- Deutsche Bank UK staff are to get an extra five days holiday, boosting the annual allowance to 30 days.
- The change takes effect on April 1, a few weeks after bonuses are announced in March.
- UK Deutsche Bank employees could potentially have 40 days holiday a year, with options to roll-over and purchase an extra 10 days.
Deutsche Bank’s UK employees are set to enjoy an extra week’s holiday, after the bank raised its annual holiday allowance from 25 to 30 days, according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider.
The change takes effect at the start of April, around a month after bonuses are announced in March, and was announced in a firm-wide email from Garth Ritchie, Deutsche Bank’s UK CEO and Rachel Blanshard, head of HR for the UK and EMEA on December 19 last year.
“We are making this change because it is important to Deutsche Bank that our people achieve a good work/life balance; working hard to deliver for our clients and shareholders, but also ensuring there is time to spend with family and friends,” the execs said in the email. “We hope that you will be able to make the most of the extra allowance.”
A Deutsche Bank spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo but declined to comment further.
The bank has sought to trim costs after reporting its third consecutive annual loss, losing almost half a billion euros in 2017. Germany’s largest lender is also seeking to cut as many as 500 jobs from its investment bank, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.
The extra holiday allowance has been interpreted by some employees as a way to soften the blow of potential bonus cuts and salary freezes, a person familiar with the situation said. CEO John Cryan said he would impose “sustained discipline on costs and risks” after the bank took a hit from flat markets, falling investment bank revenue and a $1.8 billion charge from changes to the US tax system.
On the subject of pay, Cryan has said the bank would return to a “normal system of variable compensation in 2017 ” and also “raise salaries in some areas” in an interview in December last year with German newspaper Borsen Zeitung.
The change means UK employees of Deutsche Bank could feasibly have a full 40 days of holiday to take in 2018/19. They’re allowed to carry forward five days from the previous year, as well as having the option to “purchase up to a further five days of paid leave entitlement under the 2018/19 “My Flex” benefit program,” according to the announcement.
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