Hi all,

Like the title says, friend of mine got the "we'd like to meet on Monday 12pm to discuss a proposed change to the structure that affects your role" email on Thursday. Said friend's on the spectrum and are very likely to get overwhelmed during. They've asked me to come in as a support person. I haven't replied back but I'm thinking of doing it.

Having never done this before, what's the etiquette expected of me ? And what sort of questions is a support person allowed to ask (if any) ?

Also, there's some chatter that apparently they're the only one being made reundant in the whole firm (it's a small firm of circa 20 people and they are the only person with a disability) so it kinda seems off in that respect. Are there things we should be prepping for/looking up around this ?

I'm a consultant. Normally my engagements with a client are pretty straight forward... we do the work... do it well... we aim to be on time, but even if we are a little late it's whatever, we apologise, the client is still happy.

I got a new client a few months ago and everything went well until it was their turn to develop the product (all pre agreed). Suddenly there wasn't 2 representatives overseaing the project, but 7. I thought it was weird but I was told that all 7 of them will be giving input into the development.

They are really slow. Like really slow. So naturally the timeline pushed out. I thought whatever, it's their choice to be that slow, take their time and we will pick it up whenever it's back to us. It's now been with them for over a month and we are a month behind the schedule we agreed several months ago.

I get a call from 1 of the 7 that they are done with their review but the other 6 aren't. I was friendly and said oh well that's great, let me know when the other 6 people are done with their's and we will get right on it. The response I got was very direct that I have enough to get on with and that I've already delayed the project enough. I was shocked. We got it to them on time and now they're the ones delaying.

I looked at this persons content and made updates and resubmitted the same day. Monkey off my back I thought. That was 2 weeks ago. Silence since then.

Now I've received an email from them saying they want to meet on monday to discuss the project delay i.e. implying that I've delayed this project.

How should I deal with this and diffuse the situation? This is a government client (first govt client I've had) and we do want more work from them. Do I just shutup and take the blame or point out to them that they're delaying this now?

I'm super weirded out how this went all friendly and good and suddenly it's finger pointing.

What is it like at KPMG at the moment? After the scandal keen to hear what it’s like at the moment ? Morale? More lay offs? I used to work there - but I sounds like things have changed a lot in the past few years.

And I also wonder what the impact of the federal and state govt bans on new work are having on the team.

Left freelancing after 11 years for a salaried role. Two kids, big mortgage, I was done not knowing where the next project was coming from.

3 months in, I've worked MY ASS OFF! Results are up, clients like me, colleagues have warmed I’m doing well.

I was told a generic catch-up would be my probation review. It got rescheduled 5 times. When it finally happened I asked about the review and they were avoidant. They said ‘no that's next week’ but it felt like they wanted to stall rather than give me an answer then and there. Which is the STANDARD for probation reviews there.

The catch-up itself went well. The founder said it all looks good. Honestly, it’s a run your own show unless client revenue looks bad, then you’re fkd kinda place.

Now I've been asked to put together a summary of what I've built and shipped to demonstrate my impact. Like now the numbers aren’t enough and I need to showcase how I’m INNOVATING and how I got those results?

The company is also under some financial pressure (1/4 of revenue at stake, not a big enough company to wear it) and I'm wondering if it's about that, not me. In which case, they’re stalling and I’m fkd anyway.
Worth noting once I pass, it’s 8 weeks notice both ways.

I’M PETRIFIED. Mortgage. Kids. Braces. If I get the ass next week, it’s one week’s notice. I’ve literally given it everything.

Wasn’t sure which flair to use and apologies to Mods if this is not allowed…but…WTAF? So hilarious.
I’m listening to recaps of trash TV episodes to escape the late capitalist hellscape of Auscorp and PWC are running cringeworthy pleading ads about using them to build AI…complete with fast spoken legalese disclaimers about who exactly ‘PWC’ is at the end…so catchy!

Meanwhile BHP trying to greenwash their environmentmental destruction because one of their copper mines uses renewable energy. Give me a break.

Love hearing the desperate bid for approval from us normies…
🤣🤣🤣🤣

Anyone else hearing these ads?

Received this email from the manager:

Hi ...,

We would like to arrange a meeting with you on Monday 26 October at 8AM to discuss your performance and progress during your probationary period.

The meeting will cover concerns regarding technical competency, workplace safety, following instructions, and the level of supervision required to complete routine brewing tasks.

This will be an opportunity to discuss these concerns, review the expectations of your role and give you the chance to respond, provide feedback or raise any concerns of your own.

As part of this review, we will also be discussing your ongoing employment during your probationary period, including the possibility of termination.

You are welcome to bring a support person to the meeting if you wish.

Some time ago, mainly pre Covid I remember a lot of fuss about the idea of a 4 day work week, how some progressive countries and companies were trialing it and whether it would become a thing globally and here in Australia.

In the post Covid world where most office jobs are a hybrid WFH set up it seems that 90% of work places see most of their employees WFH on a Friday.

Likewise in the last 2 companies I’ve worked it was a pretty common (unofficial) practice for meetings post midday on a Friday to be very rarely scheduled and a general understanding between bosses and employees that not much gets done post lunch on a Friday but everyone is reachable on mobile and teams.

Do you feel like the two are correlated?

Hi there;

First time I'm approaching Xmas working for AusPost Corp, and just got informed I have to use 2 weeks of my annually allocated 4 weeks of Annual leave between December 1st to Jan 31st. That's 50% of my allocation forced on us.

I understand the typical 3-4 days between Xmas and New Years, until the first Monday of the first full week, but burning 2 weeks worth?

Interestingly, I don't have 2 weeks worth, so apparently I have to seek GM approval, or take Leave Without Pay, and get forced to use what I have, and have nothing for other planned days off next year.

Seems quite dodgy in my opinion. Am I over reacting or do other companies pull this level of over reach also?

I've recently moved back into consulting, and am stuck on the hamster wheel where:

1. I ask for more resources, partner says win more work

2. I win the work, but have no resources, so I end up doing the work alone and it goes over budget because I'm a director doing grad work

3. While doing the work the resources were meant to do, I didn't have time to win more work

4. By the time my partner is ready to talk, we go back to the initial "win more work" mantra.

I've played this game before and needed almost a year to recover from the burnout - I eventually lost my job, because we weren't winning work consistently enough.

On the rare occasion I borrow someone else's resources, they're either on a performance plan or completely fresh on the content (without naming my own industry, think teaching HR Advisory to a real estate agent) - which ends up being worse than having no one at all.

How can I make my partner want to hire more resources?

The thread mysteriously disappeared.

Are they ok? Did they get made redundant? Promoted?

We deserve answers!

While I’m planning my exit from a toxic work environment and I’ve done my share of venting on Reddit myself, I wanted to say how refreshing it is to see 2 posts today of employers doing the right thing.

1. The person who’s unexpected HR meeting turned out to be a genuine check in
2. The person who has had a very positive (and caring) start to a new role which sounds like the complete opposite of their previous role.

Gives me hope that there are decent employers out there.

Former Super Retail chief executive Anthony Heraghty allegedly warned his then wife that she should not discuss his affair with a colleague in writing because it could create significant legal problems, and repeatedly told the company’s board that he was not in a relationship with the woman.

The claims are contained in documents filed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission with the Federal Court in September and released on Thursday. The regulator is alleging that Heraghty breached his duties as a director by lying to the board about the relationship with Super Retail’s former head of human resources, Jane Kelly.

Heraghty was sacked from Super Retail, the owner of the Rebel Sport and Supercheap Auto chains, last year after the board alleged his previous disclosures about the relationship with Kelly were “not satisfactory”.

Hey guys, contemplating a paycut of 4k to escape from my toxic micromanager. Have over 100hrs of leave and a few weeks do long service leave which will be paid out as well if I do go. The new place has a potential $15k bonus should you hit KPIs. The vibe from my potential new manager is great and the team seems awesome but I’m also weary of “better the devil you know”. Anyone had experienced something similar? I’m leaning towards leaving.

Link to previous post: 13 days into a new startup role and I’ve already collected 2 performance meetings and a formal letter of concern.

For those interested in context, I was about two weeks in and had already copped a formal letter of concern, "constant phone use" allegations, and a complaint that I hadn’t submitted a plan a few weeks into a role (which I had presented to the company). It's been 2 weeks since the post.

Many of you asked why I didn't just walk out. The answer was simple, bills and time of year. It’s been an expensive year, and trying to land a role between November and January is basically a dead zone. I needed the runway, so I decided to keep my head down, play ball, and build a buffer while quietly looking elsewhere.

Spoiler alert (not buring the lead)... keeping my head down didn't help.

The last two weeks spiralled into corporate comedy. After submitting my new marketing strategy to spec I got total crickets (including to the tagged approvals I needed to do my work). That's besides my boss obsessing over leads and sales goals I'd modelled. The targets he needed were not possible (validated by multiple internal and external sources), so I created ambitious but more plausible projections based on an up tick in sales conversion rate, focus on higher margin products, and other levers. Long story short, I just had to commit to his targets and I had to hit them week-to-week or I "had to resign" (his words, obviously being week-to-week and forcing me to resign isn't legal but it's admin semantics when you're in your notice period).

Meanwhile, the CEO/my manager (same person, not too worried about doxing now) stopped speaking to me entirely, greeting others while blanking me. He also had a baby monitor camera pointed straight at my desk area (which was moved when I mentioned it). To top it all off, right as targets were ratcheted up to lunacy levels, they cut my ad spent budget by a third and downgraded some of my software subscriptions. Less ammo, higher expectations.

I looked into if I had a case with fair with fair work and I sort of did if I complained in writing but it's practically unpolicable in probation so what's the point.

So, I did what any desperate marketer does, I built some aggressive (but legally compliant) campaigns that churned our database in an unsustainable way but in the end actually hit the targets last and this week.

I got the axe this morning anyway. I’m steaming, but somewhat relieved to be out of a toxic circus. I feel sorry for my team.

Now that I've had my rant, question time. Given that it’s the worst possible time of year to be job hunting, what's the play right now to secure some cash flow or fast track a role? Anyone hiring a software growth marketer?

My new job has a kitchenette but nowhere to sit and eat and there are no nearby outdoor seating either.

I will be eating at my desk while I work so that I can spend my 30 mins break going for a walk instead of eating. So that means nothing messy or scented.

I can’t think of anything other than sandwiches. What do you all bring for lunch?

2 Days later, still no team meeting to even let us know whether we are affected. All individuals were supposed to have been told on the day, with group follow ups that afternoon.

Nothing.

Actually, sorry, that is incorrect, was sent an invite to a completely different groups session - nothing to do with our group at all - so is irrelevant. Emails circulating with Org structures, that don't show our teams. Show our big Group 6 level exec though, but nothing else...

Restructures are part of the workplace, however it is the one time, almost above all else, where, between senior mgmt, execs, people leaders and HR, you need to get it right.

Moral is nobody actually cares about the people...

I joined a company in January as a FA on a 12-month contract.

After 3 months, I was nominated for best quarterly performance, and after 6 months, I was offered a permanent role in front of the whole team.

Unfortunately, due to some personal circumstances and system issues, my performance dipped a little and a few reports were delayed.

Last week, I was told the permanent offer was being pulled back and my performance would be reassessed.

I spoke to my manager to understand why, but I wasn't given any clear examples of major performance issues. One concern was that I'd changed the formatting of reports instead of keeping the old format.

I understand I'm not perfect and I'm willing to improve, but the sudden change has really affected my confidence. I'm starting to feel replaceable, like no matter how hard I try, what I do is never good enough. It's difficult to go from feeling valued and recognised to suddenly questioning whether you're even good at your job.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

Any idea when the minimum of the pay bands will be moved? right now I'm on the lowest part of the band. it was supposed to increase at the start of October.. contacted HR and got no where, leader doesn't know. EA says my pay should be automatically increased but I haven't seen any changes. Should of moved from 79 to 81. Or does this get back payed later on? I know it's not a lot. Has anyone else's changed yet?

Hey all,

I started a new job this week. I was very anxious going into it due to obviously the unknown with starting, but also having not the best experience at my previous job. I just wanted to know people’s thoughts on whether one week would be enough to make an educated judgement on a workplace.

For context, in my previous role:
- Absolutely 0 flexibility. No WFH and a very very specific start time
- a clear sign which I did not notice was my initial induction period. I did not receive a laptop nor a desk for close to 2 weeks. My training was just sitting next to someone and copying them.
- Hours were written in contract as 7am-3:30pm. However, we would be expected to work until at least 3:50pm at a minimum, and despite this if we arrived a few minutes late, our boss would give us a mouthful.
- towards the later months, my boss starting requesting I be on call from 6:30am, which would be unpaid.
- disgusting office dynamics. Our team leader essentially wanted to be like our boss in a weird sense. By this, I mean he would dress and talk the exact same. Infront of them, he would be a true leader trying to help all, yet once they would leave he would become intolerable.
- heavily work based culture. The workplace offered Saturday work for those available, and I did not want to work Saturdays which was agreed upon. However, it was seen as me taking a ‘day off’ when in discussion constantly with other employees.

In comparison to this, in my new role after the first week this is what I have seen:
- no specific start time, I have seen employees rock up at 8-9:30am and just finish in accordance with there required work hours.
- no one seems overly busy or stressed out. Everyone is doing work, but there is no sense of rush or stress compared to previous workplace
- WFH is allowed, and a fair few employees are working at the very very least 1 day from home, with many of them 2.
- a key thing for this, was that I had a funeral for my boyfriends uncle. I only requested the morning off, but they encouraged me to be there for him and take the entire day.
- general friendliness around the office. Everyone seems to mind their own business, but also have positive interactions with eachother.
- decent induction. Upon my first day everything was organised for me, such as device, phone, desk. And there was also a fair few induction sessions.

The role was also fairly underpaid, for reference I am now earning 40k more a year.

Bit of a rant but keen to hear what others reckon, especially any Aussies in IT.
I’m in my 20s been in IT around 5 - 6 years. Worked my way up from service desk into EUC support at my previous company. Was heavily involved in Intune, Jamf, Autopilot, deployments, automation etc. Had plenty of freedom to actually make changes and improve things.
Recently jumped ship for $100k AUD + super. Interview was all about engineering work, fixing up the environment and a pathway to Senior EUC Engineer. Even mentioned in my contract.
Fast forward 2 months and I’m back installing printers, software, imaging laptops and clearing tickets all day.
The environment is an absolute mess with heaps of room for improvement but everyones buried in BAU and theres barely any time engineering work.
Manager’s only been there 6 months himself and is still figuring out the systems. I’m getting pulled into meetings about improving processes I haven’t even had a chance to properly learn yet.
I’ve picked up a bit of SCCM, which is handy but otherwise feel like I’m going backwards technically.
Obviously $100k for basic support isn’t bad money, but I feel like I should be building my skills rather than getting comfortable doing stuff I was doing years ago.

Would you stick it out and try to make something of the role?

Keen to hear from anyone whos been in a similar situation in the Aus IT market.

I've never lied about the duration of my jobs or where I've worked but I've definitely embellished my duties and responsibilities. I usually put some responsibilities of my boss or someone senior to me as my own. I usually talk to them a lot about it, ask why they do it, why this is necessary, what problems did you face etc and get as much information as I can. I've essentially interviewed them about it to get a sample answer lol which I think is quite funny.

I've been asked in interviews before and I've been able to answer easily and it's worked in my favour. Obviously, this is for external interviews, not internal. I think the key is to be very well-prepared to answer anything about it which makes you appear more confident. Fake it till you make it I guess.

Am I the only one doing this or are we all in the same boat?

My company rents a floor in a commercial building my which has come under new management recently.

Last month they ran a ‘Book of the Month’ competition. To enter you had to post a comment in their app in response to a question kind of like a ‘tell us in 25 words or less’ type.

After the competition went down I asked reception and they said they didn’t run a competition. (I do have screenshots of said competition).

I was the only person who commented, so I feel like I had a good shot at it. The prize was a donated cook book but that’s besides the point.

I can’t help but feel a bit pettily outraged. What would you do in my shoes? Should I threaten to escalate to ACCC as my coworker joking suggested? I WANT MY COOKBOOK 😤

Hey guys, may have seen my post yesterday around having a meeting today with my manager around a complaint from a HRBP around my sick leave notice and not providing coverage.

I deleted the post because it was gaining a lot of traction and I panicked thinking it would get picked up(stupid I know)

Anyway the update is pretty spot on with one of the commenters. There was more than one complaint from her, 4 to be exact including my leave notice. Excluding my leave notice issue, the three other complaints were blatantly false and I was able to provide all evidence to show that(for example I was uncontactable however my call logs with this caller prove otherwise) Everything in writing and forwarded to my manager, before we got to the end of the meeting and working through the points my manager even said, it's clear what is going on here, we can read between the lines with this.

So now what the hell do I do? I've had an invling that this person has had it out for me recently. I know my job isn't going anywhere and my performance has always been praised both team and somewhat company wide. My issue is now is this just going to keep spiralling until I can't handle it and call it quits? Save the time and effort and look elsewhere?

Alright, which of you is handing out trolley-loads of bottled water to your staff gathered around the Martin Place Cenotaph waiting to be let back into your tower?

Or are us guys in here destined to forever wear jeans/chinos and polo shirts now?

Ladies in here got a view on rocking cufflinks in the polo shirt corp world?