'More to be done' on Westpac pay
The Finance Sector Union has welcomed Westpac's decision to remove incentives from teller pay and move to pay-only remuneration as a step in the right direction, but says the bank has more to do.The FSU says the bank should remove all forms of conflicted remuneration, including variable reward schemes for all staff."Any changes should not leave staff worse off. All Westpac staff deserve a pay model that provides certainty, is free from conflict and drives a positive workplace culture," it says.Westpac announced that from April 1 teller incentives will be replaced with a A$500 fixed pay increase under an arrangement that would affect 2300 customer-facing employees.The bank's CEO, Brian Hartzer, told parliament on Friday this switch "came after focus groups and discussions with tellers after our last change. You might recall that we moved to being totally based on service. We were happy with that. "We went and had further conversations with tellers, and in the end the change we made reflects that."The banking royal commission recommended that all financial services companies review the design and implementation of their remuneration for front line staff at least once a year, to ensure that it focuses "not only on what staff do but also how they do it".In a post-royal commission "progress update" issued last week, the bank noted that it had already removed all individual product specific targets for personal bankers and reduced financial measures in bonus scorecards to no more than 30 per cent for customer-facing employees.It has also changed in-house adviser remuneration to put more emphasis on an adviser's "level of capability, education and seniority".