$14.4m: Qantas brand damage may come with a hefty price tag for Joyce
Ex-Qantas chief Alan Joyce was paid $21.4 million over the last financial year, a twelve month period in which the brand plummeted from one of the country’s most-trusted brands, to Australia’s most distrusted airline.
But the Qantas board has declared it may “claw back” $14.4 million of this, including $8.3 million in already-awarded long-term bonuses, $3.9 million linked to pro-rata business earnings, and a $2.2 million short-term bonus.
That short-term bonus is currently being withheld, subject to the ACCC action over the airline selling already cancelled flights.
It’s not just Joyce being slapped – all short-term bonuses for senior executives are being withheld pending the ACCC outcome.
This was all revealed in the airline’s annual report, released yesterday afternoon. The airline used the release as a mea culpa, of sorts.
“While customer satisfaction levels improved during the year, they are well below where they should be,” Qantas chair Richard Goyder said in a statement.
“As a result, this part of the scorecard was judged at zero out of a possible 20 per cent, and this had a corresponding impact on senior executive pay.
“As part of good governance, after applying the 20 per cent reduction the board will withhold the balance of the FY23 short-term incentive for senior executives while this matter progresses.
“There are already clawback provisions on significant amounts of remuneration awarded but not yet released that would be used if significant misconduct was ultimately found.”
This “remuneration awarded but not yet released” includes Joyce’s $8.3 million in long-term bonuses, plus $3.9 million linked to pro-rata business outcomes.
Alan Joyce. You force to repeat myself. I’m the author of ‘the spirit of Australia’.Then deserved, now tragically inappropriate. My slogan is hereby vetoed. Please remove it from all fuselages, tickets and advertising.
— Phillip Adams (@PhillipAdams_1) June 23, 2022
“We’re determined to bring Qantas back to its position as one of the most trusted brands,” Goyder continued.
“That can only happen by consistently delivering to the standards people rightly expect, and the board is working closely with Vanessa and her new management team to ensure that happens.”
New CEO Vanessa Hudson has so far made the right moves, reaching out to Transport Workers Union secretary Michael Kaine this week to “acknowledge and apologise for the pain and suffering caused to workers by the illegal outsourcing of 1,700 ground and fleet presentation staff”, as Kaine put it to Mumbrella.
She also promised to apologise directly to those workers who were impacted.
Kaine called this “a positive step that may indicate a different approach” from the airline.
“The TWU will certainly be holding the new CEO to her offer of an apology to the affected workers,” he said.
“We welcome this approach, but are mindful that actions speak louder than words. There is a great deal of action that needs to take place at Qantas to reverse the destructive business model that has decimated the airline.”
And what does such action look like?
“The TWU has made clear to Qantas that any future meeting must discuss: a radical change to the governance of the airline, industry reform to provide safe and secure skies into the future, lifting standards in Qantas’ supply chain, and an ongoing, constructive relationship with the union.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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