A big change in how Nationwide handles its customer service has affected dozens of staff.

During a brief Teams call on Wednesday, managers at the building society’s Pipers Way headquarters informed many employees that they will be out of a job by the end of the year because their roles have been outsourced to a third-party provider in India.

Those who do not wish to leave have been offered alternative roles in the phone service which come with different working requirements and responsibilities.

One anonymous source told the Adver: “It was very upsetting.

"Some of these workers have been at Nationwide for two or more years on a temporary contract.”

Another source added: “Nationwide has long claimed to prioritize the betterment of the UK economy and its local communities.

"However, recent decisions suggest a worrying departure from these values, particularly in relation to its treatment of employees and its decision to outsource jobs overseas.

“They have left employees with the prospect of having to find a suitable alternative role at a time of year when many companies are not employing new staff and thus ruining their digital employees’ festive period.

“This lack of transparency, combined with the threat of having to choose between taking an undesirable role or resigning, has left many employees feeling ignored and undervalued after years of dedicated service in their webchat roles.

“Many staff members have gone on sick leave due to stress and anxiety over the uncertainty of their future, how they will be able to remain in employment and support themselves and their families going forward.”

The digital webchat service allows visitors to the building society’s website to speak to Nationwide employees at any time of the day or week to receive advice on financial issues, mortgages and savings, amongst other things.

The Adver understands that although there are no temporary workers in the webchat team itself, around 50 employees on temporary contracts have been affected by this switch of service.

The building society expects to find new customer service roles for most of the webchat team.

A Nationwide spokesperson said: “Like any major business, we continually review the shape of our organisation to ensure we continue to deliver leading customer service.

“Working with an external partner means we can free up our colleagues’ time to focus on dealing with more complex member enquiries on the telephone. There will be no redundancies as part of this change.”

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