Bank of America and Barclays have taken steps that could be seen as populist, with the former announcing it will hire 1,000 extra apprentices and commit $150 million to workforce development organizations by 2031.
According to the bank, these apprenticeships will provide industry-recognized credentials and last about a year, with a focus on skills-based hiring and career mobility for roles that don’t require a bachelor’s degree.
Roughly 40% of Bank of America’s hires don’t have a bachelor’s degree, and the bank aims to spotlight its focus on this type of hiring.
Barclays, on the other hand, has made a partial concession on its demand for U.K.-based employees to return to the office three days a week, pushing the effective date to 2027 after facing pushback from a workers union.
The 1,000 new apprentices will be in addition to the over 800 the bank already hires every year, and will provide a pathway to consumer banking, technology, and operations roles.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said the apprenticeship and workforce development programs demonstrate the bank’s commitment to expanding opportunity and helping talented individuals develop the skills to succeed.
Moynihan also stressed the importance of creating a talent pipeline through the apprenticeship program, saying it’s the right thing for businesses to do as it allows for career mobility and reduces the need for retraining.
The bank‘s executive committee wrote in an email to employees that they are extending the implementation period for UK colleagues to ensure colleagues have the right support as they move through the transition.
Barclays is still encouraging staff to comply with the new requirement, but workers must ask and receive permission from their line manager to delay compliance.
The workers union, Unite, had demanded that employees be exempt from the three-day-a-week mandate if their commutes are more than 40 minutes or 35 miles each way, and that they be allowed to work split shifts or have flexible start or end times.
Any discussion of the future of banking is likely to involve the recognition that artificial intelligence will play a greater role, and that employees will need to know how to use it.
Moynihan told Punchbowl News that managers have to realize one of their jobs is to make sure this transition works for everybody, highlighting the importance of adapting to new technology.
Bank of America, for the past several years, has used early fall as a time to raise awareness of another long-running effort to provide a hand up to its lowest-paid employees.