N26 workers organize to address grievances

Germany-based digital bank N26, which has raised $770M to date and operates in 25 markets globally, is facing staff unrest over working conditions. Employees this week are meeting to elect a board for a body that would represent them in discussions with management. The company filed a court order to stop the meeting, but workers say it’s going ahead anyway.

Why should we care?
An analysis conducted by Sifted in December found that N26 had the lowest Glassdoor rating among four digital banks’ scores it reviewed. Rapid growth can come at a high human cost for fintechs, and N26 isn’t the first large company to contend with this. In recent years, Freetrade and Revolut also faced scrutiny over working conditions. Whether or not these issues will affect N26’s customer acquisition efforts is unclear, but industry insiders say brand purpose matters. “Customers will want to know the social personality of a brand when they make their purchase decision,” Harit Talwar, global head of Goldman Sachs’ consumer business, recently told The Motley Fool.