Banking giant issues lengthy statement after more Northampton employees voice concerns surrounding COVID-19

A huge banking company that has an admin centre in Northampton has issued a statement to colleagues after more staff members voiced their concerns surrounding COVID-19.

After Northampton Chronicle & Echo reported earlier this week that employees at Nationwide felt they could work from home but were not being given the opportunity to, several more members of staff have been in touch to highlight similar concerns, as well as additional issues.

Other colleagues from the Moulton Park campus felt that more should have already been done to enable more employees to work remotely.

They also raised concerns around the cleaning, which in its previous statement, Nationwide said: “The highest cleaning standards are met throughout our buildings.”

One employee said: “I work there and having read what the spokesman said I can tell you that's not true.

“I haven't seen any cleaning that's any different to usual and that's always been minimal.

“We have shared touch-screen printers with nothing to clean them with after use.

“Internal doors which we have to touch with touch pads to open are still operating in the same way - they probably can't leave them open due to fire regulations but they could at least put hand sanitiser by the doors but there's nothing.”

Another added: “Everything is so relaxed.

“There’s only one anti-bacterial bottle between a team of about 12 to 15 people and it has to stay with the manager in case people steal it.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Another employee said: “The communal areas are not cleaned frequently and the soap dispensers are regularly empty before lunchtime.

“There’s been no deep clean that I’m aware of.

“Short of them finding a cure for COVID19, I doubt there is anything that could be done to make anyone feel comfortable.”

In response to the concerns from colleagues, the bank has now issued an additional statement, telling staff that the company is trying to find ways to allow more employees to work from home and to assure them that there are cleaning procedures in place.

Mark Eaton, head of operations and site lead for Nationwide’s Northampton admin centre said: “We want all of our employees to feel safe and supported while, as key workers, they continue to provide vital support to our members at this difficult time.

“Where possible we are enabling people to work from home and already more than half of our employees in our Northampton Admin Centre are doing so.

“We are also working around the clock to explore ways to extend homeworking to even more roles while maintaining the highest level of security and service for our members.

“I would like to again thank all of our Northampton based employees for all they are doing to continue to help our members during these unprecedented times.

“We have introduced new cleaning procedures and alongside communal areas being cleaned multiple times a day, employees can request daily enhanced cleaning of their personal workstations.

“In addition, we have introduced hand sanitisers in reception and other parts of the building.

“Through running split shifts and reducing the number of people in the building at any one time, we are also ensuring social distancing rules can be adhered to.

“I know this is a challenging time for our employees, but we are here to support them and will take further steps where necessary.

“Any employee concerned about travelling to work should speak with their manager so we can consider and implement any additional individual arrangements which may need to be put into place at this time.”