Benefit cuts part of a rising trend in New Zealand's financial sector, union claims
The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has garnered union backlash for removing a range of employee benefits without allegedly consulting its workforce, according to reports.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the bank, which has more than 5,000 employees, is eliminating the low equity premium waiver, application fee waiver, benefits for non-personal entities, and discounts on variable rates for home loans.
According to the report, it is also scrapping the following perks:
- Overdraft establishment fee waiver for TotalMoney and YouMoney accounts
- Monthly account fee waiver for foreign currency accounts
- All benefits for all business lending
Benefits upon retirement that were intended for long-time serving employees have also been eliminated, according to the Herald report.
Changes to the bank's offered benefits were announced through an email titled "BNZ staff banking proposition," an anonymous employee told the news outlet.
The sudden elimination of the bank's benefits drew backlash from Workers First Union, which accused the organisation of pulling out benefits without consultation.
"A number of our members have actually banked on obtaining and being able to access these sorts of things, and they've just disappeared without consultation," said Callum Francis, national finance organiser at the union, in a statement to Radio New Zealand.
Matt Cullum, chief people officer at BNZ, confirmed the changes to the bank's benefits, but assured that existing benefits "will not all end immediately."
"On June 30, we made changes to some of these banking benefits, but our most popular benefits remain unchanged," Cullum told the Herald in a statement.
"BNZ continues to have dedicated channels to support our colleagues and customers experiencing financial hardship."
A rising trend among financial firms
Francis, however, noted that the benefit changes within BNZ are part of a growing trend among financial institutions in New Zealand.
"The banks and BNZ in particular have, over the last 5-10 years, constantly eroded the benefits and some of the things people always assumed you would get when you work for a bank, like discounts on loans," Francis told RNZ.
"They've been chipping away at these small benefits that don't cost them a lot in favour of shuffling money away from workers and people in New Zealand towards executives and shareholders."
Cullum previously told the Herald that BNZ still offers six weeks of annual leave, subsidised health and life insurance, as well as a range of discretionary benefits on banking products.
ASB, meanwhile, told RNZ that it still offers leave options, health, life and income insurance, wellbeing options, banking benefits, and KiwiSaver.
A spokesperson from the bank further told the news outlet that it offers a "unique choice component," where employees can pick a perk that best suits their needs.
Westpac also told RNZ that it offers personalised staff banking and superannuation benefits. It also offers access to a five-day wellbeing leave, four-week annual leave, and two-day volunteering leave.
Westpac added that it offers paid parental leave for primary and support carers, allows employees to purchase additional leave days, and to take a school holiday subsidy.
The bank, which is a Living Wage accredited employer, also has financial wellbeing, hardship, and employee assitance assistance programmes.
