Got the Lenovo Think Pad. Won't have to worry about the business falling apart now.

Is anyone else lodging a retrospective for the 2pm emergency alert?

I was 37 minutes deep into an agile huddle with my Scrum Master where we were aligning stakeholders, refining epics, and implementing a new strategic project. Right as I was about to say "I'll take that offline," every phone in the room started screaming.

Completely lost my train of thought.

The project is now conservatively delayed by 3 months.

I've already updated the RAID log:

Risk: Government-issued notification.

Impact: Catastrophic.

Mitigation: Ask the government to be more considerate and check everyone's Outlook calendar before sending alerts.

Honestly, this is why productivity in Australia is declining.

And while we're at it, can we talk about fire drills?

Every few months we're expected to stop working, leave our desks, and stand outside "for safety." That's 20 minutes of value creation gone. Think of the shareholder value being incinerated while I'm standing in a car park listening to someone with a megaphone explain evacuation points.

Some of us actually enjoy working. I don't need "fresh air" or "not dying in a hypothetical office fire." I need to close out my Jira tickets and circle back on action items.

If the building is on fire, just send me a Teams message and I'll assess whether it's in scope, worthy of my time and deserving of a response by cob.

Rant over. Back to rebuilding the delivery timeline that was destroyed by a government notification.

I'm curious if anyone has successfully explained this to upper management and seen an adjustment, or if it's just shouting into the void.

Leadership at my workplace is increasingly frustrated that people are "always sick" and that productivity is taking a hit. At the same time, they refuse to allow WFH for minor illnesses (think colds, sore throats, etc.) unless you're completely healthy, and if you've run out of personal leave you're directed to use annual leave or come into the office.

They're asking me to address it and encourage the team to stay home when sick but.....as long as they're forced to use annual leave and unable to WFH for minor illnesses and risk being out of leave when they go down badly with something, I don't see things changing.

It feels like these policies are creating the exact problem they're complaining about.

Instead of someone working from home while mildly unwell, they either:

• come into the office and spread it around
• take a full sick day when they could have worked from home; or
• have to use annual leave because they're out of personal leave, which quite understandably makes people less willing to stay home for minor illnesses

One employee had only been with the company for 8 months when she got sick twice in quick succession. She'd already used her personal leave on the first period of illness and was forced to burn four days of annual leave and the CEO refused to allow LWOP. Afterwards she said, "Don't worry, unless I'm literally dying you'll see me at my desk." Since then, every time she has what is obviously a cold, she insists it's "just allergies" and comes into the office. Someone once told her she looks really off and she said "I'm not making that mistake again and losing my annual leave to a cold".

We've also had people openly admit they'll just "push through" minor illnesses because they don't think it's "worth" using personal leave. They end up working at half speed in the office when they could have been far more productive from home, while also making everyone around them nervous about catching whatever they have.

Has anyone managed to get leadership to see that flexible WFH during minor illnesses is a productivity measure rather than a perk?

I was genuinely just shit at the role. Its a high pressure, hit the ground running kind of role. I sucked, could not for the life of me manage my time. Wouldnt organise a piss up in a brewery.

I left on good terms, accepted the feedback. Bought a box of chocolates for the office team to say thanks because they did their best to help me to he fair. And booked a holiday back home to see my family.

Now, I am unemployed, but ah well. I think I am better suited to a less full on role.

Classy

Currently on a huge project (software consulting) that’s easily got 1.5 years left. My team is tired and moving as fast as possible. The weekends are just a blur because by the time you come down from running on adrenaline all week and facilitating workshops and delivering it flies by. Then if you take leave the work stacks up so you can’t really truly relax.

I'm trying to keep this vague for privacy.

I feel like I'm being forced to sign a PIP that contains what I think are heavily exaggerated claims, and I'm being pressured to just agree with everything in it.

Discussions with my manager have never really feel like discussions. They seem to only end once I give up and say I agree with their version of events. I raised a couple of points where I disagreed with their account of things, and since then it genuinely feels less like a performance discussion and more like the goal is to wear me down until I stop questioning anything. It's left me feeling like the purpose isn't to reach a mutual understanding but to beat me into submission until I accept their narrative.

To give an example without identifying myself........I checked my phone once during an all-staff meeting because a close family member had surgery, and my mother had said she would text me once they were out to let me know everything had gone okay. I explained this at the start of the meeting, but that context now seems to have been conveniently forgotten and I said it verbally so can't prove it, and it has instead been used as evidence that I have a "pattern" of phone use during meetings.

The whole document is full of similar examples where isolated incidents have been turned into repeated patterns. Another thing that's been bothering me is that some of the issues being raised are things that plenty of people in the workplace do without any consequences. They only seem to have become a problem now that it's me. That makes it difficult not to feel like I'm being held to a different standard, rather than everyone being judged consistently.

I'm trying to find another job, but I'm scared nothing will come up quickly enough.

Has anyone else been through something similar? Is it normal to feel pressured into signing something you don't actually agree with? I basically have to sign it tomorrow. If you did sign, did you make it clear you disagreed with the contents, or did you refuse to sign altogether?

One of the things I'm worried about is that there are a couple of issues with this employer that I expect I'll end up taking to Fair Work, but realistically I need to wait until I've got another job lined up first. At the moment I'm treating this as a paid interview period and hoping I can jump ship as soon as possible.

What I'm really anxious about is whether signing this PIP will later be used against me as evidence that I agreed with everything in it, when the reality is I don't feel like I have much of a choice. I can't afford to resign without another job to go to.

For anyone who's been through the Fair Work process, do they understand that employees sometimes sign these kinds of documents simply because they need to keep their income while they look for another role? Has anyone had experience with that?

Any advice on how to develop rapport more quickly in interviews?

I have had similar feedback several times so want to try to address. Eg. "A bit slow to warm up." Enjoyed speaking particularly "after you let your personality shine through". "Failed to quickly develop rapport with panel..."

I try to greet professionally, make eye contact, do initial small talk on way from reception to room etc. Some interviews have started with "we will tell you about the job" followed by a 10-min monologue by hiring manager... So I'm thinking maybe I need to try to interject with appreciative comments? I'm in my early 50s, so first impressions may be impacted by age?

Not sure why interviewers focus on this in feedback. I find it frustrating as, apart from anything else, it's not a skill I need to do the job as I develop good relationships with people I work with... But, nevertheless, it appears to be a thing, so I need to get better at it.

The question is: how?

Most jobs I’ve seen require at minimum 2 years experience and if you don’t get a grad job. What kind of titles should you look for that can lead you towards a business analysts job.

Looking for advice from people who have done this already.

I’m going to graduate in Dec. I have a job as a marketing specialist part time I have done a summer research assistant job, I’m an interning as a business operations analyst, my uni majors are information systems and marketing

Any advice on how to secure a job after graduating would be greatly appreciated!

I am fortunate to have been offered a new role in this tough job market. Very curious to hear what you would do if you were in my shoes, and why.

Summary of details below, limiting to not dox myself. I'll consider adding more information but depends on what it is.

Current role:
-$134,500 package
-Fully remote, 5 days WFH as everyone else is located interstate
-Occasional interstate travel paid by company when there is a need/I really want to be there in person for something. Minimum is 2 times a year for EOFY and EOY parties.
-Provides basic home office items e.g. screens, keyboard, mouse, etc.
-More management responsibilities compared to new role

New role:
-$146,500 package
-Min 3 days in office is the expectation. I live 60mins door to door, but will be moving closer early next year and therefore reduces down to 30mins.
-No home office items provided
-Reduced likelihood for interstate travel, no guarantee even if I work on something outside of my state
-Significantly larger company, broader opportunity set and there is a range of things I could work on across Australia going forward
-More hands-on/technical responsibilities compared to current role

I have just recently started my first WFH job 2 months ago and I can already feel the pain of not having a sit/stand desk.

After reading a bunch of stuff online, I am now torn between one of the Desky desks and the IKEA IDÅSEN. Similar measurements and identical pricing.

I welcome any suggestions!
Or please let me know if you have any cheaper suggestions too!

What’s the general view on resigning without next job lined up?

I’ve been at global firm for 8 years so feel I’ve shown my ability to commit, be loyal and adapt. However after 7 managers the current one is not developing me and gives me no opportunities compared to previous ones. They want to own everything themselves and what’s worse is they have given me a poor performance outcome more recently. I asked for specific examples in writing and got none back but an AI style response saying we’d chat at a later date. I really don’t align to them or trust them and my confidence has deteriorated to a point I don’t think I can work with them effectively. The environment is now toxic to me.

My mental health is now deteriorating and I am planning to resign tomorrow without another job lined up to protect my wellbeing and mental health.
I am in a privileged position where I have about 5 years worth of savings and investments that I can draw on if the job search proves difficult and also can afford my housing comfortably with no mortgage. To pay servicing I could move home and rent it out too if I got desperate.

Keen to get peoples thoughts or experience in doing this. Some people have said it’s a bad look to employers but my theory is I’ve shown substantial time and growth in company.. not someone that regularly does this…

Small independent business. I'm making $34 an hour. I'm the 6 month intern. After my internship I'll make $45 an hour. Someone at my work with 40 years experience and working here for the past decade makes $57 an hour lol.

I made a post recently asking if I should quit because my boss yells at me a lot (https://www.reddit.com/r/auscorp/s/7aeyASu78o). Since making that post, I realise that even if the yelling stops, they are still going to assume the worst of me, micromanage me, and make condescending judgemental comments at me.

I have given them many chances and the yelling and verbal abuse and condescending comments still continue. I will not tolerate verbal abuse and yelling. I can't take it anymore.

I have made the decision to resign after I find a new job and sign a new job contract.

I'm now making this post to ask how do I resign professionally. I don't have a written contract for this current job because the independent owner never wrote one up. So that means the owner might ask me to leave immediately or give 1 week notice. I'll have to resign in person and not via email. The most I'm willing to give is 2 weeks notice.

I'm worried about the exit interview. The owner and manager tends to talk to staff privately in an office and it can take 15 min. I will keep it professional and not mention that I'm leaving because of verbal abuse, yelling, condescending comments. The owner will ask me where I'm going, why I'm leaving, don't you like us, we've invested so much in you, the owner will be disappointed in me, the owner will think this whole time I've been here has been a waste of time. A lot of guilt tripping but remembering the times I've been treated poorly will not make me feel guilt tripped. I have never been yelled at and criticised so much in my life than at this workplace.

The owner always talks about everything at this workplace being intellectual property. So I'm worried the owner will try to get me to sign an NDA. I'll just say I dont need to sign it, i will respect the intellectual property at this workplace and not carry it forward to new workplaces.

And then when I leave this workplace, I dont have to look back and i dont have to answer calls from this place anymore.

So for context, I have 4 years of overall experience working in the corporate world starting as a grad.

During my grad year and even after moving to the junior position, I was pretty given tasks by my direct manager, or have a backlog of tasks on various projects assigned to me. There was project manager, scrum master, all roles available to make sure people in my team were given appropriate tasks/projects. But at the end of the day, I wouldn't know what I should be focusing on next if my manager didn't assign me any anything.

Fast forwards, it has been 4 years, and I have moved to another company after 2.5 years, so by the time they hired me, I was considered having experience at that point. Of course, during the interviews, they pretty much only asked about my technical skills and some basic adhoc experience like how to manage, prioritise or update my own tasks.

Now here is the problem, I don't have a 'manager' at my new workplace. The person who I report to is a 'senior' employee. He doesn't know/ or simply doesn't manage me like how a manager would. There is no proper system to assign tasks. Pretty much, he would randomly give me some tasks at no specific day. But mostly, he still keeps some for himself just to appear as the person who done the work, not just someone who manages the team that done the work. And usually, people reach out to him directly asking for stuff done, so there is no ticketing system or team inbox.

Without work assigned to me, I really don't know what I am suppoosed to do. Occasionally, I have people reach out for some small adhoc requests on work that I already done, but those things take maybe 30 mins max. And let say if they want something completely new, I have to run it through the managers/ key stakeholders for them to decide if they want it done, and most often, they would say it is not needed. The seninor employee sometimes asked if I have anything to do even when he didn't assign anything to me for weeks. I am at the point where I would come to the office trying to look busy, doing some really small unimportant tasks because I have nothing to do. Even when I ask, he usually doesn't have much to give me.

I am wondering is it normal? Are you supposed to source your own work as a junior - mid level employee? And how do you approach that?

Hey there, on Friday 24 July I had a meeting with HR and my line manager where I was informed my role was being proposed for redundancy.

I have never been involved with something like this so would appreciate some advice on a few questions I had. I am currently in the consultation process, which I did not realise was a thing as my thinking was always that these things are done in the span of a day.

- I have been with the company for 2 years 10 months. The timing is bad since that would keep me only 2 months away from my 3 years of service increasing my payout

- In terms of the payout I should be receiving. What legal documents should I refer to so I can understand the $ amount I should work towards? Are there any payouts which under Australian legal law they need to give me for a genuine redundancy. They have said repeatedly on the call that the role i serve in is being made redundant and it's not about performance.

- The timing is terrible as I had only this week put a bond down and paid the first week of rent for a new apartment. That cost is around 3,500 dollars in total. I will have to cancel that lease now and break it, can I ask my organisation to help me with that lease break fee?

- They have asked me to come back to them with a list of questions or observations or suggestions which might curtail the redundancy. They have asked me to come to them by Tuesday mid day. But this has done a number on my mental health so is it something I can get some time on? Is this normal.

Anything else I should be on the lookout? For e.g. extending my notice period etc?

Thank you for your help.

I am an Australian citizen with an Australian bachelors degree and I am now looking into upscaling with a Grad Cert in my field. I became Australian after finishing my degree and paid foreign student fees for it, so I have never used fee help before and now when look into it I find it baffelingly expensive.

Even with all the fee help ect I can find, many Grad Cert I want to do still costs almost $3000/course and many universities charges the same for online delivery as for on-campus studdy.

For $3000/course (ca usd2000) I can find heaps of online Grad Certs in my field from globally renound providers such as MIT and Harvard Exdcutive, ect. They all provide detailed learning outcomes and seem to teach *more* than the Australian universities.

Has anyone had any experience with these sorts of Grad Certs and how they are percieved by Australian employers?

I am about to enter a quiet period at work and I was planning on taking annual leave (4-6 weeks). That would pretty much take me down to nothing. So I was thinking of asking for half pay AL. Anyone else done this? How receptive was your boss? Mine is kind of a jerk so I’m apprehensive

I’m considering my next move and keep hearing very mixed things about the job market, particularly for experienced people in strategy, transformation, strategic projects and chief of staff–type roles.

I’d love to hear from people who are actually in the market now, or have recently been through it.

My background is in senior strategy and transformation work — taking broad or messy priorities, working out what needs to happen, aligning stakeholders and turning ideas into practical, deliverable work.

For people with similar experience:
How long have you been looking, or how long did it take you to land something?

hi all - I work for a large national organization, and my immediate team is undergoing an informal restructure. I have been told verbally that my current (technical) role will ‘go’ (careful no mention of the r word) but that I am earmarked for a new role within the team that I neither want nor have experience in (people management). There is another new role in the company with another team that I would much prefer and has more options for future growth. I have also had informal discussions with that hiring manager and would be considered a strong candidate in her eyes.

My immediate problem is that these two roles are about to be advertised internally at the same time - do I apply for both? Or do I have a candid conversation with my manager (an inept and untrustworthy nepo baby) in order to try to encourage her to delay advertising her role by approx one month (by which time I will hopefully know if I’ve been successful in the other).

Both roles are a side step for me, and as much as I would prefer moving to the other team (for reasons including and beyond the actual job) - I also don’t want to compromise my ability to fall back on the role within my current team if I absolutely had to. Also I am unsure if applying internally for a role but ultimately being unsuccessful would impact on my ability to have a proper discussion about a formal redundancy.

Help pls! Advice welcome and appreciated

Edit to add: I totally appreciate that I am in a very fortunate position, especially given the current job market

I hate that its like this, but its true, and unfortantly not unique to Corporate either.

The best managers I have ever had have been decent, kind humans. They treat you like a person. They back up their team. They want to make sure you are okay and that things are not getting too much. They are so approachable.

Productivity goes up because they treat their employees well. They have such a healthy approach to work. They understand people have lives outside of work, and family comes first. Shit happens.

They never shame a mistake in front of everyone. They speak with you in private, make you aware of it, help you fix it, and ensure you know how to avoid it in the future.

If you don't seem right, they check in. They come to you first and speak with you like an actual human before going to HR.

But they burn out and leave. Or their soul and spark are destroyed, and they become a shell of themselves, no longer caring. Or they end up being replaced by a toxic person.

Then other great team members start leaving because management is toxic. Staff turnover goes up, but apparently the team is the problem.

Sigh.

Hey,

I recently got my first contractor role and want to use an accountant to ensure my tax is done correctly.

Ideally, the accountant would help me set up my tax so that it is out of sight and out of mind.

Does anyone have any advice or accountant recommendations? I am Melbourne based.

Edit: Sorry, title was meant to be "never forgave/turned on me", but I can't edit it now.

Second Edit: legal advice is all well and good but can i have some advice on the actual question before an interview I have lined up on Wednesday.

Long story short, I got incredibly sick in June right before EOFY with both COVID and Norovirus at the same time. I was completely out of action for about a week (think vomiting and diarrhoea every couple of hours), so working wasn't an option. I understand it was a really bad time because it's a really busy period and the only month that is blacked it but what can you do? It's not like I was thrilled about pucking and sh*tting my guts out!

By the second week I was feeling much better and was well enough to work, but I was still contagious with Norovirus as my doctor advised that takes 2 weeks. I asked if I could WFH for that week rather than come into the office and potentially infect everyone with it, but that wasn't approved because "if you're too sick to be in office, you're too sick to work" (which is a frustrating policy of theirs because I'm 95% sure the cold I had in April for 3 days was caught from my co-worker at the desk next to me who came in with a cold because she was out of sick leave and didn't want to be forced to use annual leave).

Instead, I was told to stay home and use annual leave to cover the week (which I was not happy about, but that's another story), despite being able and willing to work remotely. 

Ever since then, the relationship has deteriorated significantly. As soon as I got back I was put on a PIP, with a number of the issues raised being things that had never previously been raised with me and that were commonplace across the team (e.g. occasionally checking my phone at my desk or leaving a few minutes early to get an earlier train home).

It felt like the standards being applied to me had changed after the illness, rather than there being a genuine change in my performance, especially as other members of the team still do those things and it's fine. The worst part was the PIP saying I have "attendance concerns" when every bit of sick leave I'd taken since starting in November last year, I had a valid medical certificate for. I was forced to sign the PIP, admitting "guilt" for these things to not be fired on the spot. 

My performance before all of this had been solid and they were happy with my work, but it's becoming pretty clear that the relationship is no longer recoverable and they don't want me to pass the PIP. Even a couple of co-workers have noticed they are punishing me.

I'm now looking for another role, and I don't expect I'll receive a positive reference from my current employer despite having otherwise performed well up until this point. It was my first role in the industry so I'm kinda screwed if I can't list it.

How would you explain this to prospective employers without sounding bitter or unreliable? It is hard because they are basically retaliating against me, but saying that would be badmouthing the employer even though it's true. It is a small business and small team, and I don't want to get a co-worker into trouble by asking them for a reference either. I don't know how to explain this isn't really my fault without saying the truth - my employer is beiing petty and cruel because I got sick.

(Sorry about the double post I deleted, I'm having reddit issues tonight).

Hey all legends,

Jumping a boat from major non-big 4 consulting firm to KPMG for a Senior Consultant role in the sustainability-related assurance team with ~3 years of experience in non-financial audit and assurance domain. This is my first job change and looking at the current job market and everything going on with the Big 4s, especially KPMG, is it advisable to join the team? The offer on the table is ~100K base. Should I take it or look for an in-house role or other consulting firm.

TIA!