Nationwide took a £72m hit on redundancies and property costs last year, it said this morning, as it announced it would adopt a flexible working policy.
The Swindon-based mutual said the costs followed its decision in March last year to give its 13,000 office staff complete control over where they work.
At the time it said the policy would mean cutting office space. It has since given up leases on three offices in Swindon, while retaining its headquarters at Nationwide House and its new technology hub in the city.
Nationwide said: “Remote working has been popular with colleagues and made us more productive. The flexibility also helps us better serve our members. We are therefore adopting a flexible working model into the future, where colleagues can choose where they work.”
The building society made 150 redundancies in January when its “jobs promise” to not cut any roles in 2020 came to an end.
The details come as the high street lender revealed pre-tax profits in the year to 4 April nearly doubled to £823m. It attributed this to a rise in income and cost-cutting measures across the business.
Bosses revealed administrative expenses fell by £94m to £2.2bn. However, the fall was offset by the property and severance-related costs.
It said mortgages remained strong, and customers took advantage of the stamp duty holiday but stricter criteria at the bank saw overall mortgage lending down slightly from £30.9 bn to £29.6bn.
During the year, Nationwide introduced 90% loan-to-value mortgages. It brought in 95% LTV mortgages this month.
Chief executive Joe Garner said: “This year has shown the financial strength of the building society mutual model.
“It has been a tough year, one that tested the resilience of people and businesses.
“Given the profound uncertainties we faced, we focused on the things that were most important in times of crisis: namely to keep our people and members safe and our society strong.
“We entered the crisis in a position of financial strength and, in the face of a highly uncertain environment, we took steps to protect our finances.”
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