REMOTE WORKING AGREEMENTS have been reached between hundreds of AIB staff and the bank following months of negotiation, the Financial Services Union (FSU) has said.

AIB’s original return-to-office protocol, which was announced without consultation in July, caused “significant backlash” as it did not allow staff to work from the company’s 47 staff hubs or 170 bank branches on days when they are mandated to work in the office.

In practice, this meant the vast majority of AIB employees who had been working remotely would have had to travel to Dublin from next month.

Today, the FSU said AIB has agreed to apply “maximum flexibility” and will now allow hundreds of its 10,000 plus workforce to go back to their pre-existing remote work arrangements.

The Financial Services Union and AIB have agreed to continue talks in January under the guidance of a third-party mediator, Kevin Duffy, the former chairperson of the Labour Court to resolve remaining issues.

Duffy has laid down criteria for the implementation of return-to-work policies, which include the requirement that base locations must be confirmed in writing and maximum flexibility is to be applied.

Management in the company are also to apply maximum flexibility to individual requests. 

John O’Connell, general secretary of the FSU said: “This has been a very challenging time for AIB staff, and the FSU will continue to work with the independent mediator to resolve outstanding issues of concern.”

“As a union we have pushed for improvements that make the bank’s hybrid approach work better for staff and the employer.

“We have made significant progress with hundreds of individual cases for exemption receiving a positive result. The FSU will continue to represent members individual cases to the bank for exemptions.”

In November, the union referred the remote working issue to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) after AIB workers “overwhelmingly” voted to reject new hybrid working principles put forward by the bank.

However, today O’Connell said “it is in the interest of all that when talks resume in January a resolution is reached that is good for staff and meets the requirements of the Bank”.

A spokesperson for AIB said: “AIB engaged extensively with the Financial Services Union and as a result of those discussions we drafted our Hybrid Working Principles.”

“We provided flexibilities for our people, including the use of our 47 local working hubs across the country as an alternative to attending their base location on one of their weekly onsite attendance days, subject to availability and agreement.

“We will continue to engage with our people on our updated hybrid working arrangements, which will come into effect as planned on January 1st, while also continuing to engage with the FSU using our normal industrial relations process.”

The news comes days after AIB staff living in Northern Ireland and working in the Republic have been told they must work five days a week in an office in the Republic of Ireland or face termination.