Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn received a $256,500 “people and leadership” bonus for building “exceptional teams” during a year when thousands of employees signed a petition protesting burnout and poor pay, while staff cuts climbed to about 1,000.
CBA employees have expressed anger over the bank’s opaque bonus system, saying it imposes unrealistic performance targets on ordinary staff. At the same time, Mr Comyn was awarded the payout amid widespread reports from workers who described intense pressure and difficulty managing rising living costs.
Mr Comyn’s scorecard, published in Commonwealth Bank’s latest annual report, shows he received a 120 per cent rating and was assessed as performing “above expectations” in the People and Leadership category.
The category represents one of four measures used to determine his bonus. It assesses his performance in “creating exceptional teams”, fostering “a culture of learning and excellence” and “strengthening our talent and succession”.
The payment, however, represented less than 3 per cent of Mr Comyn’s total $9.1 million remuneration package. That overall sum meant he earned the equivalent of the average CBA employee’s annual salary in under a week.
The disclosures come as the Finance Sector Union estimates that more than 1,000 Commonwealth Bank positions have disappeared this year. Around 3,000 employees have also signed a petition condemning the bank’s latest pay offer.
Commonwealth Bank, which reported a record profit of almost $11 billion, remains embroiled in an extended pay dispute with the FSU. The union is seeking an increase that keeps pace with inflation.
A collection of testimonies from 1,700 dissatisfied employees, recently delivered to Mr Comyn, offers a detailed account of growing frustration inside Australia’s largest bank. The submissions describe anger over workload, compensation and the perceived gap between executive rewards and staff conditions.
Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn’s $9.1 million remuneration package meant he earned the average CBA employee’s annual pay in less than a week
While Mr Comyn’s personal life has attracted media attention, Commonwealth Bank employees have focused on what they describe as an opaque bonus system that rewards executives generously while leaving staff with difficult-to-reach performance targets
The bank, which posted a record profit of almost $11 billion, is involved in a prolonged pay dispute with the Finance Sector Union, which is seeking an inflation-linked increase
“We are the backbone and the frontline of CBA. We cop all and everything while the big boys and girls sit behind the fence collecting the fruits of our hard-earned labour, always shifting the goalposts for our incentives,” one employee wrote.
“The rich toss us peanuts, telling us to look away while they bathe in their greed. They ought to remember who actually keeps the business running day to day.”
Another submission said staff were expected to work continuously “like robots”, while senior executives received substantial pay and shares and employees were offered what the writer described as a token $1,000 in stock.
“I struggle to pay my bills and keep up with the rising cost of living, while at the same time hearing about managers going on golf trips and seeing designer-brand bags or hearing about their next trip to Europe,” one worker said.
Alongside criticism of senior management, the employee accounts point to what staff consider an unwinnable bonus system. They argue that the rewards available to executives are vastly out of proportion to those offered elsewhere in the organisation.
Commonwealth Bank’s cash bonus pool is available to eligible employees, including executives. However, payments are made on a “discretionary” basis, with the size of the pool determined by the bank’s “overall affordability”.
Workers say the performance indicators needed to qualify for a bonus are “completely unattainable” and become “harder every year” as the targets change.
One employee said every performance category was so “ridiculously unrealistic” that achieving the full 12 per cent entitlement would require her to “have invented a new way of working that changed how the bank runs”.
Group Executive Alan Docherty received $4.8 million in the last financial year
Group executive Angus Sullivan cleaned up with a salary package of $5million this year
Group executive Michael Vacy-Lyle was also paid a $5million salary package despite no increase to his base salary
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FSU Secretary Julie Angrisano said CBA’s pay offer from August only widened ‘the already obscene pay disparity between management and the workers’
‘It’s disgusting that he [Comyn] gets 91 per cent of his STVR [bonus] while most employees have to fight tooth and nail against increasingly unrealistic and unattainable standards just to reach 70 per cent.’
Another person claimed they had ‘exceeded KPIs for three years and never received any discretionary increase.
‘The bank retains significant discretion over bonus outcomes, [and] routinely does not pay employees their full bonus potential.
‘Employees should not be expected to absorb rising living costs while relying on discretionary remuneration that may not be paid at its full potential.’
Several staff members referred to the bank constantly ‘moving goalposts’ to avoid paying staff bonuses, which were still described as ‘subpar’ and ‘offensive’.
Staff also claimed that the bank reduced the amount of people who were eligible for a top rating of ‘exceeding expectations’, and shrunk the bonuses available.
Meanwhile, the bank’s own regulatory disclosure revealed that every one of its 42 most senior staff received a bonus in FY25.
While staff reportedly can make around 12 to 15 per cent of their salary in bonuses, the CEO is eligible for bonuses of 94 per cent.
Additionally, the CEO, group executives and senior executives also have access to a separate budget pool that awards share-based bonuses which vest over several years.
The structure partly explains how despite none of the executives having increases to their base pay, their overall remuneration still jumped by a combined $9million.
CBA’s increased share price accounted for $2.37million out of Mr Comyn’s entire pay packet.
For the bank’s group executives, Angus Sullivan and Mike Vacy-Lyle cleaned up with salary packages north of $5million, while Andrew Hinchliff and Alan Docherty both walked away with $4.8million in the last financial year.
And while regular workers are assessed on their individual performances, Mr Comyn and his executives are given bonuses based on collective output and the bank’s performance.
In August, after 10 bargaining meetings with the Finance Sector Union, CBA offered pay rises of up to 11.5 per cent over three years, with the biggest increases reserved for its lowest-paid staff.
The union called the offer ‘dismal’ and a ‘slap in the face’, claiming that 71 per cent of staff would receive a below-inflation rise in the first year.
The FSU’s Secretary Julie Angrisano said the offer only widened ‘the already obscene pay disparity between management and the workers’.
‘We should not have working poor in Australia but that is exactly what we are seeing at CBA.’
However, this week the FSU announced the bank had put another offer on the table, which would be considered.
When approached with detailed questions, a spokesperson for Commonwealth Bank said it’s people were ‘central to how we deliver for our customers’.
‘Our people are central to how we deliver for our customers, and we ensure they have ready access to information and guidance about their pay and rewards. This includes detailed explanations of their base pay, variable remuneration and the Employee Share Acquisition Plan.
Where people have specific questions about their individual situation, they’re able to get answers from our dedicated HR Direct team or they can speak directly with their manager.’