Not only does AIB appear to be getting rid of 500 more people than originally anticipated, it appears to be paying them exceptionally poor redundancy packages

An announcement on AIB’s redundancies appears to be coming. According to Bloomberg, the number has been upped: AIB will not be letting go of 2,000 people as declared last April, it will be letting go of 2,500.

The departures will, apparently, be announced sometime very soon – maybe even this week. The Guardian says the redundancies will be announced on Thursday. Bloomberg says the additional 500 cuts are all down to a need to eliminate overlaps with the building society EBS, which AIB acquired in July. According to the Irish Times, EBS only employs 634 people – suggesting nearly everyone there is at risk of redundancy.

Who will be the other 2,000 unlucky AIB staff?

Operations, IT, risk HR, and finance professionals seem most at risk. AIB is in the middle of a ‘One Bank’ change programme aimed at eliminating overlaps in all these areas. This appears to be creating friction internally: AIB chief executive David Duffy sent an email only this week calling for trust and unity in the face of the changes.

Particularly depressingly, AIB appears to be preparing to pay its newly redundant staff much reduced redundancy packages. According to the Independent, employees are likely to be offered only 3 weeks per year of service. Last June, we were told AIB was paying 8 weeks per year of service. Ulster Bank is said to be paying 3.5 weeks per year of service. Bank of Ireland is said to be paying 4.

While AIB is busy expelling all sorts of staff from support functions, it still seems to be hiring in other areas. The Independentalso reported this week that AIB’s recruited 100 contract staff and graduates in recent weeks. The contract staff are said to have specialist skills and the graduates are understood to be, “primarily low paid.”