Friday, August 20, 2021

Why we’re quitting: Inside Australia’s Great Resignation

 Like millions of other Australians, Ana* is on the hunt for a new job.

A 26-year-old solicitor based in locked-down Sydney, Ana is looking for ways to leave the state government legal agency she’s worked for since early 2018

After doing years of work she didn’t really enjoy and having to fight repeatedly to get her contract renewed, Ana wanted to start her job search early last year. Then the pandemic struck.

With the job market drying up virtually overnight and most advertised jobs in the legal sector for temporary gigs during 2020, Ana had to put her hunt on hold. As the economy recovered in early 2021, Ana began applying for new jobs in earnest.

“There’s a whole number of reasons [why],” she told Yahoo Finance. “One of them is culture; the culture in my [workplace] isn’t very supportive for junior solicitors.

“I wasn’t getting a lot of support whether it be my mental health or the workload. And there just wasn’t a lot of consideration for how I wanted to develop.”

Career progression in the government agency is “particularly slow”, she added. A previous supervisor was so difficult to work with, Ana had to switch teams.

The new team is much better, but hasn’t solved the issue of career progression – or lack thereof. “I’m still not able to have much say in the kinds of work I want to do, how I want to develop. That’s more of an organisation-wide issue.”

Why we’re quitting: Inside Australia’s Great Resignation



Morning cloud


Most employee monitoring tools are needlessly invasive

Fast Company: “If an employer installs time- or attendance-tracking software on your computer, that software can probably spy on you in lots of other ways as well. A new study by the resume-help site StandOut CVcompared the data collection features in 32 of the most popular employee monitoring tools. The group found that 75% of these tools can record employees’ screens and monitor which apps or websites they’re using, while 59% can monitor keyboard and mouse movements. Nearly half of those tools can run in a stealth mode, allowing employers to deploy the software on company-owned computers without workers’ knowledge. The companies behind this software—including Hubstaff, Time Doctor, Teramind, and Interguard—say their businesses have boomed during the pandemic. StandOut CV’s study quantifies just how invasive this software has become across the board as vendors compete to offer the most comprehensive monitoring features…”


Vlad Dracula, Corneliu Codreanu, Nicolae Ceausescu: Why has Romania had so many crazy leaders? 


Afghanistan needs a functioning currency and tax system – and like it or not the West has to help it create both if a humanitarian disaster is to be avoided

It all comes down to money at some point. Astonishingly, the Taliban might be able to sweep across Afghanistan in days and take Kabul without
Read the full article…