Palantir scraps proposed UK pension cuts after worker revolt

Tech consultancy Palantir, which is pitching for an enormous NHS information contract, has scrapped proposed cuts to firm pension contributions within the UK after a backlash from staff.

The US-based information analytics firm instructed its UK employees on the finish of final month that it was contemplating slashing its contribution to the pensions of its longer-serving workers from 10 per cent of wage to six per cent, in line with two present Palantir staff. The proposed change would have come into impact from January 2023 and affected a few quarter of UK workers.

Such a transfer would have constituted an efficient pay lower at a time of hovering inflation and was seen by some longstanding workers as the newest in a collection of cuts to their advantages.

The proposal additionally got here as Palantir is getting ready a multimillion-pound contract bid to run a brand new NHS information platform, probably embedding the corporate on the coronary heart of the UK’s well being techniques.

Greater than 200 “Palantirians” — as the corporate calls its workers — joined a gaggle on the company messaging app Slack to debate the adjustments, with many vocally opposing the transfer. Some longer-serving UK workers chafed at what they stated was a gradual chipping away at their advantages. As an illustration, a lower to a UK housing allowance value a whole bunch of kilos a month was introduced in 2019.

Following the backlash, Palantir’s chief working officer, Shyam Sankar, convened a convention name for workers final Monday. One worker described the question-and-answer session with administration as “brutal”, together with a dialogue of executives’ personal pay packages.

Palantir’s prime govt group took dwelling whole pay value $8mn final 12 months. Chief govt Alex Karp was paid $1.1bn in 2020, together with one-off inventory awards associated to the completion of the corporate’s preliminary public providing.

Following the decision, Sankar instructed workers it had scrapped the proposal and apologised for the way he had launched the thought.

Palantir has some 850 staff within the UK. The pension lower would have affected those that joined greater than two years in the past. UK recruits who joined after April 2020 have been already receiving a 6 per cent pension contribution and the corporate offered the change as bringing the 2 teams into alignment.

Many tech corporations, as soon as well-known for his or her free lunches and generosity to workers, are paring again advantages, lowering their tempo of hiring and even reducing jobs, as they put together for a possible recession and a tighter funding atmosphere.

Cybersecurity specialists usually cite disgruntled staff as a possible safety danger. The stakes in that regard are excessive for Palantir, whose Foundry software program was utilized by the NHS to handle the UK’s Covid-19 vaccination programme amongst different pandemic commissions.

Palantir’s potential involvement in a proposed £360mn Federated Knowledge Platform, which might entail it dealing with much more delicate affected person information, has sparked protests over the corporate’s ties to the US safety companies and its co-founder Peter Thiel, an early Fb investor and distinguished supporter of former US president Donald Trump.

The award of the NHS FDP contract had been anticipated subsequent month however the change of presidency within the UK over the summer season has delayed a choice into the brand new 12 months.

Palantir stated its about-turn on pensions was merely “good observe”.

“It isn’t uncommon for an organization to evaluate its pension coverage on occasion. Nevertheless, it is usually good observe for an employer to pay attention fastidiously to its staff,” the corporate stated. “We take specific delight in valuing our staff as we all know our nice persons are what drives our success. That’s the reason, having engaged with those that would have been affected by the potential change, we took the immediate resolution to not press forward.”