Staff at AIB are in line for average pay increases of 2.2 per cent following recommendations made by the Workplace Relations Commission.
The proposals, formulated by the commission's director of conciliation Anna Perry, have been accepted by the bank's senior management and the Financial Services Union (FSU), which will ballot its members in the coming weeks.
The pay increases will not apply to AIB's executive directors, Bernard Byrne and Mark Bourke, or its seven-strong leadership team, who head the bank's various units.
The commission has recommended increases based on individuals’ performance ranging from 0.9 per cent up to 3 per cent for top performers.
In addition, the FSU, known until this week as the Irish Bank Officials Association, has secured an extension of the job security agreement up to February 2018.
Commenting on the recommendations, FSU general secretary Larry Broderick said: "It acknowledges the contribution that staff have made to turning around the bank and the bank's achievement in profitability and, very importantly, commits the bank to further discussions with the union on new job roles and salary structures for the future."
He said the recommendation that the existing job security agreement, which prevents AIB from engaging in compulsory redundancies arising from restructuring, would be extended was a “significant development” given the amount of change taking place within the bank.
Negotiations on this pay deal took place over the past number of months, facilitated by the commission. “AIB Group has confirmed its acceptance of the WRC recommendation,” the bank said in a statement.
Separately, a survey of financial services workers has found that a majority believe they are suffering from poor wellbeing due to issues with their workplace. The findings were contained in a study conducted by Ulster University on behalf of the FSU, which involved 1,100 employees in March 2016.
It found that 60 per cent of respondents felt they suffered from poor wellbeing while some 58 per cent said that their work area was not appropriately staffed. Just 13 per cent felt that they worked in a “great place”.
Dr Robert Kerr, the report's author, said: "The survey investigated six key areas of work design that, if not properly managed, are associated with poor health and wellbeing, lower productivity and increased sickness absence.
“The results were scored and compared with 30 organisations in the Republic and 136 organisations within the UK. Overall, the results were very poor.”
Speaking at the FSU’s delegate conference, Mr Broderick said: “Of particular concern are issues to do with workload, work patterns and working environment. Employees feel they have unachievable deadlines, unrealistic time pressures and have to work very fast, neglecting some tasks because they have too much to do.
“That is an intolerable situation, which is bad for employees and bad for customers. We will continue to press employers in the sector to take a more realistic approach to the burdens they are placing on employees.”
The survey also found that almost two-thirds of respondents are not confident about their future, with half fearing further job losses.
