"Think AI can manage customer service for your company? By all means, give it a go, but perhaps wait a few months before starting redundancies. That's the lesson learned the hard way by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), which cut 45 jobs in customer service after rolling out an AI bot, only to have to rescind the redundancies weeks later."
"Off the back of information shared by members, the union disputed the CBA's claim that customer service calls were falling, raising a complaint with local regulator the Fair Work Commission. "Members told us this was an outright lie and did not reflect the reality of what was happening in Direct Banking," the union said. "Call volumes were in fact increasing and CBA was scrambling to manage the situation by offering staff overtime and directing Team Leaders to answer calls.""
Commonwealth Bank of Australia introduced an AI chatbot intended to automate simple customer requests and free staff to handle complex matters requiring empathy and experience. The bank announced 45 customer service role cuts at the end of July, citing a 2,000-per-week reduction in call volumes attributed to the AI tool. The Finance Sector Union disputed the call volume claim after members reported increasing calls, filed a complaint with the Fair Work Commission, and said members were directed to work overtime and Team Leaders to answer calls. Weeks later the bank rescinded the redundancies and apologized to the affected staff, while the union called the reversal a significant win but noted employees endured stress.
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