Work in the Financial Services Industry and Worker Monitoring: A Study of the Union Bank of Australia in the 1920s

Abstract

This paper explores a part of the systems used by the British-owned Union Bank of Australia in managing its labour force in the 1920s. The particular concerns addressed here focus on the opportunities presented to workers to ‘cheat’ arising from the nature of the tasks undertaken, which meant that both output and effort were difficult to observe, and from the large amount of securities and cash in the branch. Workers could behave opportunistically. Workers discovered ‘cheating’ were subject to punishments ranging from prosecution in the courts, dismissal, demotion, delayed promotion and pay cuts. The Union Bank used a complex multi-layered system of checks to monitor the efforts made by workers and their honesty in handling cash and securities. The effectiveness of monitoring was increased by the organisation of work into small specialist departments whose supervisors possessed comprehensive knowledge of the tasks carried out by workers and the established norm of work rates.