Pahari accuser tells of AMP hypocrisy By Sarah Kendell 21 July 2021
The woman at the centre of harassment allegations that saw AMP engulfed in scandal last year says she was “treated no better than a waitress at a restaurant” during her time at the wealth giant, despite its comprehensive diversity and inclusion policies.
Addressing the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) annual conference on Wednesday, former AMP Capital executive Julia Szlakowski detailed her experiences working for the fund manager, during which time she filed a harassment complaint against its former chief Boe Pahari.
“I never imagined as a qualified professional in a company that holds the public’s trust that I would be treated no better than a waitress in a restaurant,” Ms Szlakowski said.
“I did my due diligence and thought I had found a firm I could grow with, a place where I could be safe… everyone now knows how deeply mistaken I was,” Szlakowski said.
“I never imagined that as an experienced and qualified professional in a company that holds the public’s trust, I would be treated no better than I was as a waitress in a restaurant.”
Szlakowski said the aftermath of her going public with the incident was a lesson on corporate governance and how lack of proper corporate culture can destroy a company.
“When I was hired in 2016, AMP was one of the biggest financial institutions in the world, one of the top 20 companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), and one in four customers were an AMP customer,” Szlakowski said.
“We wanted our commitment to be just not about investments – which is hugely important – but to emphasise to our members as an organisation we are committed to being carbon neutral in an operational sense.
“We’ve had that for three years and were one of the first funds to do that, which was a significant commitment we made.”
When asked whether her members understood the difference between divestment versus engagement, Lander said the fund had to explain the nuances of the process.
“The challenge is as investors, we want to transform investments at a faster pace than reality,” Lander said.
“From my perspective, we’re always trying to ensure members have reasonable expectations and a long-term view of what they need from their super or their retirement savings,” Graham said.
“Twelve months ago, we were having a very different conversation with very weak returns, so we’ve seen a very strong rebound and a strong return for members in the last financial year.
“But that long-term view and making sure people are attached to what they need on a long-term basis will try to ensure they don’t have too high an expectation after a strong year – or too negative of an expectation after a weaker year – because both can be quite damaging.”
“This is no surprise to those of us who recognise that most strong performing companies are those that take ESG issues seriously in the running of their businesses,” he said.
“And similarly, investors who embed ESG considerations in their investment programs are those that typically generate the strongest investment performance.
“It’s not magic, it’s simply smart investing.”
Silk pointed to the Government proposal that would require superannuation funds to be independent of proxy advisers but said there had only been two complaints made against proxy advice reports.
“Proxy advisers provide investors with a level of analysis that would be difficult and more costly to generate themselves. ACSI helps super funds be more efficient by pooling resources to ensure they are comprehensively and independently informed.