Big bank employees face bullying, unpaid overtime – report

National Australia Bank employees have reported being bullied on the job and working unpaid overtime in a union survey.

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) survey of more than 1,200 NAB employees revealed a spike in mental health problems so serious that some employees said they were hospitalised due to stress, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Ninety-three per cent of survey respondents said they worked more than the contracted 38-hour week without overtime pay, and 87% said this had caused health problems. Three-quarters of those surveyed, working in “group three and above” level roles at NAB’s business, retail and institutional banks said that workers were expected to clock unpaid overtime, the Herald reported. Only 48% said they had raised concerns with management about the issue.

The average salary range for this group at NAB is $104,043 to $225,826, with additional bonuses supposedly paid for overtime.

The FSU’s report, titled Working for Nothing, included anonymous interviews from NAB staff, who spoke of heavy workloads with unrealistic deadlines and said those who complained were terminated, bullied or financially penalised, the Herald reported.

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The majority of respondents also said that the bank’s corporate culture created a range of negative health impacts, including stress and anxiety (87%), loss of sleep (76%) and physical injuries such as back and neck pain (33%).

“I have been hospitalised with stomach ulcers which [a] doctor advised was a result of work stress,” one employee told FSU.

“I got anxiety, went on antidepressants, my heart rate was elevated for two years, my sleep was poor, I put on 10 kilograms in weight, I didn’t exercise. It was terrible,” another said.

Susan Ferrier, people and culture executive for NAB, told the Herald that workload impact on employee mental health is taken seriously, and that staff should raise concerns with managers or through confidential whistleblower lines.

“Our first priority is the health and wellbeing of our people, and NAB does not expect colleagues to be working unreasonable additional hours,” Ferrier said. “NAB colleagues should be fairly paid for what they do.”

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano told the publication that the union’s investigation into the bank began as an effort to calculate unpaid hours, but has now broadened to include probing potential breaches of workplace health and safety laws. The union will meet with NAB employees to discuss possible legal action, the Herald reported.

“This is not a one-off incident in a pocket of the bank,” Angrisano said. “There was a systemic problem that management knew about. When staff raised the concerns, they said, ‘You have to find a way to make it work.’ That really stood out. They turned a blind eye.”

Angrisano said workplace culture issues could also present risks for the bank itself.

“Workers are fatigued, they’re cutting corners, they’re not meeting all the requirements of the job,” she told the Herald. “All of that has to have a risk on the bank in terms of the work that’s being performed. Are we meeting compliance and regulatory standards? There’s a big question mark over that.”