78 jobs lost at Kilkenny call centre

There has been a significant blow for employment in county Kilkenny with the announcement that 78 jobs are to be lost at a leading banking provider.

Banking365, Bank of Ireland’s web, app and phone-based banking service based in Loughboy in the city, told staff via skype their jobs were being phased out.

The 78 staff affected are all temporary staff and the jobs will be phased out over the next six months.

It is understood all of the staff affected had only recently taken up positions, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic the expected raft of full-time positions available to them have not materialised.

All the staff affected work at Banking365’s call centre facility.

Bank of Ireland told KilkennyNow.ie in a statement, that the roles had to be assessed in light of the Covid-19 crisis and ‘unfortunately’ BOI were not able to create full-time positions for the Kilkenny staff.

“In recent months, we have seen the impact of COVID-19 on our customers and on our business in a range of ways,” the statement said.

“One impact is on the roles we have available at our Direct Channels operations in Kilkenny and Tallaght. These locations are an extremely important part of our customer service operations, employing both permanent and contract staff.

“Prior to the onset of the current pandemic, attrition levels in Direct Channels were at a level where we would often be able to offer permanent positions with Bank of Ireland to contract staff at the end of their contract period. However, since COVID, the number of vacancies arising within the business has significantly decreased. This development, coupled with expected efficiencies in our processes, unfortunately means that a number of contract positions will come to an end from late June 2020 to January 2021.

“We have communicated with all those impacted by this today, and our CPL partners have set out a range of supports which are available at this time including HR clinics and workshops over the coming days,” the statement concluded.