Ben Thompson: Employment Hero tried negotiating with Hostplus before public super feud

Employment Hero CEO Ben Thompson says he tried to negotiate with superannuation giant Hostplus for months before making their feud public, and the workplace tech platform remains open to further discussion outside the social media spotlight.

Since late February, Thompson has used Twitter and LinkedIn to publicly challenge Hostplus over its November 2023 submission to a Treasury consultation, in which Hostplus called for a ban on superannuation fund advertising within platforms like Employment Hero.

Those headline-grabbing statements culminated in a Tuesday LinkedIn post, in which Thompson shared a letter Hostplus purportedly sent to venture capital fund Airtree, an Employment Hero investor, in early March. The letter asked Airtree to consider Thompson’s position as CEO of the company.

Responding to questions about the highly unusual Hostplus feud on Wednesday, Thompson told SmartCompany the social media commentary came after attempts to negotiate directly with Hostplus.

“Throughout the past few months, I have been asking to engage in dialogue with Hostplus and I remain open to getting round a table to work this out,” Thompson said.

Thompson said Employment Hero is open to discussing three key issues with Hostplus: maintaining employee choice of super funds; avoiding an outright ban on super funds advertising through digital workplace platforms; and the creation of a Code of Practice regarding superannuation advertising.

Hostplus responds to Employment Hero claims

For its part, Hostplus — which itself invests in Employment Hero through Airtree — may not be as interested in breaking bread with a founder who recently accused the super fund of trying to “stifle competition in an unfair attempt to retain members”.

In a statement provided to SmartCompany, Hostplus said Thompson “intentionally misrepresented the facts regarding our responsible and balanced submission to Treasury, made in response to its market consultation”.

“Hostplus has never sought to limit consumer choice of superannuation funds,” it continued.

Hostplus also has a different take on its communications with Employment Hero, which the super fund claims actually “invited Hostplus to participate” in its advertising model.

SmartCompany cannot confirm that Employment Hero asked Hostplus to advertise on its platform, only that the super fund made the claim.

The business of super

In extraordinarily sharp language for a superannuation fund, Hostplus also argued Thompson’s “inconsistent and at several points, incoherent opposition to our proposed reform” demonstrated his focus on retaining the income Employment Hero receives from super funds advertising on the platform.

Managing superannuation on the Employment Hero platform is indeed a big deal for the business.

While workers can consolidate their superannuation funds or transfer to a new fund for free through the myGov system, Employment Hero champions what it calls ‘embedded super‘ — a future where users could access “financial planning, superannuation, and retirement planning education” on digital platforms like its own.

Expanding the ways employees interact with their superannuation through platforms like Employment Hero could provide those platforms with significant future income streams.

For now, Thompson says advertising income from superannuation funds provides “less than 5% of our total revenue” for Employment Hero.

“This is a matter of principle for us,” he told SmartCompany.

“I knew it would be contentious to oppose a powerful industry fund publicly but I am committed to this issue.

“It is illogical to ban advertising in a niche channel, at the very times when employees should be considering their super options.”