ACT Government Reviews

The job had been vacant for six months for a reason. No containment of political promises made, no refusal of outlandish appointments with other insane esoteric work areas vying for relevance, junior staff shell shocked from dealing with newly-minted upper management trying to make a name for themselves. General reluctance of anyone coming into the office in person countered by a ritual of everyone announcing their departures, arrivals and eating breaks on Microsoft teams. Daily load of 230 emails, 90 responses, six meetings and a teams notification every 2 minutes. A seemingly tense working atmosphere with shifting expectations about what you could say and to whom. One could not start an email with hi or dear, it was banned, had to say good morning good afternoon and templated reprimands for petty transgressions were served up on a whim by the executive group manager. Grievances escalated quickly, and a senior grade A was not permitted to show any weakness or ask for help. This was despite a mantra that mental health was a priority in the workplace. Every minority interest was embraced and the SES were championing every random cause. Laying traps everywhere, giving vague directions and delegating the impossible, only to be told at 10pm at night that it was not what was asked for the 9am deadline the following day. Niggles about other team members, taking work off them and asking unrelated areas to ‘make it more dynamic’. No perks. Hot desking. No toil, additional hours taken out of hide. Gobsmacked by the rediculousness of it all. Fortunate for me I could exit and pretend it never happened.

Mixed practices to implement new technology