Jobs news: Australia looks like it’s outperforming on linking executive pay to sustainability targets.
Sustainability linked pay has become so popular that 78 per cent of the top businesses in the world are linking executive compensation to sustainability performance, according to a new KPMG report.
Big four consultant KPMG has released a report, Incentivizing long-term value creation, which surveyed the top 25 companies of different nations, revealing that Australia was ranked third amongst the top 25 countries adopting sustainability linked pay. The measure has proven to be successful as 88 per cent of the companies indicated that having sustainability targets linked to boardroom pay had aligned them to topics that are “material to their business”, typically reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The uptake of sustainability linked pay is generally higher for countries within the EU than outside it.
In Australia, 23 out of 25 top companies have remuneration of management boards linked to sustainability, and of these, 76 per cent link to between two and four European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) based topical standards into their remuneration targets.
Of the 274 companies that provided more details, 37 per cent had included both short term and long term incentives for ESG targets, 40 per cent had only included them in short term incentives, and 23 per cent had only included them in long term incentives.
AI replaces Canva employees
Canva announced its first ever set of redundancies last Friday with 10 of its 12-strong technical writing team made redundant, nine months after it directed its employees to use artificial intelligence programs wherever possible to increase productivity.
The AFR reported that while the numbers are small – the company has around 5000 staff – it could signal more such redundancies in some technology heavy companies.
The writers were responsible for writing and updating internal manuals, such as the engineering handbook and hiring new team members. A Canva spokesperson said that the redundant staff members will be given career coaching and at least six months’ worth of pay.
Employees who anonymously spoke to The AFR said that all technical writers diligently followed the direction to use “any and every” generative AI tool in their work, and the company had assured them that the use of AI wouldn’t lead to a loss of jobs.
The company, valued at around $49 billion, will likely list on Nasdaq in the next few years.