Morale of the staff working at HSBC (in the UK) is low after its boss was ousted and staff prepare for a wave of job cuts, according to an internal survey.
The bank, whose headquarters in a Canary Wharf skyscraper has been nicknamed by some staff as the “Tower of Doom”, has suffered a drop in employee confidence everywhere apart from a few Latin American countries, according to a review completed by 100,000 staff.
The Telegraph reports that “HSBC is preparing to axe another 10,000 jobs as it struggles in a world of ultra-low interest rates. The worst cuts are expected in its European arm – which excludes the UK – where results were particularly bad with only 38pc of staff saying they are confident about the future.”
Confidence across the wider bank fell 8 percentage points to 66pc, Bloomberg reported.
Earlier this month it was announced that the bank was set to unveil a new round of job cuts targeting senior international managers and reduce its presence in some smaller markets as part of a wider strategy overhaul, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The changes are expected to be part of a strategy update interim Chief Executive Noel Quinn will unveil on Feb. 18 with a view to boosting the profitability of Europe’s biggest bank by assets in a tough operating environment, the people said.
Quinn’s bid to restructure HSBC comes amid slowing economic growth in its major markets, an outbreak of the fast-spreading coronavirus, Britain’s protracted withdrawal from the European Union, and lower interest rates.
