The employee said the changes were announced in an email titled “BNZ staff banking proposition” and were framed as an effort to “improve” how benefits are applied.
“However, employees who opened the links quickly realised this was not a proposal or a consultation – it was a mandate of sweeping cuts, implemented effectively that very same morning,” the employee said.
“The financial and emotional toll of this decision on households across New Zealand is immense.”
Based on information sent to staff and seen by the Herald, the banking benefits no longer available from June 30 include:
Low equity premium waiver, application fee waiver, benefits for non-personal entities and discounts on variable rates for home loansOverdraft establishment fee waiver for TotalMoney and YouMoney accountsMonthly account fee waiver for foreign currency accountsAll benefits for all business lending
Benefits upon retirement provided to long-serving staff have also been removed.
The employee said cuts to the benefits, which had been “an established part of BNZ’s remuneration culture for over 20 years”, were made without warning or consultation and have “shattered staff morale, leaving many feeling betrayed by an employer they serve”.
BNZ is the second-largest bank in New Zealand and employs more than 5000 people. Photo / NZME
BNZ chief people officer Matt Cullum told the Herald existing benefits for current staff “will not all end immediately”.
“Like many large organisations, BNZ offers a range of employee benefits,” Cullum said in a statement. “These include six weeks’ annual leave, subsidised health and life insurance as well as a range of discretionary benefits on banking products.
“On June 30, we made changes to some of these banking benefits, but our most popular benefits remain unchanged.
“BNZ continues to have dedicated channels to support our colleagues and customers experiencing financial hardship.”
The employee said they were grateful for the staff benefits still in place, with the main issue for most workers “the lack of notice and transparency”.
“I am currently trying to buy my first home … losing these waivers effectively sets my budget back by two years.
“People budget and make long-term plans around these things. For example, I know of long-serving staff who delayed their retirement specifically to meet the criteria to keep their benefits, only to have them removed without warning.”
BNZ confirmed to the Herald that the changes won’t impact former employees who have already retired. It did not respond to questions about why employees were not given prior warning.
Callum Francis, the national finance organiser at Workers First Union, which represents just over 600 BNZ employees, said members were “really shocked” and felt “let down”.
“A lot of our members are really gutted and really disappointed in the bank,” Francis told the Herald.
“How this organisation, that’s one of the most profitable companies in the country, is just trying to take more away from their workers.
“They’ve made billions of dollars in previous years, and they continue to make obscene, exorbitant profits out of not just New Zealanders, but also off the backs of hard workers throughout the country.
“The greed that they’re demonstrating is mind-boggling.”
Francis said BNZ had been “consistently chipping away” at employee benefits over the past five or six years, with workers now concerned more will be taken away.
Some also worry it will affect their ability to buy a home.
“Some of these people were categorically relying on those things and had built an expectation and joined the bank to get these sorts of benefits. Their decisions around who they’d go on to work with had been, in some instances, based around these benefits that exist.
“I won’t be surprised if BNZ starts to see that people are resigning because of the lack of care and the lack of really wanting to return stuff to their people.”
Francis said the union is writing to BNZ asking to explain “how a so-called decent employer in New Zealand can justify taking a chainsaw to people’s benefits” without consultation.
“Workers are upset and shocked. And this is not what we expect of an organisation or a large company with BNZ’s stature and influence. It’s not New Zealand values.”