The impact of change on employees : what do annual reports say?

As part of the accountability process public companies are required to report annually to stakeholders. Given the substantial investment in human capital, the disclosure of employment related policies, and the impact of changing policies and practices on employees, could be expected. Over the last few decades the UK banking sector has experienced major change. Increased competition, technology, regulation and deregulation have all contributed to changing practices, which have had a significant impact on employees. This paper examines changes in the banking sector, and the employee information reported in the annual reports of a large UK bank, over the period 1980 to 1995. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the changes, and the effects of the changes on employees, were reported in the annual reports.