The Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) welcomes Stephen Sedgwick’s progress report on the implementation of his review.
The FSU has provided additional information to Mr Sedgwick on the experience of frontline workers about the culture within workplaces and participated in a further roundtable where workers spoke about the impact of the changes on their working lives.
The FSU agrees with Stephen Sedgwick that several emerging issues risk undermining any improvements to finance workers and customers if not resolved.
They include:
• The proper role of targets;
• What constitutes a ‘relatively small’ maximum potential variable remuneration (compared to fixed
pay);
• Customer metrics, including in respect of the outcomes achieved by customers;
• Discretion and manager capability;
• Third party remuneration;
• The interests of shareholders; and
• Bank culture and the risk of ‘change fatigue’.
FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano said the union was committed to continue working with stakeholders to find lasting solutions.
“We support the recommendations in the Sedgwick update,” Ms Angrisano said.
“The development of an alternative metric to measure customer outcomes will be critical in embedding the culture change needed across the financial services industry,” she said.
“On the question of remuneration and financial targets the experience of FSU members continues to be one where a sales outcome is still the predominant focus and removal of variable pay has not come with
changes to sales targets or productivity measures.”
“The FSU will continue to campaign for wholesale changes to remuneration models that are consistent with a professional and ethical industry.”
