Flight Centre to invest more than $30 million in staff retention

By Alexandra Coulton

Flight Centre has announced a whopping $30 million investment in staff retention, with sales and support staff set to cop additional share rights.

The company plans to expand its Global Retention Rights program — which was set up in FY22 to counter COVID-19’s impacts on the business and its people — for a further 12 months.

The program is a tailored retention initiative granting staff globally (excluding board members and senior executives) share rights if they continue their FLT careers during the post-COVID recovery period.

The proposed FY23 offering will see most of the company’s people offered a one-off grant of share rights valued at $3,750, with people in locations where the company does not operate share plans being offered a similar cash benefit at the end of the period.

The FY23 rights will be issued in August 2022 and will vest when the company releases its December 2023 half-yearly results (February 2024).

Participants who meed the continued employment condition through to 31 December 2023 will be able to convert the rights into ordinary Flight Centre shares.

In total, about 10,000 people are expected to recieve shares or cash via the new offer at an expected cost of between $30 and $35 million.

Flight Centre’s managing director Graham Skroo’ Turner, said the program was a targeted response to COVID-19’s impacts on the business.

“The GRR program is a material investment in the people who are integral to both our recovery and our future success and we believe it is contributing to the healthy overall retention rates we are seeing,” he said.

“It is first and foremost a retention program that encourages our people to continue their careers with us during what we believe will be an important period in our recovery.

“Travel is rebounding but there is added complexity, which once again underlines the value of our people and their expertise.”

The number of rights each participant will receive in the new offer will be based on the volume weighted average price for the 10 days leading up to the grant date.

Based on current projections, the FY23 offer will have less than 1 per cent dilutionary impact on FLT’s shareholder base if the company elects to issue the shares.

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flight centre flt Graham 'Skroo' Turner share rights staff retention