Chapter 5: Total Reward

Total Reward (TR) represents the full remuneration amount for each employee.

TR is the sum of the Total Remuneration Package (TRP) plus bonuses. Bonuses include:

  • individual performance bonuses
  • retention bonuses
  • whole-of-agency or group bonuses.

Overall the median TR across all classifications increased by 2.7% from 2016 to 2017. This is consistent with increases of around 2% for APS classifications with the highest at the APS 6 (2.7%) and the lowest at the APS 1 (1.7%). TR values are close to those for TRP which shows the relatively small proportion that bonuses make up of overall remuneration. Accounting for employee numbers at each level, the weighted TR median increased by 2.3% for non-SES employees and 2.0% for SES (see Appendix A3: Table 1b).

Table 5.1: Total Reward by classification, 2016 and 2017
  TR P5 $ TR Q1 $ TR median $ % change TR Q3 $ TR P95 $
Classification 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017   2016 2017 2016 2017
 Grad 65,218 66,646 68,817 70,471 72,974 74,689 2.3% 73,806 75,479 78,816 81,801
APS 1 45,586 46,527 49,919 51,367 55,550 56,511 1.7% 57,997 58,760 61,430 62,652
APS 2 57,032 59,215 60,007 62,176 64,306 66,091 2.8% 66,868 68,560 69,566 71,617
APS 3 64,108 66,355 67,235 69,347 72,116 73,839 2.4% 74,678 76,300 77,721 80,218
APS 4 72,117 74,281 78,187 79,518 80,395 82,300 2.4% 82,741 84,819 85,273 87,550
APS 5 80,082 82,299 85,351 87,043 87,952 89,807 2.1% 90,627 92,571 94,399 96,625
APS 6 90,714 93,144 99,777 101,535 103,305 106,046 2.7% 106,656 109,291 111,341 114,186
EL 1 116,131 118,548 124,403 127,106 129,433 131,945 1.9% 132,223 134,966 140,953 144,580
EL 2 140,768 144,161 155,865 158,695 162,103 165,446 2.1% 169,609 171,876 192,816 193,985
SES 1 212,898 218,756 228,556 233,864 243,467 248,282 2.0% 256,123 260,126 275,113 278,916
SES 2 274,836 277,675 291,775 299,613 305,616 311,013 1.8% 324,791 330,362 352,756 366,578
SES 3 349,424 369,158 384,948 393,194 411,667 421,800 2.5% 428,422 435,724 475,351 481,555
All employees $67,037 $69,652 $80,082 $82,300 $92,881 $95,416 2.7% $121,537 $124,556 $164,589 $168,290

Total Reward trends

Over a five year period the increase in TR has varied between classifications, with relatively larger increases at the Graduate, APS 1 and SES 3 levels and smaller increases at the APS 2–4 levels.

Figure 5.1: Median Total Reward by classification, 2013 and 2017

Figure 5.1 is a Clustered Horizontal Bar chart displaying Median Total Reward by Classification at 2013 and 2017.

Figure 5.2 shows where staff are located within the salary range for each classification. At the APS 2–4 levels, the distance between the median and the 95th percentile is relatively smaller than other classifications, with a large cluster of staff around and above the median salary within these classifications.

Figure 5.2: Total Reward range by classification, 2016–2017

Figure 5.2 displays the Total reward range by Classification for 2016 and 2017

Performance bonuses

Performance bonuses may be available to employees through an enterprise agreement or other employment instrument. The availability, eligibility and amounts vary across agencies. While performance is also recognised through other mechanisms such as salary or incremental advancement—which is reflected in Base Salary movement—this section reports only on performance bonus payments.

There were 18,199 employees who received a performance bonus in 2017 which represents a decrease of 6% from the previous year.

Few enterprise agreements contain provisions for performance bonuses. About 76% of all bonuses were paid by one agency which has a provision for a one-off performance bonus payment, in lieu of salary advancement for staff at the top of their salary range.

Figure 5.4 shows that the proportion of SES employees that received a performance bonus has fallen steadily between 2013-2016, but was similar between 2016-2017.

Figure 5.3: Employees in receipt of performance bonus payments, 2013–2017

Figure 5.3 is a Stacked Column Chart displaying Employees receiving performance bonus payments by Classification groups-APS and Graduates, EL and SES from 2013 to 2017.

Figure 5.4: Proportions of SES employees who received a performance bonus, 2013–2017

Figure 5.4 is a Line Graph displaying Proportions of SES employees who received a Performance bonus from 2013 to 2017. SES1, SES2 and SES3 have been separately categorised.

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