Westpac to move 250 employees from Wellington to Auckland

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WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2400841 17-Jan-2020 16:02

Having just been through a very similar experience myself, it will be a very, very difficult time for those affected staff.

In my previous role, I was given over 12 months notice of the closing of the Wellington office. In my position I was given a deadline to say whether or not I'd relocate to a Auckland position.

It's very challenging to stay motivated in these circumstances when you know you're not going to relocate, if that's what the individual decides.

These sort of relocations not only impact the employee, but also potentially the employees wider family, uplifting wives/partners, kid's, and it may mean moving away from family for some.

sbiddle

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#2400854 17-Jan-2020 16:16

timmmay:

They probably do realise, but the value of having everyone in one location probably outweighs the inconvenience and new hires required.

But what values are there having "everybody together". It seems many companies are increasingly moving the opposite way, particularly when it comes to risk aversion.

timmmay

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#2400861 17-Jan-2020 16:26

sbiddle:

But what values are there having "everybody together". It seems many companies are increasingly moving the opposite way, particularly when it comes to risk aversion.

Having worked in two exceptionally similar environments, the communication and relationship building benefits are huge. Yes, there are downsides as well.

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2400862 17-Jan-2020 16:26

sbiddle:
timmmay:

They probably do realise, but the value of having everyone in one location probably outweighs the inconvenience and new hires required.

But what values are there having "everybody together". It seems many companies are increasingly moving the opposite way, particularly when it comes to risk aversion.

Also in these situations, you can document your role and responsibilities to a high standard, but institutional knowledge is a lot harder to transfer to someone else.

Handle9

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#2400865 17-Jan-2020 16:39

BlakJak:

timmmay:

They probably do realise, but the value of having everyone in one location probably outweighs the inconvenience and new hires required.

Yep. Commercial realities not limited by particular employees.
Sad but true.

Given that the employees are not on the revenue side of the business the relative importance of retention is lower.

Their would have been an expectation of significant attrition. This will effectively be downsizing as well as centralization.

PolicyGuy

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#2400870 17-Jan-2020 16:51

sbiddle:
Both Spark and Vodafone have struck similar issues over recent years where those jumping for voluntary redundancies has resulted in massive losses within the organisation without them really comprehending this at the time.

And they will quite likely find that the people they can least afford to lose will be the ones to go.

I can imagine the IT Support Manager saying "but I think we'll lose 3 of our 5 Team Leaders and at least three of the senior CICS guys, they're all over 62 and will just retire early with that big legacy redundancy package"
Thirty-something HR drone: "Brian, you're saying that like it's a problem"

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Hammerer

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#2400871 17-Jan-2020 16:59

The commercial reality is that Westpac can make their support services work well in either location. Rising commercial rentals in Wellington will have made the current decision easier.

The decision to move will have been made largely for preferred conveniences of some sort which includes the opportunity to utilise soon to be available floorspace. The flavour of prevailing objectives tend to swing it one way or the other rather than an overwhelming advantage in any comparison. The arguments to centralise or decentralise are a good example of this.

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