800 jobs to go in Stanard Life/Aberdeen Asset merger

[G B Young]

Sounds like a hefty cut. Anyone know how many folk actually work for these companies in total? I've known a fair few people down the years who work for Standard Life and it's a big Edinburgh employer.

[RyeSloan]

Sounds like a hefty cut. Anyone know how many folk actually work for these companies in total? I've known a fair few people down the years who work for Standard Life and it's a big Edinburgh employer.

9,000 in the combined group.

[danhibees1875]

The plan is to have as few forced redundancies as possible. The figure you have quoted is over 2-3 years and will involve not replacing people who leave voluntarily mostly...or that's what I've read anyway.

Unemployment is something in itself that needs a wholesale think very soon. I see significant levels of unemployment being an inevitability in the next 10-20 years. Computers and robots are taking over so many labour intensive jobs and are increasingly utilised in the financial sector - for the work not already outsourced. Combined with a raising population and there is a bottle neck round the corner.

[lord bunberry]

The plan is to have as few forced redundancies as possible. The figure you have quoted is over 2-3 years and will involve not replacing people who leave voluntarily mostly...or that's what I've read anyway.

Unemployment is something in itself that needs a wholesale think very soon. I see significant levels of unemployment being an inevitability in the next 10-20 years. Computers and robots are taking over so many labour intensive jobs and are increasingly utilised in the financial sector - for the work not already outsourced. Combined with a raising population and there is a bottle neck round the corner.
I'm not sure that's true about jobs. Companies like Microsoft and Apple started with tiny staffs and now employ thousands. It's true that jobs will go in some sectors, but they will most likely be replaced with jobs in new sectors that don't yet exist or are currently tiny like Microsoft and Apple were in the mid 80s. We must on the 4th or 5th wave of people telling us that all our work will be taken by robots and who knows, maybe this time it's true, but the track record on these predictions is 0%.

[RyeSloan]

I'm not sure that's true about jobs. Companies like Microsoft and Apple started with tiny staffs and now employ thousands. It's true that jobs will go in some sectors, but they will most likely be replaced with jobs in new sectors that don't yet exist or are currently tiny like Microsoft and Apple were in the mid 80s. We must on the 4th or 5th wave of people telling us that all our work will be taken by robots and who knows, maybe this time it's true, but the track record on these predictions is 0%.

I would agree.

Indeed I would say people have it completely the wrong way round when it comes to such things making us unemployed and poor. I would suggest they will make us better employed and richer.

[Pretty Boy]

I would agree.

Indeed I would say people have it completely the wrong way round when it comes to such things making us unemployed and poor. I would suggest they will make us better employed and richer.

I'm not sure those in the rust belt in the US or former manufacturing hubs like Bradford and Stoke for example would agree with that sentiment.

[lord bunberry]

I'm not sure those in the rust belt in the US or former manufacturing hubs like Bradford and Stoke for example would agree with that sentiment.
They won't, but change is coming whether we like it or not. I just don't think it will be the death of the workforce like some are predicting.

[Jack]

They won't, but change is coming whether we like it or not. I just don't think it will be the death of the workforce like some are predicting.

Indeed.

I've retired now but 40 years ago there weren't computers in the workplace or robots in factories. Jeez, in the office it was still carbon paper and roneo machines for making copies of stuff and calculators had big handles at the side that you pulled to input each number.

Simple times when the husband went out to work and the mother stayed at home.

When these gadgets came along the workforce were teased with tales of a utopian lifestyle and barely a need for money.

Instead we've seen wages suppressed by employers to the extent families now need two incomes to maintain a far from utopian lifestyle.

Things have always been changing and the only thing you can be sure of is things will be changing in the future.

I doubt your average punter in the workplace will ever see a utopian society though, that's the reserve of the already rich and powerful.

[G B Young]

Indeed.

I've retired now but 40 years ago there weren't computers in the workplace or robots in factories. Jeez, in the office it was still carbon paper and roneo machines for making copies of stuff and calculators had big handles at the side that you pulled to input each number.

Simple times when the husband went out to work and the mother stayed at home.

When these gadgets came along the workforce were teased with tales of a utopian lifestyle and barely a need for money.

Instead we've seen wages suppressed by employers to the extent families now need two incomes to maintain a far from utopian lifestyle.

Things have always been changing and the only thing you can be sure of is things will be changing in the future.

I doubt your average punter in the workplace will ever see a utopian society though, that's the reserve of the already rich and powerful.

Stephen Hawkings' view:

Have you thought of “technological unemployment,” where machines take all our jobs?
The outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.