Barclays laying off 450 in U.K., possibly 5% of global trading division

Barclays will cut 450 employees from its domestic retail business in the U.K. this week, according to Bloomberg.

The move is part of a two-pronged plan that could also see 5% of the bank’s client-facing employees in its global trading division let go.

People familiar with the layoffs tell news outlets that the cuts are part of Barclays’ annual campaign to fire underperforming employees.

“We always continually modulate and modify that workforce,” Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan told CNBC on Monday.

“What you see at Barclays is no different than what you see anywhere else.”

Major layoffs continue

The latest round of job cuts at Barclays comes amid a flurry of layoffs in 2023.

Major North American companies, including Volvo, Wells Fargo, Roku, RBC, Dell, Telus, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta, are significantly scaling back their staffing levels as they continue to navigate challenging economic conditions.

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• Where are layoffs happening in Canada?

Termination agreements for Barclays employees

In Canada, non-unionized employees at the U.K.-based bank are owed full severance pay when they lose their jobs due to downsizing, corporate restructuring, or the closure of the business.

This includes individuals working full-time, part-time, or hourly in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C.

People working “on contract” or as a contractor may also be owed severance pay — given that many employees in Canada are often misclassified as independent contractors.

Severance can be as much as 24 months’ pay, depending on a number of factors.

LEARN MORE
• Rights to severance for federally regulated employees
• Severance entitlements during mass layoffs
• Severance packages in a recession

WATCH: Employment lawyer Lior Samfiru explains what rights employees have if they are being fired or let go on an episode of the Employment Law Show.

Before you accept any severance offer, have an experienced employment lawyer at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP review it and your employment contract.

We can tell you if what you have been provided is fair and how to get proper severance if it falls short of what you are actually owed.

If you don’t receive the full amount, which happens often, you have been wrongfully dismissed and are entitled to compensation.

In some cases, employers pressure staff into accepting poor severance packages, such as imposing a deadline for accepting the offer.

Non-unionized employees in Canada have up to two years from the date of their dismissal to pursue a claim for full severance pay.