Annette Sharp: AFL chief Gillon McLachlan joins ‘Great Resignation’

AFL chief Gillon McLachlan has joined what is being dubbed as ‘The Great Resignation’ leaving his high-profile — and very well paid — job. And he’s not the only one, Annette Sharp reveals.

AFL chief Gillon McLachlan is the latest high-profile Australian to sign off from his highly paid day job during what economists have dubbed The Great Resignation.

The term, coined last year, describes the trend of gainfully employed workers – many middle-aged – resigning from their jobs in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.

McLachlan admitted the timing of his resignation, after 20 years with the AFL, was at least partially related to the pandemic, or more specifically, “coming out of Covid”.

“It was a tough couple of years,” he said, adding his future, for now, is uncertain.

“It is a bit of a blank canvas and that is terrifying but exhilarating. I have no idea what I’m going to do,” McLachlan, 48, said.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has stepped down from his role. Picture: David Crosling

The AFL’s key deal-maker, whose last published annual salary in 2016 was $1.74 million, is in good company.

Also joining the corporate exodus during the pandemic – and well able to afford a break – was Premier Investments’ CEO Mark McInnes, the right-hand man of Myer’s most aggrieved shareholder Solomon Lew.

McInnes, about 57, quit Premier in January 2021, initially saying he would give 12 months’ notice before departing. He was out the door well before that.

Contributing to his decision to step down, close sources said, were changed family responsibilities within the McInnes household.

As Lew told media at the time: “In discussions with Mark, he indicated his desire to commit more time to his family than the demands of his role allow.”

By the end of the year the retail executive and his wife Lisa, as well as the couple’s two young children, were in Europe for a months-long extended sabbatical – the couple’s time split between London and Switzerland – before they returned this year.

With David Jones now rumoured to be on the market (though owners Woolworths were denying it last week), some business types were last week speculating on whether former DJ’s maverick McInnes might – with a consortium of investors – be interested in returning to his old stomping ground and turning the department store’s balance sheet around.

After a decade with Premier, he’ll first have to wait for a two-year non-compete clause with Premier to lapse before he could once again flex his muscle in retail.