Arbitrators report on hybrid working accepted by FSU and Bank of Ireland.

The Financial Services Union (FSU) and Bank of Ireland (BOI) have accepted the final report from the arbitrator appointed to adjudicate on the dispute between the bank and the union on hybrid working.

The arbitrator, Liam Doherty presented his final report to the union and BOI at the end of last week

The main points in the arbitrator’s report are as follows:

• Hybrid eligible staff should work in-person 8 days/month. In-person work includes working from a BOI office building or hub, or taking a meeting with colleagues, customers, or suppliers at another site.
• 3 new hubs will open, with locations to be mutually agreed with the union this year. This is in addition to the 5 new hubs already agreed with the union in Sligo, Letterkenny, Tralee, Tullamore, and Wexford.
• Staff have the right to request an exception and to have their request heard by an independent person. Staff have the right to appeal the outcome of their exception and have their appeal heard by an external, independent person.
• The number of days per month is pro-rated based on the number of days that a person works in the month.
• All pre-existing arrangements will be honoured.
• The bank will continue to engage with the union on issues relating to the hybrid working model. In the case that disagreement arises regarding the application of these terms, the bank and the union agree to follow our normal dispute resolution procedures.

Commenting on the outcome Caitleen Desetti said:

“The workplace  is constantly changing, and hybrid work is now accepted as an increasingly more favourable way of working for both the employee and the employer.

The negotiations with the bank have been intense and  engagement over pre-existing arrangements and appeals will continue but an independent  mechanism is now agreed on both of these items.

We will continue  to challenge some implementation issues, including the use of swipe data for performance ratings,  and we welcome the banks restatement that any  further changes will follow our normal dispute resolution procedures.

The last six months have been a challenging time for a lot of our members whose way of working  changed.  This agreement will give certainty to workers for the foreseeable future.”