Survey Results – Australian Workers
The following is a summary of the results of worker responses to the Better Banking survey. It is clear from these results that bank workers feel the banks they work for could do better to serve their customers and look after their workers.
If you would like a copy of the full results of the survey, please email Leanne.shingles@fsunion.org.au
Employment
Satisfaction with employer
31% of respondents were satisfied with their employer and 45% were dissatisfied. NAB (54%) and Westpac staff (51%) were most likely to be dissatisfied. Highest satisfaction was recorded for Bankwest (41%) and credit unions (38%). Dissatisfaction tends to increase with length of service – less than 40% for those who had been working less than 5 years and high 40’s for those working more than five years.
Direction of bank
49% think their bank is moving in the wrong direction and 29% in the wrong direction.
NAB employees are most likely to think their bank is moving in the right direction (37%) and St George (62%) and ANZ (60%) are most likely to be moving in the wrong direction. More than half of employees of more than 5 years think their bank is moving in the wrong direction.
Staffing levels
Most respondents believe their unit is understaffed – 57% think understaffing prevent them doing the job as they would like and 16% say understaffing means the job doesn’t get done. Understaffing appears to be a more serious problem at NAB where 26% say the job doesn’t get done.
General questions about their Bank
Technology and customer service improvement
Nearly half (46%) think customer service has got worse and only 20% think it has improved. NAB employees are most likely to say service has got worse (69%) and Commonwealth most likely to say it has improved (32%).
Customer Service
More than half (53%) agreed that their employer wants them to concentrate on selling, and sees other aspects of their job as unproductive.
Credit union employees were most likely to say their employer was “pretty fair” while St George employees were most likely to say they want me to concentrate on selling (61%).
Perceptions of their employer’s attitude to customer service were related to length of employment. The longer they had been employed, the less likely they were to think that their bank was “pretty fair”.
Debt
Emphasis on selling debt
Most (59%) think that selling debt has become a much higher priority and sales targets always go up. St George employees were most likely to agree (75%).
Sales targets reflecting economic conditions
Only 4% said their employer reduces sales targets to reflect more difficult economic conditions. There were no substantial differences between banks on this.
Customers ability to meet their financial obligations
29% felt uncomfortable about their customers’ ability to meet their financial obligations with new debt products and 31% felt comfortable. 40% of St George employees felt uncomfortable and 58% of credit union employees felt comfortable.
Issues with employer
Customer Service
About half (51%) said they felt empowered to do what it takes to make the customer happy. 45% agreed that they try to help as much as I can, but my manager has made it clear that the first priority is selling more financial product. Respondents were evenly split over whether customers have been waiting in a queue or on hold for a long time (35% agree/34% disagree).
Queuing and waiting is a greater problem at NAB (45%) but a lesser issue for credit union employees (9%).
Off-shoring
Off shoring was a major concern for most respondents. There was strong agreement that I’m worried about how many jobs will be left in Australia’s finance sector in 10 years’ time (79%) and customers get angry with delays caused by difficulties in getting answers from off-shored areas of banking operations (66%). More than half (54%) agreed that their job was getting harder because they don’t know who is handling processing abroad and 88% disagreed that sending jobs to other countries is no big deal.
Angry customers are a greater issue for employees of St George (92%), ANZ (82%), Westpac (77%) and NAB (76%). Employees of St George (86%), ANZ (81%) and NAB (71%) were more likely to agree their job was getting harder because they don’t know who is handling processing abroad. 89% of St George employees were worried about how many jobs will be left in Australia’s finance sector in 10 years’ time.
Debt Selling
There was strong agreement (73%) that sales targets go up every year and disagreement (73%) that they are given a fair opportunity for input into what sales targets will be. 46% disagreed that tying salaries to how many products are sold makes sense and 43% agreed they are under pressure to sell debt products, even if customers don’t ask for them and may not be able to afford them.
Increasing sales targets are a greater problem at St George (82%) and Commonwealth (81%). Commonwealth employees are also more likely (55%) to disagree that tying salaries to how many products are sold makes sense. St George employees were most likely (58%) to agree they are under pressure to sell debt products.
Profits/CEO Salaries
There was very strong agreement that the gap between CEO’s salaries and ordinary workers’ has got too big (89%) and that it’s time for the government to cap bank executive salaries (83%). About half agreed that highly profitable banks are good for our economy (52%) and disagreed that running a big business like a bank is hard work and CEO’s deserve to be paid very well (49%)
NAB (64%) and Commonwealth (61%) employees more likely to agree that highly profitable banks are good for our economy. Employees of Bankwest (65%) and St George (58%) were more likely to disagree that CEO’s deserve to be paid very well.
Responsible lending
There was strong agreement that the Government should support new, global rules to prevent high-risk banking activities (82%) and Australia needs tougher regulations to stop personal debt getting out of control (79%). A majority agreed that the government should step in and stop banks’ high-risk activities (66%) and disagreed that I will receive regular pay increases even if I don’t sell lots of debt products (64%) and banks do not need any new rules around how they operate (60%).
Westpac employees more likely to disagree that they will receive regular pay increases even if they don’t sell lots of debt products (74%) and employees of credit unions more supportive of Government regulation of banks.
Charter for Better Banking
Charter for better banking
There was strong overall support for all components of the charter for better banking. Support ranged from 79% for requiring interest rate decisions in line with the Reserve Bank to 93% for a commitment to stop off shoring of Australian jobs, and development of Australian skills. There were no substantial differences by employer across any of these issues.
