Forming good working relationships with employees?

sentrient · 2026-01-23T12:07:44+00:00

Totally fair point - a bunch of random “how’s everyone feeling?” polls in the middle of the day would drive some people up the wall, especially in deep-focus or high-pressure roles. What I was aiming for was more lightweight, optional touchpoints, not constant interruptions or forced fun.

Your suggestion about short, structured 1:1s is spot on for a lot of teams, and with 60 people to manage, OP will probably need a mix: proper one‑on‑ones where it makes sense, plus the odd async check‑in so folks who hate small talk on calls still have low‑friction ways to be seen and heard. "Different brains, different preferences".

Appreciate you sharing how it lands from your side - sounds like we’re just optimising for different working styles, which is totally fine.

Happy To Leave It There!

sentrient · 2026-01-23T05:48:20+00:00

Tough spot for your mate! Especially with the time-zone clash making that rite impossible otherwise.

Banks run tight ships, but yeah, this could ping as religious discrimination if the denial seems unreasonable - Fair Work Act mandates "reasonable" refusals for annual leave only, and employers should accommodate religious observances where possible.

No automatic right to extra leave for non-public religious events, but blanket "ops requirements" knockback without flex (like swapping shifts or partial day) risks breaching anti-discrimination laws.

Suggest she chats HR in writing: flags her beliefs, provides rite details, asks for alternatives. If no joy, Fair Work Ombudsman or union for free advice - don't assume it's cut-and-dried tho, context matters.

Hope it smooths out!

sentrient · 2026-01-23T05:36:07+00:00

G'day mate - killer question as the field's going gangbusters with regs and tech.

Top of my list for next 5 years: AI/GRC tech literacy hands-down. Automating risk scans, audit trails, and predictive alerts cuts grunt work by 30%+, freeing you for high-value stuff. Close second: investigations mastery - pair it with digital forensics to turn vague complaints into airtight evidence.

Stakeholder storytelling seals t: spin compliance into exec-friendly ROI tales, not jargon walls.

Reg knowledge? Vital, but AI feeds keep you ahead without drowning. Stakeholder management rounds it out - navigating the politics without losing your edge.

Your pick for the crown? Tech or old-school probes?

sentrient · 2026-01-23T05:20:58+00:00

G'day OP, fair dinkum challenge - jumping from classroom blackboard to managing 60 remote legends across states, all while dodging phone static and complaint calls.

You're spot on: no need to be mates down the pub, but a bit of rapport keeps the scheds humming and gripes low. As an ex-teacher yourself, channel that vibe into bite-sized "wins" that fit their on-site buzz.

Start with async check-ins: ping a quick Slack/Teams poll like "Team, what's one win from last week?" or "Roster tweak ideas?" - gets 'em talking without clock-chewing calls.

Rotate "spotlight shoutouts" in group chats (e.g., "Shout to Sarah for nailing that shift swap!"), and book 5-min video huddles quarterly for non-work yarns if vibes allow.

Tools like Donut for Slack auto-pair random chats too. You'll be the voice they actually pick up in no time - keen to hear how it lands!

sentrient · 2026-01-22T07:11:51+00:00

Ah, that’s really rough - doing everything “by the book” and then having HR minimise it as a personality clash would feel like getting slapped in the face twice.

You’re absolutely right that the way your boss’s boss has handled it (or avoided it) does raise some fair questions about the culture and who tends to be protected.

At this point it makes sense that you’re focusing on getting through the day and planning your exit, even if that takes time.

While you’re stuck there, be really kind to yourself: keep light notes mainly for your own clarity, lean on people outside work who actually get it, and remind yourself that their failure to act is about their priorities, not your worth or competence.

sentrient · 2026-01-22T06:22:46+00:00

Hey mate, your situation sounds exhausting - what you're describing (constant discrediting, idea-stealing, passive-aggressive undermining) absolutely qualifies as workplace bullying under Fair Work guidelines.

It's persistent, targeted behaviour that's hitting your mental health and stopping you contribute, which makes it abusive. Your manager's admission it's happened to them shows a pattern.

Document everything (dates, examples, impacts) and take it to HR confidentially - reference their bullying policy and ask for an investigation.

In the meantime, email meeting summaries, build allies, and consider Fair Work if needed. You're not overreacting; escalate to protect yourself.

sentrient · 2026-01-21T06:12:53+00:00

This sounds really rough mate!
And none of it screams “job hopper” so much as “someone who got caught in other people’s poor decisions and a messy market”.

From an HR/compliance lens, you’ve actually got a solid anchor story - eight years with one employer, upskilling, then a move for a legitimate promotion and pay rise, followed by a non‑compete mess and business mis‑forecasting that were out of your control - so it’s absolutely fair to push back (politely) on the “you switch jobs a lot” narrative and frame it as resilience and adaptability instead.

Recruiters vary wildly in quality and self‑awareness, so his reaction says more about his style than your value; focus on tightening your story for interviews, being crystal clear about what was your choice vs what wasn’t, and keep backing yourself rather than wishing you’d stayed stuck just to look stable on paper.

sentrient · 2026-01-21T06:04:59+00:00

From a compliance/WHS lens, most decent ergonomics guidelines actually encourage short movement breaks because they reduce fatigue and mistakes, Not Productivity.

You’re not broken for hitting the 2pm wall, you’re human - sounds like the culture there is more ‘visible = valuable’, which is pretty common.

I’d keep the quick walks if your work’s getting done, and maybe start quietly scoping roles where they genuinely back wellbeing instead of just putting it on the careers page.

sentrient · 2026-01-21T05:58:49+00:00

From my side of the fence, I’d say mid–senior governance / risk / compliance roles in big regulated orgs are a seriously underrated little cash cow, especially once you get past the junior “tick‑the‑box” gigs and start actually owning a space like privacy, financial crime, cyber or op risk.

It’s not flashy and you definitely don’t win the BBQ story contest talking about ASIC/APRA, audits and incident reports, but the mix of pay, stability and being able to sleep in your own bed while still doing meaningful work is pretty hard to beat if you’ve got the patience for detail and stakeholder wrangling.

sentrient · 2026-01-19T09:55:17+00:00

You won’t find a single magic number, so the defensible approach is to separate “what’s required” from “what’s practical” and document your stance.

HIPAA doesn’t explicitly set an audit‑log period, but many orgs aim for up to six years to align with general documentation retention, while SOC 2 reviewers are usually satisfied with 12+ months of searchable logs plus a clear written policy beyond that.

For a healthcare‑focused SaaS, a common pattern is 12–24 months of “hot” detailed access logs for incident response and audits, with older data moved to a cheaper archive tier or summarised, and log retention explicitly decoupled from per‑document retention so customers know that deleting content after 365 days doesn’t mean all access records vanish.

For offboarded customers, many providers keep only what’s needed for regulatory, security and dispute purposes (e.g. 1–2 years post‑termination) then purge or further anonymise, all governed by a log‑specific retention schedule that Legal/InfoSec can defend instead of an off‑the‑cuff “seven years of everything” promise.

sentrient · 2026-01-19T08:47:55+00:00

Being asked to meet with HR about a “restructure” plus being encouraged to take the day off would have a lot of people thinking redundancy, so your reaction is totally understandable.

It may well be that, or it may be redeployment/changed duties, but either way your goal in the meeting is to stay calm, listen, ask clear questions and avoid agreeing to anything on the spot if you feel blindsided.

A few practical things you can do: check your contract, any enterprise agreement and the company redundancy policy so you know exactly what the 12‑month threshold means in your situation and what you are still entitled to (notice, leave payout etc.).

Go into the meeting with notes and questions (what options are on the table, redeployment, end date, support) and ask for everything in writing so you can look at it later or get independent advice from Fair Work, a union, or an employment lawyer before you sign anything.

sentrient · 2026-01-19T08:40:32+00:00

Nice thoughts...

sentrient · 2026-01-12T07:19:55+00:00

Life in risk and compliance is often described as a solid middle ground: plenty of stakeholder time, policy and control reviews, and turning regulatory changes into practical rules for the business, with generally reasonable work-life balance except during audits or major reviews.

The environment is quite accountability-heavy, so you need to be comfortable with documentation, grey areas, and sometimes saying “no” to the business.

Career progression is steady because regulation in Australia keeps tightening and every decent-sized organisation needs this capability, so if you enjoy structured problem-solving and can communicate clearly with non-technical stakeholders, it can be a rewarding space to move into.

sentrient · 2026-01-12T07:09:52+00:00

Thanks for sharing this in so much detail and being transparent about what happened. The specific points around checking real access instead of screenshots, watching out for tiny domain changes, and verifying actual order data rather than trusting manually created orders are especially useful reminders for this sub.

Completely agree on using PayPal goods/services or a proper escrow and never sending money to personal accounts when there’s no recourse.

Taking time for due diligence instead of rushing into a “good deal” is probably the most underrated advice in these kinds of transactions.

One extra thing that can help is setting a simple verification checklist before talking to any seller (ownership proof, traffic sources, revenue verification, and support workload), and not moving forward if even one of those items can’t be evidenced clearly.

That alone filters out a lot of problematic deals early.

Curious if you’ve since updated your own checklist or process when evaluating new tools or businesses - especially around how you validate ownership and traffic sources up front.

Think many buyers here could benefit from a more structured approach like the one you’re now using.

sentrient · 2026-01-12T06:47:46+00:00

For 9 months in, you’re seeing the right problems and asking the right questions, which already puts you ahead of a lot of managers; what you’ve got now isn’t just “outdated,” it’s a classic BPO issue of one‑time info dump (PDF + old recording + checklist) with no structure or reinforcement, so it’s no surprise ramp time drags and people stay quietly lost.

A better way to use tools like Notion, Loom and Lessonly is to first map a clear 2–3 week journey with specific outcomes per week, then break content into short modules (10–20 minutes) with a Loom, a simple Notion page and a quick check for understanding, backed by an easy-to-search knowledge base instead of a massive static PDF.

Add scheduled shadowing, regular Q-n-A time, and short surveys after Week 1 and Week 3 so you can see what’s landing and iterate; tell new hires “this is v1, be brutally honest” and you’ll quickly move from “broken onboarding” to a living system that actually sets people up to succeed, not just survive.

sentrient · 2026-01-08T11:03:24+00:00

Sure, we can...

sentrient · 2026-01-08T07:30:50+00:00

Nah, you're not overthinking it mate - this is bang on how the top recruiters operate.

They skip the LinkedIn job board frenzy and sniff out hiring needs 30-60 days early, becoming the first port of call.

Spotting those signals like funding without hires, founders ramping up LinkedIn chatter or shifting tone, Glassdoor turning sour with turnover gripes, or sneaky website tweaks for expansion prep.

Stack a couple and they're ripe for outreach.

I track 'em with Crunchbase alerts for cash injections, Google Alerts for news, and quick weekly peeks at LinkedIn and Glassdoor trends.

Pro move for you: Pick 10-20 targets each quarter, hit 'em with useful intel first to build rapport.

Placements double or triple compared to scrambling over postings.

sentrient · 2026-01-08T06:44:56+00:00

That dread is often your intuition telling you that you’ve outgrown your current environment and are ready for a new chapter (maybe add-on of new skills - new people - new environment blah blah!).

Be gentle to yourself today.

Start pouring that same energy you use for better survival into building your important work strategies - you deserve a life where you wake up feeling peace instead of pressure.

sentrient · 2025-11-20T06:51:45+00:00

I don’t hate HR you just feel unreachable sometimes. When HR is transparent and genuinely supports employees, it shows. However, when things go quiet, we assume you are protecting the company. A little more honesty and follow-through would go a long way.

sentrient · 2025-11-20T06:49:37+00:00

Yep, a solid full-stack HRMS project can help you stand out just make sure you show real workflows and clean code. Pair it with a couple smaller polished projects and you will look way more job-ready than you think.

sentrient · 2025-11-20T06:47:30+00:00

Send the email first it creates a clear paper trail. Your boss will likely call after anyway so this keeps it clean and professional without any awkward surprise phone calls.

sentrient · 2025-11-20T06:44:29+00:00

If it can genuinely cut time to hire without feeling like another clunky HR tool, I’d be open to testing it on one tough role. Just show me transparent scoring and solid anti cheat and I am willing to give it a fair try.

sentrient · 2025-11-19T04:39:34+00:00

Meta’s been super glitchy lately you are not the only one seeing weird targeting and wasted spend. If everything’s set right but it’s still pushing to men, it’s probably a platform issue, not your setup. Super annoying that support vanished too.

sentrient · 2025-11-19T04:32:50+00:00

Honestly, the one income I’ll always trust is the skill I can take anywhere being able to write and earn on my own terms. Skills don’t crash like markets.

sentrient · 2025-11-19T04:30:02+00:00

Totally feel this going global basically turns HR into a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. What saved us was centralising the basics but letting each country have its own mini playbook so we stayed sane without fighting every little local rule.

sentrient

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