French bank's gentle job cuts don't mean people are happy there
SocGen is cutting some more people. The French bank doesn't report its fourth quarter results until February and won't pay its bonuses until March, but the Financial Times reported earlier this week that it intends to cut 1,800 jobs. This is seemingly supplementary to its other plan, reported by Bloomberg, to cut a third of the people (70 jobs) at its Paris equities joint venture with Alliance Bernstein.
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The 1,800 job cuts will, at least, be gently executed. They're due to happen before the end of 2027 and will be entirely the result of natural attrition. At 4.5% of SocGen's total 40,000 person headcount, the implication is that SocGen will simply wait for people to leave of their own accords.
Are SocGen's French staff happy with this approach? Sadly not. More details are due imminently but for the moment, a post by representatives of the CGT Union in relation to the plan suggests discontentment.
The CGT claims it's been asking to meet SocGen management to discuss the reorganisation since June 2025, but has now been hit by a plan that's already conceived. The plan includes more digitalisation, the removal of layers of management, more internal mobility (including a mobility career campus) and the formation of multidisciplinary teams of combined skills across areas like data management, lending and KYC.
The cuts come after SocGen people were summoned back to the office four days a week in June. Many are still grumbling about this. "A significant percentage of employees applied for formal flexible working," says one employee at SocGen in London. "Even people with written medical and occupational health recommendations are being rejected."
Maybe they will leave, and add to the 1,800 cuts.
SocGen didn't respond to a request to comment.
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