BNZ boss accused of threatening to slash annual leave if workers didn't return to office

A Kiwi bank boss threatened to slash annual leave for employees if they did not return to working from the office, workers have claimed. 

Current and former Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) employees spoken to by the Herald say chief executive Dan Huggins made several comments in the past about removing benefits if workers didn’t fall in line. 

Some workers say the comments contributed to a “toxic” environment of “distrust”. 

In one instance shortly after Covid-19 measures waned, staff claim Huggins told workers in a staff Teams meeting that they would need to start returning to work from the office. 

When he was challenged by an employee about how staff have “worked really hard” without a “great pay rise”, Huggins allegedly hit back with threats to take away BNZ’s six-week annual leave policy, according to a former long-serving employee who was made redundant last year. 

“Everyone was talking about it for weeks and weeks afterwards,” the ex-employee said. 

“They just couldn’t believe a CEO of a company would say that to you … the fact that he said that threat to his staff was just absolutely unbelievable.” 

A current employee also said Huggins has made similar comments about cutting annual leave if workers don’t take the full 30 days of leave within the year. 

Workers First Union national finance organiser Callum Francis confirms the union had been told Huggins had made those statements. 

When approached by the Herald for a response to the claims, Huggins declined to comment. 

BNZ chief executive Dan Huggins. 

Instead, BNZ responded via chief people officer Matthew Cullum, who said the bank “offers what we believe is among the strongest employee benefits packages available in New Zealand”. 

“The six weeks’ annual leave our employees receive is one of the most generous annual leave packages across all the major banks, and among many other employers. 

“Regular leave is important for our people to rest and recharge, and it helps us make sure we have the right people in place to serve our customers well, in branch, over the phone or wherever they need us. 

“That’s why we expect and encourage our people to take regular leave throughout the year.” 

Cullum added that “we have no plans to change it”. 

However, according to the union that represents about 600 BNZ workers, the bank previously tried to reduce these annual leave entitlements during the last round of bargaining. 

“The union members have defended that previously,” Francis told the Herald. 

‘Attack’ on employee benefits 

Last week, BNZ made “sudden” cuts to a range of employee benefits, including the removal of account fee waivers, low equity premium waivers and discounts on variable home loan rates. 

A current employee said many workers learned about the changes from the Herald, “purely because of the lack of transparency and communication internally”. 

The Herald understands many other employee benefits have also been slashed in recent years, including removal of the bank’s pension scheme, NAB (BNZ’s Australian parent company) share issues, end-of-year bonuses and even things like office stationery supplies. 

Workers say many of those benefits were cut to all except senior management and executives. BNZ did not respond to questions asking to confirm if this was the case. 

BNZ removed a range of employee benefits last week, shocking workers. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

The union said BNZ has made a particular effort to avoid adding many benefits to contracts, “so they can just pick and choose and remove things on a whim”. 

“That’s kind of the culture they have at BNZ at the moment,” Francis said. “They will do what they want, and they will make people do it. 

“And that’s why this benefit attack and this behaviour is really concerning, because it doesn’t look like it’s stopping.” 

An ex-employee described BNZ as a “toxic” workplace. 

“I am not surprised at how they are now gutting almost all staff benefits. 

“They have become a terrible organisation to work for. In the end, I was actually glad to be redundant, as at least I got a payout and could leave that toxic place.” 

What benefits does BNZ offer? 

Asked about the removal of benefits for workers over the years, Cullum said: “In addition to the six weeks’ annual leave BNZ introduced back in 2019, we also introduced improvements to our extensive range of employee benefits which remain in place today. 

“The changes introduced were based on feedback from our employees when we surveyed them on the types of benefits they valued the most.” 

Cullum said these include: 

• Free health, life and income protection insurance, with significant discounts available for upgrades or extensions for family. 
• Variable end-of-year bonuses for many employees were replaced with salary increases (removing the uncertainty of those discretionary annual payments). 
• A legacy retirement scheme was replaced, with BNZ retirement contributions moving to KiwiSaver (BNZers already in the previous scheme can continue to contribute to it, and many do). 

“We also provide flexible and hybrid working arrangements for many roles, while our executive and senior leaders are expected to be in the office five days a week to support their teams,” he added. 

“BNZ also continues to make KiwiSaver employer contributions to employees over 65.” 

The Australian-owned bank regularly posts billion-dollar statutory net profits every year, including nearly $1.5 billion in 2025. 

Dan Huggins was appointed BNZ boss in 2021. 

Many workers have also spoken out about BNZ boss Huggins, saying he is not popular among staff. 

The union also confirmed that it was “aware that workers at BNZ have very strong feelings about Dan”. 

“One of the biggest concerns we as a union have is that BNZ has behaved under Dan far more like a ‘do as we say, not as we do’ kind of culture,” Francis said. 

“It’s dictated from the top down. And that’s not been received well.” 

Huggins was appointed BNZ chief executive in October 2021.