Australia Post to pay staff bonuses after delivering bumper profit

CEO Christine Holgate, whose base salary is $1.5m, says head office staff will receive bonuses after delivering a 30pc profit rise.

Last financial year, Christine Holgate’s total remuneration was $2.7m, making her the nation’s highest paid public servant. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

Australia Post has opened the door to potentially awarding bonus payments to chief executive Christine Holgate and its senior executives after delivering a 30 per cent rise in full-year profit and record revenue.

Ms Holgate - already Australia’s highest paid public servant - said in March that Australia Post executives would “forsake any right to a bonus payment” as part of “doing their share” to combat rising costs associated with COVID-19 pandemic.

But on Friday - a day after unveiling record revenue of $7.5bn as demand surges for parcel deliveries during lockdown - the postal service appeared to back away from that comment.

“At this time a decision on executive bonuses has not been made,” Australia Post’s general manager of corporate Affairs Michelle Skehan said.

It comes as Australia Post’s board - which is chaired by Lucio Di Bartolomeo, who the federal handpicked last November - approved the “incentive payments” for 2,500 of the postal service’s 36,000 employees. The board also includes Liberal party stalwart Tony Nutt and former Liberal minister Michael Ronaldson.

As the federal government faces unprecedented challenges the nation‘s budget after launching its biggest stimulus package to buffer the country against COVID-19, Ms Holgate said the “eligible” Australia Post employees will be paid bonuses in late September

“As a result of our strong business performance for FY20, the board has approved incentive payments for contract employees who are eligible for performance or sales incentives,” Ms Holgate said in a note to staff seen by The Australian.

“More details will be coming in September to these employees, with payments scheduled to be paid in the week commencing September 28.”

Ms Skehan said the incentive payments were for staff not under Australia Post’s enterprise bargaining agreement, which included about 2,500 employees across its head office and suburban facilities.

Ms Holgate told staff in March - around the same time that she was seeking permission from the federal government to deliver every other day and warning of a collapse in letter volumes - that the postal service needed to take “prompt action to minimise our costs” and “we are in this together”.

“I want you to know that the executive team and our board are all doing their share,” Ms Holgate said at the time.

“The executive team and board have all agreed to take a 20 per cent in their salaries for the months ahead as we go through this crisis. In addition, the executive team has agreed to forsake any right to a bonus payment for this year, the combination of both, effectively reduces their earnings in this period by more than 50 per cent.”

Last financial year, Ms Holgate’s total remuneration was $2.7m, which included bonuses of $831,375 and $224,500 in other “long-term benefits”, making her the nation’s highest paid public servant.

The short-term incentive (STI) payment target for Ms Holgate and senior executives is 70 per cent of their fixed annual remuneration (FAR). In 2019, “overall performance was strong” with targets for most key performance indicators achieved or exceeded, leading to an STI payout of 75 per cent of FAR for Ms Holgate and on average 72 per cent for senior executives.

And this year it appears that Ms Holgate and her team have again exceeded their targets, increasing Australia Post’s full year revenue by $500m, or 7 per cent, to a record $7.5bn. Meanwhile its profit increased 30 per cent to $53.6m, following surging demand for parcel deliveries during COVID-19 lockdowns.