Why Barclays should think twice about letting staff go in favour of artificial intelligence - Jayne Dowle

I recently had to set up a new bank account for my father and if my experience attempting to do it online is anything to go by, Barclays should think twice about letting 5,000 members of staff go in favour of artificial intelligence (AI).

Although I have learned to become fairly adept with technology, it took about six frustrating weeks to get this account up and running online and with the app, because digital systems kept getting dad’s mobile telephone number wrong. Don’t even mention the useless ‘chatbot’ which I ended up wanting to punch.

Whatever I tried - and staff on the phone did their best - the online registration process simply refused to accept the change to a correct sequence of figures.

Special codes were sent in the post and didn’t work, even the customer service staff couldn’t come up with a solution.

Time started to tick by; this is a special account mandated to pay for dad’s social care fees and the first invoice was becoming due. In the end, I went into the local branch and the very kind lady on the help desk sorted it all out for me.

I was fortunate - and vindicated - in choosing a bank, NatWest, which still has a branch in the town centre. Several people I asked for advice had suggested an online-only account such as Monzo, but I was wary. I picked it specifically because I knew that if there was ever an unsurmountable issue I could go in and speak to a real, live human being.

So it is concerning to learn that Barclays is introducing more AI (artificial intelligence) into its work processes.

The banking group says 1,000 posts have already been closed and it expects a further reduction of 4,000 to be completed by the end of this year. This amounts to around five per cent of its global workforce. It’s all in the name of cost-cutting and streamlining operations, part of an ongoing modernisation plan, focusing primarily on its UK retail banking arm, although the investment banking division is also affected.

The use of AI is the “icing on the cake” according to Barclays Group chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan, who added that the job cuts are the result of significant investment it is making in technology to simplify and improve its business.

“AI has an important role to play and may have a more important role to play in the future,” he says. “We will employ AI at scale. But AI is the icing on the cake not the cake. Because you need to do the infrastructure build to get the benefits of AI.”

It’s reported that the bank will be focussing cost reductions on UK retail banking, but it is understood that a significant proportion of the job cuts will fall in India, where much of the back office functions are situated.

Barclays is “using AI as an excuse to discard its loyal and long-suffering workforce”, says Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union that represents banking sector workers. “Employers should be focussed on upgrading employees' skills so that they remain employed as new technology changes the workplace. Instead, Barclays is guilty of taking a short-term, kneejerk approach.”

Graham makes a very good point, and one that should sound a warning bell across all sectors which carry out operations with technology.

Whilst it’s true that individual companies need to keep ahead of the curve in order to deliver the best possible consumer experience, it is equally the case that relying too heavily on AI - and putting thousands of people out of work in the process - is destined to cause difficulties.

Whilst businesses will always streamline their practices for efficiency - and profits, with Barclays reporting a 12 per cent rise in quarterly profits to £2.3bn the same day it announced the job cuts - surely they need to have some responsibility to their employees? And what about a collective conscience? What kind of society will we live in if employers simply stop caring about humans and rely on machines entirely?

Barclays is a global, highly-respected company and as Graham argues, it should be setting an example to others in terms of upskilling people to work with and alongside advancing technology, not consigning them to the scrap heap. HSBC, Standard Chartered and Danske Bank have also flagged AI-related job cuts this year.

Barclays’ spending on AI is increasing along with claims that these new tools can replace some of the basic tasks currently done by staff, such as administrative and programming work. We all know where that leads. Or do we?

Only a day after these 5,000 job cuts were announced, here in the UK we were warned that we are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks, state-sponsored terrorism and other threats, including Russia.