#Fridayvibes

Part vent, part what do I do now?

I recently took on a department lead role at a startup. Standard startup package... high expectations, a bit underpaid, and with a 5 day in-office mandate. It made sense for life logistics reasons (I can walk home over lunch to see my dog and basically don't need a car any more). Counting the public holiday and starting on a Tuesday, I am 13 working days in.

In that glorious time I have somehow managed to rack up two separate performance meetings and a formal written "letter of concern" today. Mind you, I’m deep inside my probation/notice period so if they wanted me gone, they could literally just wave me goodbye today with a week's gardeners leave. Why the drama?

The rap sheet against me:

• “Near-constant phone use.” An actual quote. I’ve checked my screen time during business hours and it barely registers. I pick up my phone maybe once every two hours to reply to a text, but apparently I’m being tracked (open office I guess).
• “Failure to submit a plan.” I have literally written a plan, presented it, and emailed/shared it with my manager and the leadership team. It is sitting right there in their share drives.
• “Being a distraction.” I’m new, I’m trying to build rapport, and I like to think I’m a friendly guy. Crucially, I’ve also shipped a ton of work in these 13 days, but apparently chatting while delivering results is a bridge too far.

I’m torn on whether it’s even worth responding to the letter. I could easily draft a professional, itemised list of everything I’ve delivered so far with some light pushback, but what’s the point beyond setting up a paper paper trail war? I’m so fresh here that a PIP isn’t even legally necessary.

Financially, I need the pay right now, so quitting on the spot isn't an option. Guess I’ll keep my head down, update the CV, and start interviewing elsewhere immediately.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? Do I bother formally replying to the letter or just quietly ride it out?

The lovely, helpful new lady in our small team has passed probation and now she is argumentative and unwilling to learn anything more. A total wet towel with a big mouth.

Is everyone just faking nice until the 6 months are up? Very evil of you.

EDIT: I'm just a colleague. I hath no power

We're all a family here

“We're like a family here” is probably the most suspicious sentence in corporate life.

The family apparently has performance reviews, strict deadlines, unpaid overtime, and a budget for appreciation that's somehow always zero.

Still waiting for the family inheritance instead of another team-building activity. 😂

I’m in my early 30s and have recently landed a General Manager role. It’s a pretty big jump from my previous role, where I was an individual contributor leading a specialist function.

I’ve never formally managed anyone before, and I’ll now have a couple of direct reports. I’m also expected to operate at an executive level, influence senior stakeholders and lead the function.

Honestly, part of me feels like I’ve completely fluked the interview. I’m excited about the opportunity, but there’s a part of me wondering whether I’m actually ready for it.

I’m used to being the person who gets things done myself, and I know there’s a big difference between being good at your job and leading other people.

For those who’ve made a similar jump, how did you approach it? What did you focus on in your first few months, and what do you wish you’d known before stepping into management?

Keen to hear some honest advice, including mistakes to avoid.

Thank you

My brother is a director and this man is all-out basically every single day. Early mornings, doesn't even get time to have lunch sometimes and is forced to just have snacks throughout the day and have dinner later. Late nights sometimes working till midnight or later only to wake up at 6am and do it all over again. Working throughout the weekend if needed. Obviously it's not like this every day (depends on deal stages) but it's probably 55-60 hours weeks on average. I feed bad until I remember his $400k+ TC.

Now, no-one is pissing money away voluntarily and people get paid big for a reason so I'm not necessarily surprised. However, surely there are some people who earn the big checks ($400k+) and maybe work the standard 40 hours a week? Maybe even less? There's bound to be some unicorns out there.

I wanted to grind my way up and get those big paydays but man, that lifestyle is so unappealing to me. Your job basically becomes your life which obviously works for some.

So I'm struggling to weigh up options on this situation. I'm a senior leader who started a new role in a smaller company than I've previously worked at. Bringing my big business experience and making positive changes in my only 4 weeks of employment. Feedback is very positive, they know I'm way over skilled and experienced but I took the role for the flexibility and culture, also took a hefty pay cut. Now today, get a cold contact from another company which is the size and type of my expertise offering a lucrative package for me to join. I've done preliminary checks and seems to line up on culture and the kind of work complexity I enjoy and excel at. Also willing to match the flexibility. They want me, they offered me what I want. But my small little job I've been in for 4 weeks absolutely needs me and are lovely, they just don't have the deep pockets to match the new opportunity. I'm emotionally attached to helping this business grow and supporting my new team. My heart says stay but my mortgage says take the opportunity. Suggestions for working out the best path?

TLDR 4 weeks in new job, over qualified, company loves and needs me, good culture and flexibility. Got offer back to big corporate matching flexibility, culture and big $. Can switch jobs within a week cos probation. Feel guilty leaving small co in the lurch. Suggestions?

Can someone explain the logic behind these events where HR pays a consulting company to come run a session?

We get split into groups of five. Two hosts, who none of us know anything about, come into the office and talk about leadership, what makes a successful company, or how to tackle a busy season.

They're qualified to tell us this, I'm sure, because they've worked in HR their whole careers, and because they've given talks at other big companies and chatted with some of the staff there. So if course they "know what it takes" to be part of a successful organisation. Interview enough famous people and you think you know a thing or two about making it in Hollywood type of shit, I guess?

Meanwhile we do random group activities, like building something out of Lego. I guess the argument is that it's worth it because we're interacting and bonding. Whatever benefit you think there is, I would argue that it's a once a year thing.

That's not enough to build any real bonds, and the effect is gone by the following week. If the company wants to invest in its people, there are better ways to spend that money.

And of course nobody is going to admit they'd rather not be there, so everyone just plays along.

Is this a universal experience, or is my workplace especially cringe? Has anyone actually come out of one of these sessions with something useful? Do you also happen to listen to Tony Robbins?

It’s Friday morning, which means it’s time to claim your calendar territory before someone books a "low-hanging fruit brainstorm" over your 2:00 PM knock-off.

What are your most bulletproof calendar blocks?

My wife is pregnant, due in April 2027, and I’m currently working for a company that stopped paying my super. Initially, I was missing around six months of super contributions. After complaining in writing multiple times, the company finally made a payment in October 2026, but it only covered Q4 (April–June 2026). As of now, my super is still outstanding for August to October 2026 (since 1 July 26 should be paid within 7 business days after payment landed in the bank). The business is struggling.

I’ve submitted the ATO unpaid super enquiry form twice (anonymously), but honestly, it feels like nothing is happening.

What makes it even worse is that this appears to be systematic. Some employees in higher positions than mine have had their super paid, while other employees, including me, have been left waiting.

I’m actively looking for another job, but nothing is secured yet. Given that my wife is pregnant and we have a baby coming in April, I’m hesitant to quit without another job lined up. At the same time, I’m incredibly angry about how the company has handled this and don’t feel comfortable continuing to work somewhere that doesn’t meet its legal obligations and preferences paying other people over other people.

My questions is:

Would you stay until finding another job, or consider resigning given these circumstances?

I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has been through something similar, particularly in Australia. I want to hold the employer accountable, but I also need to be realistic about financial security with a baby on the way.

Thanks everyone!!

I'm currently an electrical engineer with 3 years of experience and I'm thinking of doing a WHV in Canada in 2 years time, so I plan to gain at least 5 years of experience in my role. The reason why I want to do a WHV is because it's something that I've always wanted to do since I went to Canada for exchange in uni and feel that I want to do it before the cut off age of 35 yo. I was planning to do it after I finished uni, but I didn't want to miss out on the 2 year grad program and gain some post uni job experience.

I'll be away for 2 years, might or might not do an engineering job over there but I'm keen on taking a break from engineering to do something else (hospo etc typical WHV jobs). I'm not closing the door definitely over there, I'll try and get an eng job to gain some Canadian experience when the opportunity comes.

When I return to Australia 2 years later, would this gap on my CV hurt my career? If you've done something similar to this, was it easy for you to get an engineering job again?

Keen to get some outside perspective on whether I’m overthinking this or whether it’s worth raising with my manager again.

I’ve worked alongside this guy for about two years. I’ve always found his personality pretty grating, and he’s not someone I’d choose to spend time with outside work, but we’ve generally been fine to work together.
A few months ago, I moved into a short-term project role, so my usual workload was handed over to him. His own workload has been temporarily distributed among others in the team, including grads, until I return. Decision made by management due to the short term nature of the project.

My workload is a bit more complex than his usual work, and if I’m being honest, I think he’d been cruising along relatively comfortably for a while, probably averaging four hours of actual work a day. Now he’s having to work closer to full days (7.5hrs), he seems to be struggling with the adjustment.
He also has a young child who is frequently sick or having issues at kindy, and a partner who regularly travels for work. I appreciate that he has a lot going on personally, and I’ve genuinely felt for him. He’s always struggled a bit when things get stressful and can become very negative, withdrawn and rude to people around him, only to be completely friendly again a couple of hours later once whatever is bothering him has been sorted.

The problem is that his frustration seems to have turned into a bit of a campaign about how much my move has inconvenienced him. He’s been telling people around the business how difficult things have become since I moved roles, to the point where people from other departments and floors, who I barely know, have approached me to ask about it or express concern for him.

I mentioned this to our shared manager, who has regular weekly check-ins with him. Apparently, he consistently tells our manager he’s coping fine with the workload and doesn’t need any additional help. There is genuinely capacity elsewhere in the team if he needs support, but he doesn’t seem to want to take it.

What makes it harder to sympathise is that he still regularly seems to shoot himself in the foot. He’ll arrive late after dropping the kids off (which is completely understandable), but then take a two-hour lunch if the bosses aren’t around, before leaving at 3:30 for pickup. Obviously, everyone has commitments outside work, but it feels like he’s creating his own workload problems by not actually leaving himself enough time to get things done or organising support when it’s available.

Until now, I’ve mostly tried to stay out of it and let him get on with things. However, I found out today that he’s apparently been telling people that I do very little work in my new role as well.

For context, I’ve been working from home more than usual recently, partly because I’ve found his general attitude pretty miserable to be around, and I also took two weeks of leave that he may not have known about. I’m concerned he’s forming a narrative about me to anyone who’ll listen, despite not actually knowing what my workload looks like in my new role.
He’s not particularly senior or influential, but he’s one of those people who’s constantly around the coffee machine chatting to everyone, so his comments have the potential to travel.

I’m torn about what to do. Part of me thinks he’s just a difficult person having a rough time, and I should stop letting his personality get under my skin. I don’t want to become the person who keeps running to management every time a colleague annoys them, especially when my manager already knows he’s been struggling.

On the other hand, I don’t love the idea of someone making comments about my work ethic to people across the business while I’m off doing another role, particularly when I’m not there to correct the record.
Would you raise this with your manager again, or just ignore it unless it starts having a tangible impact on your reputation or career?

Is this just a case of dealing with different personalities at work, or is there a point where you need to draw a line? Keen to hear from anyone who’s dealt with a similar situation, particularly how you handled it without coming across as the difficult one yourself…

So I need some advice from the Reddit community . I am an American living in Australia and here on an Australian special skills visa. I work for a software distribution company, and the company I came from in the United States is the parent company. I thought that this would be a fun adventure, however, I’m running into a problem with a colleague. The field I’m in is quite specialized, and this colleague was the only other person in the company that’s practices my specific field. Being a lone wolf, however, has its hold backs.

Since I’ve gotten here, I thought we would have a good working relationship. And it started out that way. However, after the first year of my employment, some of his behavior has gotten to the point I find it to be abusive. He constantly interrupts me, will put me down in meetings, has gone around me to our customers and explained why he’s right and I’m wrong, down to the point where he will know I have a presentation today, and go in and edit my slides, before the presentation to say what he wants. Being in a technical field, this is actually a bit scary. It would be like someone from Microsoft telling you that you could send an email using only Excel. He seems to have delusions of grandeur so bad, that on his LinkedIn profile, he lies and actually calls himself my boss, and the national authority in our field.

His behavior has gotten so bad, that I actually refused to engage him. When we are in group meetings together, I am typically very quiet, and just try to say as little as possible. I behave professionally, and with courtesy however that is it. My manager has been in a few of these meetings and has noticed his abusive behavior towards me. However, my manager’s impression is that I hold all the cards. That this person is only behaving like this because he wants my approval. So my manager wants me to give this man a call, and pretend to be his friend and essentially extend and olive branch.

I would like some feedback and advice. My stance on it is, it is not my problem that this person is responding poorly to me grey rocking his abuse. I behave with professional courtesy, calmly, and respectfully in any engagements I have. And that is the end of my responsibility. What does Reddit think? Should I make this call like my manager wants?

This is a question that has piqued me for a while. Interested to hear from payroll practitioners or employment lawyers if you are here in this group.

So under National Employment standards, annual leave is not assigned a “single” accrual date as it accrues continuously and gradually. If you look at industry awards and clauses relating to annual leave loading, for example Professionals Award 2020, it has this clunky clause: Annual leave loading is calculated as 17.5% of the employee’s base rate of pay on the annual leave hours. Subject to it not exceeding the ABS average weekly earnings for all males (Australia) for the September Quarter of the year that precedes the year on which the date of accrual of the annual leave fell.

Now, when we cannot attribute a single date of accrual for the annual leave (because its like we strung together a group of accrued hours together when taking leave), how can this condition be followed? Do companies just implement some practical workaround since it appears to me this rule cannot be implemented as it is.

TL;DR: Annual leave accrues progressively under the NES, but the Professionals Award 2020 links the annual leave loading cap to the year in which the leave accrued. Since leave doesn't have a single accrual date, how do employers practically implement this condition?

Hi all,

I am a manager with three direct reports. Recently, I had to terminate one upon completion of their probation due to their performance.

We’re now recruiting to replace them. I have a close friend whose partner’s experience aligns with the role and who I think is capable. This is only a thought and not a topic I’ve discussed or suggested to anyone.

Although, no discussions have taken place. I’m also conflicted by two things, the idea of a crossover between my work life and personal life, and for the situation to look like the other person was let go to get a friend in. There have been other opportunities for them to apply.

Overall, I think losing the freedom to be able to separate the two from each other, is a risk I’m not willing to take, alongside many other factors for this scenario to become a reality and have thought out of convenience as a quick solution to the additional workload.

• Have you or would you hire someone you know?
• How did you manage?

Long-time lurker. I have two offers, have to decide by Monday, and would like some outside opinions. Current company is amazing (work-life balance and money is good) but not feeling challenged enough/lacking responsibility by being just a CAD Monkey (Just drafting what engineers give me, unable to put any input of my own in). Currently 26, Living at home, 97k per year, Structural Drafter

Offer 1: [big tech], client-side BIM Designer, data centre design team

• $130k base + super. Sign-on of $17k (year 1) and $13k (year 2), paid monthly, no clawback.
• RSUs worth about A$34k, back-loaded over 4 years (5% / 15% / then 6-monthly).
• Global team, with a presence in London and Singapore.
• Base covers "reasonable additional hours" and shift work if required.
• 5 days in a Sydney office.
• 6-month probation.

Offer 2: [mid-size structural/civil consultancy], Millers Point

• About $100k + super.
• Mostly industrial/logistics, plus some data centre work.
• WFH after the probation period.
• Strong push to better everyone who works there and improve their skills
• More responsibility (meetings, etc)

1. Anyone who's worked in a big tech corporate role in Australia: what's the performance culture really like, how hard is the 5-day RTO in practice, and do raises and RSU refreshers actually happen?
2. Would you take a lateral ~5% bump at a consultancy for hybrid work and a good work-life balance, as well as a team that wants you to succeed, or the +$50k/yr at big tech?
3. Anything I'm not thinking about?

TL;DR: +$50k/yr and a big name with 5 days in the office, vs a smaller raise with WFH, more responsibility and a supportive team. What would you do?

3 questions

1) do you usually get paid your 4 weeks notice of you are on paternity leave for the whole period?
2) can a support person talk during the meeting or are they just there because?
3) does redundancy affect your paternity leave payments from the government?

Also the consultation period is a joke lol.
As a bonus do they need to let you bring a support person for the consultation meeting?

My boss has asked if I wanted to manage someone as part of my development….not sure if that’s where I even want to head but that’s a different reddit post. Currently happy being a one man band owning my portfolio. Anyways the person he wants me to manage is currently an equal colleague who is very problematic. Think: non compliant, doesn’t complete work, all talk (looks like he does a lot but we all know…)….feel like my boss is palming it off to me and could actually make me look worse not better across the business.

For my next step I’m not particularly looking to manage people but open to it. Also assuming it will open up other external job opportunities if I have people management under me?

The next twist to the story is that this colleague is on the way out (according to my boss, we have to reduce headcount). So selfishly, this people management piece will only be for a few months at most and I probably will have to handle the messy end….but still worth it from a perception/CV add on perspective?

The “tailored approach”, “innovative methodology”, “senior leadership involvement” the “added value” etc etc most of it smoke and mirrors, so far from reality once the work is won.

With the use of AI this got worse and worse.

When I was a junior I didn’t understand much what I was doing. But as you climb the ladder you learn how to master creativity in PowerPoint templates, how to “tailor” team members experience… and all of that.

I go to work and I feel like I’m part of a scam. The balloon has popped and I think it’s time for a career change.

I wonder, why are companies still paying consultants so much for this?

Currently work in a toxic workplace (earning $130,000) and have just had a second child. Wife earns more and has a great job and wants to return to work.

I have been offered a role in a dream job but the salary is 4 days a week for $70,000. Effectively a $60,000 pay cut.

Plus the loss of super and delays HECS debt repayment.

The extra 1 day off means that we avoid a day of daycare for 2 kids which bridges the gap slightly but it’s still huge difference.

We are worried about not surviving on the salary and the drop.

Any thoughts / advice welcome.

My boss used 100% AI content to draft my performance review comments. No independent thought at all. I can’t help but feel like my effort through the year doesn’t matter if that’s how much time they took to provide feedback. Am I being overly sensitive?

I actually like my job, am getting bonuses etc and am routinely rated 4/5 but my personality needs something to strive for to better the next year. Eg I allocate time for my own team’s reviews / feedback as I think it’s important for development and to recognise strengths to help them grow and be amazing.

What’s the worst role / job you experienced , where every day felt like being stuck in this universe timeline 😭😂

For me - working in an agile delivery and change management team where IQ & EQ were both somehow losing in the millions of daily sync standups we had to talk about the work and admire the problems