'Our priority is to explore opportunities for redeployment and support affected employees with care, dignity, and respect throughout the process'
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has confirmed changes to its workforce following reports that it laid off employees as part of its artificial intelligence adoption.
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) accused the bank this week of axing 90 jobs, including 45 roles in Direct Banking due to the introduction of a new voice bot system.
A spokesperson from CBA told HRD that the bank is holding consultations on the affected roles, and is looking at internal jobs and reskilling opportunities for employees.
"To meet the changing needs of our customers, like many organisations, we review the skills we need and how we're organised to deliver the best customer experiences and outcomes. That means some roles and work can change," the spokesperson said.
"Our priority is to explore opportunities for redeployment and to support affected employees with care, dignity, and respect throughout the process. This includes access to redeployment options, career transition services, and wellbeing resources."
The CBA, one of Australia's largest employers, has hired more than 9,000 people in the 2025 financial year. It also has around 450 open roles across Retail Banking Services.
"We're also proactively creating new roles to support career growth and help our people transition into future-fit opportunities," the spokesperson said.
CBA investing in AI
The FSU slammed the bank amid its workforce cuts, stressing that workers don't want to be replaced by technology.
"Our members want to be trained and supported into better jobs that leverage AI. Yet rather than invest in its people the CBA are simply discarding Australians through ongoing redundancies and offshoring," said FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano in a statement.
"There is a human cost to this. You can't just replace frontline jobs with a voice bot and expect the same service for customers."
CBA is currently investing more than $2 billion in its operations, including its frontline teams and technology services.
"Our investment in technology, including AI, is making it easier and faster for customers to get help, especially in our call centres," the CBA spokesperson said.
"By automating simple queries, our teams can focus on more complex customer queries that need empathy and experience."
The spokesperson added that upskilling and reskilling pathways are also available to employees.
"Recognising that the work context is evolving, and based on individual situations, many of our people have taken up the upskilling and reskilling pathways made available for them to continue their careers at the bank and build capabilities for future opportunities."
The issue came up after the FSU previously accused the CBA of offshoring roles to India, an allegation refuted by the bank.
It also comes amid a proposal from the Australian Council of Trade Unions calling for employers to have AI Implementation Agreements, which seek to guarantee job security amid AI adoption in workplaces.
