Staff at NAB are being bullied into cruel and unfair Performance Improvement Plans to make them quit because redundancies are too expensive, insiders have revealed.
Employees have lifted the lid on NAB’s toxic management after a male worker in the fraud division took his own life, plunging from the rooftop of one of the bank’s two corporate skyscrapers in Docklands, Melbourne, after lunch on March 5.
The man in his 20s had transferred from Westpac about a year ago, and was described by colleagues as ‘highly employable’ with desirable AI skills.
One worker in the fraud team said they often joked about plunging from the rooftop because morale was so low, but didn’t think anyone would act on it.
Another said colleagues were afraid to stand near the atrium in the middle of the 14-storey Docklands building, describing it as a ‘love letter to staff to end their lives’.
While the reason for the man’s death remains unclear, Daily Mail has been contacted by multiple staff members who are upset by the way they’ve been treated but do not want to be identified for fear of retribution.
One woman spoke to the Daily Mail in tears, and said that for decades, she had led numerous highly successful teams before being suddenly ordered to comply with a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).
She said she loved her job until management had recently started saying: ‘Just get rid of people.’
The man plunged from the 14th floor at 700 Bourke Street. Pictured: A lunch area on the 14th storey of NAB’s Docklands building
A NAB employee took his own life at company headquarters in Melbourne on March 5 (scene pictured)
She said NAB is undergoing a restructure and is unconcerned by unfair dismissal claims, which cost around $20,000, compared to redundancy packages worth hundreds of thousands.
About half of NAB employees are based offshore, with the remaining 20,000 employees working from Australia. Staff allege up to 6,000 are based in India alone.
‘They wanted to fire people they didn’t like, people who had too many opinions and spoke up for the team,’ she said.
‘For me, they did it with a performance plan because they wanted me to quit.’
The PIP, seen by the Daily Mail, outlined a handful of menial tasks unrelated to performance, and more about the bank changing her hybrid role conditions.Â
The bank would owe her more than a year’s salary if she was made redundant, but failing to comply with a PIP meant they would only have to support her for about four months.
Employees on PIPs are supposed to have one meeting with their manager each week to check performance, but she said most scheduled meetings were missed.
The PIP period was extended without notice, until she was eventually told to attend a meeting, bringing a support person of her choice.
A NAB employee took his own life from the top of the bank’s Docklands building (pictured)
One employee said colleagues were afraid to stand near the atrium in the middle of the 14-storey Docklands building (pictured), describing it as a ‘love letter to staff to end their lives’
Despite complying with every task on the PIP, she was told to resign with 16 weeks’ pay, or give up her work with just 12 weeks’ pay.
She said she sat weeping in her car for four hours afterwards, and still wonders how she is going to pay her bills.
While NAB promotes itself as being concerned for staff welfare, she said the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is ‘useless’.
Another worker said NAB was ‘too cheap’ to pay redundancy packages, and was instead moving people into roles they didn’t like, overloading them with work, and putting them on PIPs. Â
Someone else said several people in their team had been placed on PIPs, and two quit, branding it workplace bullying.
Others described their experience at NAB as ‘soul-crushing’, ‘horrific’, and ‘terrible’.
‘Debt collection at NAB was my final straw, it was single-handedly the most horrific work environment I’ve ever had the displeasure of working in,’ they said.Â
‘Staff were put down for daring to express any sort of human feeling to customers who quite often were good people going through a hard time (death of a spouse, serious illness, etc) … there was zero compassion for life circumstances.’
The NAB building in Docklands features a rooftop terrace with an open kitchen and herb garden (pictured). It is enclosed within a shoulder-high glass barrier
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They said customers were often sobbing on the phone and management were glaring at staff for taking too long on calls.Â
Another in debt collection said staff members were often yelled at in the office, while others cried at their desks and ran out of the room.
A number of staff members have said they were not surprised NAB has so far refused to make a public statement about the suicide.
A NAB spokesperson has repeatedly told Daily Mail they would not comment on the death, or any of the claims against the bank.
It comes after a whistleblower told the Daily Mail there have been other self-harm incidents within the Docklands building.
They said there were ‘deeper and systemic issues at NAB that require attention’, and that ‘triggering’ photos had been shared by employees on Microsoft Teams.
Victoria Police confirmed it attended the incident in the CBD on March 5.
‘Police will prepare a report for the coroner following the death of a man in Docklands on March 5,’ a police statement read.
‘The body of a man, who is yet to be formally identified, was located on Bourke Street about 2pm.’
If this has raised any issues for you, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 for confidential crisis support.