ANZ spends $10m to offset offshoring

The Australia and New Zealand Banking group has committed money to re-skill its employees affected by offshoring jobs to the technology and operations centre in Bangalore, India.

The money was part of a package negotiated with the Finance Sector Union (FSU).

When announcing the package, the bank's group general manager for HR Susie Babani said that it was a tougher market now for people who had lost their jobs to offshoring than it had been when ANZ started growing its technology and operations centre in India.

The package had three components: increasing internal redeployment, $10 million for training those leaving the bank, and setting up a fund for those former employees who faced financial hardship after leaving the bank.

"These new initiatives demonstrate ANZ and the FSU can work together to continue to deliver responsible outcomes for our staff in these more difficult times," Babani said.

The Financial Sector Union welcomed the package although it still opposed sending work offshore.

Since October 2008, the bank said it had sent 500 additional roles overseas, with 90 full-time staff made redundant and 160 contract roles finishing. ANZ currently has 3500 staff working in Bangalore.