its ‘work anywhere policy’.

The company will now require staff to return to the office for at least two days a week for full-time employees from early next year.