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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
Australia’s banking employees are being forced to sell financial products regardless of customer need in order to meet performance targets set by management.
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A new survey by the Finance Sector Union found more than half of all bank, insurance and financial services employees steer customers towards certain financial products as they continue to be rewarded for sales rather than service.
Of the 3,200 financial service employees surveyed, 88 per cent said a quarter of their take home pay is generated by sales of financial products.
“The ‘Do you want fries with that’ mentality is alive and well in the Australian finance sector, despite ballooning levels of personal debt. This approach is completely at odds with the notion of responsible lending and professional service,” said FSU national secretary Leon Carter.
“The problem is not the finance sector workforce but the upper echelons of our big banks and insurers, who hold employees to ransom on the condition that they sell more products. Woe betide any employee that doesn’t sell the required number of credit cards, loans or whatever the product of the month is. They won’t just miss out on the next pay rise; they might also lose their job.”
According to the research, 85 per cent of respondents said they would like the industry to find a better balance between the best interests of customers and corporate profit.
“Finance sector base rates of pay are not high. Employees can’t afford to miss out on bonuses and performance pay. They are under unrelenting pressure to sell, sell and sell some more, whether it’s good for the customer or not,” Mr Carter said.
“This is a pay model that should have been abandoned during the GFC. Instead our biggest, wealthiest finance companies, who continue to post multi-billion dollar profits, are intent on wringing as much out of the community as they can, using FSU members as a conduit. That sort of behaviour is not on, and must cease now.”
