Union orders HSBC bank staff to ignore employee survey

The Malta Union of Bank Employees has instructed HSBC employees not to fill the bank’s annual employee survey saying management was pressuring staff to positively fill in the questionnaire that was meant to be voluntary.

“Year after year, the Malta Union of Bank Employees is repeatedly being inundated with reports that line management in several areas of HSBC have been exercising undue pressure on members and staff by deceptively enticing staff members to fill in an employee survey positively,” the union said.

The MUBE said it was was normally supportive of the global people survey, held by HSBC among its staff worldwide to get their feedback on the bank. However, the management’s practice was “unacceptable” by any standard and was ridiculing the whole voluntary nature of the exercise, the union added. Therefore, in protest, it directed all members to completely ignore the survey this year.

Union president William Portelli said that by putting pressure on staff to fill in the survey positively there was the risk of burying certain important issues that concerned workers.

The General Workers’ Union supported the MUBE’s directive and also directed members not to fill in the survey until further notice.

Questions sent to the bank remained unanswered at the time of writing.