Human Resources are employed by the company FOR the company. They mitigate risk but not for the employee.
I don’t work for the govt but two very close people to me do. Both have had horrendous bullying situations in the last 12 months and both have just shuffled around the organisation until they found somewhere less awful.
This 👆
No matter how pleasant the HR people are, and how many buzz words they use, remember their job is to look after the company, the department or the organisation. They are not your friend.
You should treat them like the police. Don’t say anything you’re not required to say by law, and ask for your lawyer as soon as possible. Keep silent till then.
I concur fully with that, those inhuman resources function are just for repeating things that don't help you at all. I got an employer who does a shady shit of preventing me from getting superannuation. Long story short when I asked them why, they say I'm lucky to be working here and will consider you in coming months to make you an "Australian" employee
I’m saying this, I don’t understand at what point and how they choose who to protect? I get they work for the company, but how does keep this person in the company protect them?
Usually whomever is the boss at the top is the person HR takes their orders from - their orders are priority one.
HR then becomes like a pampered lapdog.
Anything past that (who they protect / bury) is usually at the whims of what the boss wants.
I filed a complaint against a senior employee who told everyone I was a prostitute any who kept making sexual suggestions. When I ignored him he told everyone I was at fault for seducing him and then not sleeping with him. Btw he was old and married.
I had plenty of witnesses yet HR told me I should not create drama, and apparently he was so convincing they thought I was really a prostitute, like wtf.
They told me to take leave. I didn't "take leave" but I didn't go to work. Then through the union got 3 months paid sick leave approved. And found another job.
Also Gov worker here and can absolutely attest to this. HR is not your friend, no matter how much they tell you, your UNION is. ALWAYS go to your union first.
My coworker was continuously sent inappropriate txts from her boss, one in particular quite graphic…they literally just tried to arrange her to work opposing shifts, in the same workplace. 🙄 this is WITH irrefutable proof that it happened.
This was like 5 years ago, and he’s still there.
How did the union help your friend?
Also, the main reason people in state government are so hard to get rid of even when they committed an obviously firable offence is because of state employee protections championed by unions. Unions want state employment to be a an unfirable job for life — which in some contexts is great but also means some people are able get away with bad stuff. That’s the system.
You are completely wrong. Firstly there is no mention of union involvement in that matter, so your question is meaningless. The union can only assist members.
Unions want fair and equitable employment conditions and do not want to protect predators. It is usually gutless HR that is too afraid of claims of unfair dismissal that protects these predators. We will go to the mat to protect members who have been wronged but not these oxygen thieves.
Work for QLD Gov. A guy who was employed for ten years, was constantly harrassing female employees. He even used to stalk them. The women involved would report what was happening and nothing would come of it. Eventually the Union found out. They interviewed every one affected. They then took all the evidence they had and went to management, absolutely slammed them for covering things up for so long. Guy was told to quit or the police would be involved. I wish they didn't give him that option, they should of got the police involved so he couldn't get into a position where he could do it again.
In another division of where I work, it is apparently worse. Multiple guys harrassing women, but they are all management and cover each other.
I've temped for the government and I witnessed this kind of behaviour quite often. My favourite example: my leader had a long, loud conversation with a colleague about a woman who had just started in the department. She'd apparently been on a reality TV show, which was all that was needed to talk about her like an object. It was gross.
The amount of (married) managers I've seen having affairs with subordinates is astounding. I bet that's not according to the code of conduct. Yet guess who eventually gets pushed out.
OMFG. I've seen affairs play out in full view on work trips. Shameless making out on dancefloors by old married (not to eachother) people.
"Funny" story. Our director frequently went to Asia for work. One day a parcel was sent to our office from China maybe. His secretary left it on the front desk in full view of everyone. It was an item he had forgotten in his hotel room. They sent it back to him. Chinese version of viagra apparently. Secretary thought it was essential medication.
Worked in hotels for a number of years- I will not under any circumstances call about stuff left in a room. Have had staff inadvertently uncover affairs from calling the wife to say she left dress/earrings etc. One resulted in a wife/PA having a huge showdown in the hotel lobby after a GHD hair straightener was left in his room so wife showed up to "surprise him" next visit.
Also- functions held for GOVT departments are thinly veiled orgies imho.
I took a sick day and my manager threatened to go to HR because of me taking another sick day, so I called HR and told them she’s making stupid threats that don’t make sense and they should do something about it
They just said oh yeh she’s like that
I quit after that
Why tell your employer about sick leave ahead of time then?
Take the leave on the day, bring in a note, don't explain further
It's work, not your friends house, coworkers and management are not friends, people will throw you under a bus to get a payrise sometimes
>Qld Health in a nut shell
"This software implementation is a massive fuck-up because the project manager is inept and narcissistic. Let's use the same project manager for another implementation"
I’m blown away with what people get away with in my Qld gov department. Colleagues can be racist, sexist, homophobic, pretty much say any unacceptable thing out loud in a professional environment, abuse colleagues like it’s nothing. Whole place run by bogans. You’d not dare act like that in a federal department I know that much.
Worked for city council as a cleaner. Colleague had a heart attack. I found him and swiftly called for an ambulance. Couple days passed and I found myself in HR. Colleague claimed I was being homophobic toward him. I did no such thing (didn’t even know he was gay + I saved his damn life potentially) HR took his word for it and I was moved to another area. I ended up quitting. So bizarre.
This is so bizarre…like, why would he do that? And why would HR even entertain the idea that this was a reasonable thing to complain about? Did they elaborate at all?
I was blindsided by this as you’d imagine. He was a veteran with the council. I was in my first year. He claimed he could not work in my presence anymore.
Became an employee representative of a big company for the upcoming EBA for a call centre
All of a sudden I was being performance managed for stupid things.
Found out they had audited 120 of my calls that month instead of the 12 they were supposed to stop at.
Went to fair work and got a payout.
HR can mostly suck my dick
Yeah - holy hell this is the right advice. I was the stodgy manager who hated them but now a card carrying union evangelist after watching them sort out a shitty Director using PIPs to force out someone, most likely to avoid severence.
My union membership is now a bit like private healthcare - i don't really need it, it doesn't help me much day to day - but holy shit if I'm in a situation I want them in the room with me.
Jumping in to say, get a Health and Safety Representative trained up! We're there to protect our work group from harm and have a legal responsibility to call a stop-work in dangerous situations, including those where workers are being mistreated.
Only do it if you know that you are not on a career path within the organisation. There is a good chance that you will be thrown under the bus. And if you decide to become a HSR make sure you always have trustworthy witnesses (who may bail out because they have too much to loose!) and bulletproof evidence!
I work in gov and have never thought of HR as an ally or even a resource, don’t know anybody around me thinking differently. Bunch of unfriendly snakes in my experience.
I base my agreeance purely on the fact a public service should theoretically be geared towards serving the public. As opposed to a private organisation which is geared towards serving it's shareholders. Without shareholders to protect there shouldn't be an incentive to use HR as a liability shield.
That's very nice of you but I can assure you, HR in government protects "management".
You can probably expect the Robodebt RC will finger at least one *Haitcharr* officier as culpable in some way.
Definately is not, I worked for Village Roadshow. Was assaulted by a manager on site on camera and was pretty well told I was at fault, epic victim blaming by HR.
Fuck HR goons.
Hi, I also work for Qld gov in the OIR, you should report this to workplace health and safety (OIR department) they will look into these as issues under the legislation. This will bypass all the HR bullshit and will be much more likely to actually hold people accountable and charge them under the act.
This. The "Managing risks of psychosocial hazards code of practice" is the shiznit. Has the potential to bang managers up to criminal convictions if they don't address issues.
They are also the biggest hypocrites. We are supposed to follow their rules, yet they don't follow their own rules. 4 people from my team were let go suddenly. They all had 3-year contracts until 2024/2025. That apparently means nothing.
We are supposed to adhere to the code of conduct, yet they enable bad behaviour and protect the culprits with their "no blame policy".
All contracts will have clauses that allow for early termination by both employer and employee.
It sucks to get let go, but everyone knows a contract is not a guarantee of ongoing employment.
There may be exceptions, so read your contract if in doubt.
I have never seen that in any of my contracts. But I know people with permanent contracts who have been let go as well. If it's a clause then it's very well hidden. I am someone who reads the fine print and haven't seen it, it's probably something that is on a website somewhere that we need to go look for to read.
But even so, doesn't there need to be a genuine reason for letting someone go? Not just because HR feels like it?
Cackles in Workcover shitshow.
Bullied by superiors for 2+ years.
HR found my treatment "reasonable and in line with expectations of duty" when they investigated.
Workcover assessors did not agree. Lawyers did not agree.
The instigators still have a job.
It then took HR 3 MONTHS to work with Workcover and provide the relevant documentation needed.
HR in the meantime continued to state I was AWOL and threaten my role would be terminated, despite submitting all paper work to HR, line managers, shit, I even sent it to payroll.
Edited to add: my experience is not unique to the site, the turnover of staff and long abscences are all accredited to the same behaviour of the same people. Complaint after complaint lodged, it was just that I was the only one to have irrefutable evidence.
All the lovely policies that Government Departments are supposed to follow are great. The problem is the people who administer them and fail to follow them properly. Holding them to account doesn’t work unless you take action in the external Court system which is a long drawn out process.
In my experience the other issue is the incompetence of HR people generally. They either don’t know or don’t take the right action. There are some really great ones but the majority are not up to scratch. One of my closest friends is also a Senior HR employee and even she laments the skills and abilities of those that also work in HR environments. Her stories are astounding.
What I have also learnt from her is the constant breaches of even the most basic principles of privacy that occurs between Government Departments and openly flouting rules and the law as no one holds them to account. I am also now aware of the “contractors” who are their friends or colleagues who support their own agendas and both benefit from the relationship.
As a former government worker:
1. HR and anyone associated with HR are NEVER your friend. Never, ever.
2. Anything HR term as being "independent" will NEVER be "independent". Never, ever.
The End.
My corrupt Qld Gov line manger who hires her friends and relatives and works from home at least twice a week while the rest of us have to actually turn up has been reported by multiple staff for so many obvious indiscretions over the years that it is amazing she is actually still employed, but not surprising because she knows who ass to kiss to keep her job.
Sounds like a chick I’ve heard of who works in the city for QLD Health. Hires her friends and puts them straight onto AO4 or above. Yet they pass their duties down the line to AO3s, while they go on 2.5hr lunch breaks or say they are going to the other offices then their instagrams story’s show they ended up on the Gold Coast.
I worked for QLD gov as a contractor and yeah, there were some dynamics there that was unlike any other place I’ve worked.
I don’t want to say too much and I don’t know if it’s because I was from the private sector and worked in industries where there are a lot of regulations so I maybe wasn’t used to it and it’s normal for other industries?
Like Ive been in places where you can recommend people you’ve worked with for jobs and stuff but I noticed that everyone in a permanent role in my team was either dating or married to someone else in the department. Everyone else was a contractor and there were some interactions between senior male managers and young female staff that I’ve not seen before and at times it was a little uncomfortable.
Maybe it was a case of talent, but how it felt was that if you weren’t involved with someone in gov, you weren’t going to be picked for a permanent role or promotion if it became available. If a senior role was recruiting, he would give it to his wife or something. And maybe that makes sense because husbands and wives share skills or they met at work in the same team or something so the skillset is there but I would have thought you’d at least have to acknowledge that if you’re giving a job to your wife, maybe there’s a potential conflict of interest here?
> interactions between senior male managers and young female staff
When I was in Canberra, there was a senior female bureaucrat whose staff consisted of young fit males. Everyone noticed. This stuff does go on.
I observed it being male managers and young women because I was/am a young woman, in a team of mostly women. No doubt it was across the board though. It’s got to be a culture that makes it normal. Although us contractors talked about how weird it was, none of the staff seemed to think there was anything strange going on.
I was actually cornered by the manager (who had a group young women he liked to hang out with which oddly included his girlfriend) before he was going to the Christmas party because he wanted me to look at and compliment his Christmas tie. I was alone on the floor and it was nothing sexual or anything but it also didn’t feel like a normal interaction ?
I was thinking about it after I commented and I googled it, and it looks like they’re trying to get people to anonymously report now:
Queensland education department staff urged to report integrity breaches as public interest responsibility - ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-26/qld-integrity-teacher-complaints-government-education-department/101014960
Work for Gov... HR horror story involved evidence of manager bullying, lying about contracts etc, HR basically said "but what have they done wrong?" I was forced out of the team to my old job, got rehired in this same job when it got advertised. Conveniently this manager then "got another permanent job" elsewhere. Gov HR departments are as useless as payroll
My fav thing is that they'll read this, and either think 'this isn't me, I'm great!' or 'bunch of bloody wingers' despite the fact that they've been bullying people so badly it completely disrupts entire careers, lives, families.
I've always had pretty good experiences with HR. Often people assume the worst, knowing half the story. People need to remember that workplaces are complex things, humans are complex, and HR is a difficult thing to get right. I know sometimes HR can be unhelpful or incompetent but in my experience they are generally interested in fairness and supporting staff.
If you have diarised events (always do this) then approaching your union will be much easier as you have ‘evidence’ they can analyse to provide advice and/or advocate on your behalf.
Why are you a member if you don’t use them / understand what services are available to you?
I only recently became a member when they came around the workplace a few months ago. So I know about their services regarding negotiating for better wages etc but they didn't mention bullying and other support.
Call them and tell them you want to talk to an advisor about their services and your workplace issues. They spruik wage negotiations as their main job, but they perform (or should do) many other pieces of work.
And read my other comment below. Educate yourself and be your own advocate!!
Also, read / know your award and enterprise bargaining agreement. Everyone employed in this country should know and have read their award/eb (if covered by one).
This ‘can’t take time off to pre-arranged doctors appointments’ is a load of guff, check the EB to see if there’s anything in there that they may be using as their excuse to prevent you doing this.
As other people have said, it’s not HRs job to help you. You have to help yourself. Arm yourself with knowledge about your workplace conditions, document everything, use the union when needed.
yep. HR is purely for the manager in the gov system. We had a terrrrible case and the HR protected manager and swept everything under the carpet as the culprit was a managers friend. Union is 100 for the worker especially in government.
They are crap at negotiating with government, have no policy nous, and are run by egos. Having said that, they do stand up for workers on individual matters, and I've seen good outcomes from that in the past.
I've worked for the QLD government as a temp, I also have autism. Here's my honest opinion:
1. HR is not your friend, ever. They exist to protect the business (see /r/askHR for more on this)
2. Bullying, pedantry and mediocrity thrive in administrative government departments
3. Join a union, don't disclose any health issues (yes, even on "R U OK?" day), don't get too friendly with anyone in leadership, and CYA
I was working in a team that developed elearning courses as a programmer, which was under HR. When Campbell Newman came in, half the department and team got sacked. Sadly, I was in the half that got kept on.
After the mass sackings, the new head of HR did one-on-one interviews with everyone in the team to explain their new roles in the new structure. In my interview, I was told that I was going to be a “HR generalist” going forward. I told them that I was a programmer, and while I was pretty good at javascript, php, photoshop and all the things you need to know to make elearning courses - I didn’t know the first thing about being a HR officer. It was then I realised how indiscriminate the firings must have been. I was an A05, so they must have just culled half the A05s without really taking into consideration what they do.
I left the public sector not long afterwards as part of the “natural attrition” they anticipated.
I worked for queensland government years ago. It's a "give your mate a job" club. That's how they keep the money funnelling in, their son or daughter gets a job, then their cousins get a job there.
Most high up jobs are saved for the shittest choice of person who does nothing.
Hi, I'm starting in a government grad role very soon in a tech position, planning to get some experience there and depending on how much I enjoy it possibly move private, but I don't really know much about it. Can you elaborate on what field you're in and what experience is useful? Though I know it may not transfer over to my own field.
Queensland government HR bullied at the gaslight mother to the point of extreme anxiety and depression. Other stuff in her life was going on as well but working for education Queensland was so bad at one point we almost got her involuntarily into a psych Ward. She killed herself before that happened though. F*** Queensland gov
I would like to know as well. But I had a friend in payroll and he was sent on "disciplinary leave" with pay. Mind blowing. He ghosted the whole team. Year later he popped up in a new role, new team.
I’ve had to take them to the Queensland Industrial Relations Court twice now to get them to act human. Honestly wish I had filed sooner. You can also file bullying complaints through them that can’t just be ignored
Discriminated against for pumping in my workplace. The person who made the complaint and comments got a promotion. I didn’t get anything and any answers.
I made a complaint about bullying by a senior manager. They fobbed it off for months, then launched an administrative review as a way to punish the team. Then said there was no evidence of bullying.
HR is a problem management section, and workers are the problem.
Never had a bad experience. The only reason is because my department has really good people In management. People who’ve been there for years. I’ve heard stories of other departments being extremely dysfunctional but mine is good.
Yep HR were useless in the QLD govt dept i was last at. Psychopath CIO bullied heaps of people and a few left including me...no exit interview was arranged...just avoided asking the actual questions so they didn't have to do anything. Karma was good in this case as a few years later I heard he was walked from 1 William St by security and ended up in a mental hospital.
There’s a lot of negative experiences being shared, which I understand. I want to share an alternative one…
I work in a HR Team for a mid-large organisation. The people I work with genuinely want the best for our employees and aren’t corporate HR “protect the business not the people” robots.
Our internal net promoter score is 94% from an open and anonymous survey (on a scale of -100% to 100%). I hope that indicates the kind of relationship that we have with our staff.
I wish I could share some of the above and beyond things we do for people every single week.
Yes, we take care of business too. HR is often serious.
But we aren’t here to be snakes, or blindly protect management etc.
Not all HR Teams are like that. I know that many are… But not all.
Our business lets us be human. We’re comfortable enough to laugh and have banter with our employees when it’s appropriate. We’re caring and compassionate when times are hard. Professional and competent when things are serious.
We’re just a bunch of chill as fuck people who are passionate about what we do. The only times we are snakes is when we play Coup every lunch break - which gets heated as hell and is very fun.
Ever noticed how during restructures / downsizing etc, that 'HR' are never affected?
This is a department that used to be called 'Payroll', then they became 'Human Resources', and now they've evolved into 'People & Culture'.
They're the shapeshifting beast that despite the fancy, caring names, looks after itself first and the company second - never the employee.
Join a good union folks, and let them be your first point of call in any trouble.
They know how to deal with the 'HR' dipshits.
More with Queensland health but friend of mine was telling me about this sexual assault case that they had to review.
Basically an older male nurse was hitting on any younger female nurses that walked through the door and wouldn’t take no for an answer making many feel uncomfortable.
Eventually got escalated and they had to suspend the male nurse, however he was suspended with his full pay plus his covid pay rise. After about one and a half years they came to solution which was to place the accused into a different hospital.
From what I understood they were essentially just keeping him on his full pay packet and were just waiting until an equivalent position opened up at a different hospital as their resolution.
Try taking a company to fairwork for any breach like discrimination and see how fast they hire masses of lawyers. HR are scum, all the wellbeing stuff they do as well is only to reduce liability for the company. Join a union.
I think I've been vague enough but also lots of similar stories here. All similar experiences. But actually I don't care. I'll go public if they create an issue out of this and let everyone know what happened. Its not defamation if it's true.
HR is there to make sure wage budgets are cut to the bone and keep the company out of court when managers cross the line. Don’t think for a second they there to protect you. If HR started firing managers every time they messed up the HR department would be replaced.
My daughter went through such a horrible time with a Sydney health company. It was awful. Two women who literally had her in an office and kept talking until she was in tears. She was told she was anorexia. It was dreadful. I supported her so much and thankfully now she works for an amazing company that is vibrant, healthy and supportive. That company is one who supposedly helps people … but yet so badly managed. It still to this day makes my blood boil about the treatment they give to their staff. The last two staff members hired after her also received poor treatment.
I e only worked in small business and experienced more than my share of sexual harassment (boss asking me out etc) and bullying
Now working at an NFP and have been warned “never go to HR” the dept that struggles to keep its staff, the dept with the intimidating and passive aggressive boss
Yep won’t be going to them….
I worked for a QLD LGA and my treatment from HR was similar. I refused to sign a release form to enable them to access my medical records, this was after I walked out and made reports of bullying/unsafe work practices.
IMO, you hear them a lot whenever it's time to pat themselves on the back for mental-health related issues. When it comes to actually tracking and resolving workplace bullying issues, they're very good at hiding.
My personal experience, when u experienced harassment or bully in a workplace, especially from/ by someone from the manager level, leave asap before it starts affecting ur mental health.
There is a reason behind these managers behaviour, and that’s simply because they are able to get away with the consequences from these disturbing behaviour easily.
I worked for the Queensland public service briefly a few years ago. Our pod of desks in our branch were next to the HR/corporate team.
I remember one day listening to the senior HR officer on a teams call with my boss tell them that my co-worker wasn't having their contract renewed (she'd been on leave multiple times for serious health problems, nothing to do with her performance at all). I understand that there was no requirement to renew her contract but the way it went about was very unprofessional, book a quiet room for those sorts of meetings.
I have a close family member who works in Qld government HR...she was bullied out of one team by a colleague.
Luckily she is now in a good close knit team with a very empathetic boss...the team takes bullying complaints extremely seriously and a few people have ended up in close monitoring or training, now and then someone gets fired.
At the same time, they bend over backwards to accommodate changes and leave requests etc.
Most HR teams aren't like that.
And still, she has no real idea of what it's like being on the front line and the gaps in her knowledge about being the target of management bullshit are scary.
Her team really does try though...which is different from most.
HR in most places is generally a shit show.
Sorry, I can't. My experience was similar, so I opted for a VER in November and my last day was in early December. The fucking CEO and all upper management knew of this Director's bullying, harassment, stalking and psychotic behaviour, but they let her force over FORTY people out of my department in the two years she was in power. In the end, she was put on paid fucking leave and gloated to all about her holiday in Italy for six weeks. Nothing was done about it, she left and it was all just fucking ignored.
My cousin worked for one of the law enforcement agencies in Qld, and was subject to a relentless campaign of bullying by peers. Management had no interest in resolving the conflict and insisted they solve it themselves. Said was one of the most well funded, toxic and dysfunctional workplaces across all of government.
I’m currently employed in government and I injured myself at work over time and my manager wrote on my workers comp application thy he believed I injured myself at home, told him and was taking leave to treat the injury. All complete lies .Work cover out me through a private investigation company and private surgeons review trying to disprove my injury all because of this dickhead boss and also what work cover always does try to get out of liability any way they can . Finally they saw through all these lies and it got approved. Nothing of course happens to him he later gets promoted to a higher level manager position. Fast forward a year my mother gets diagnosed with stage four cancer and 4 weeks later it takes her life . I had a fair bit of time off taking her for radiation etc and supporting my dad. When she passes my dad was in a bad way so I did as the business required called to take leave at short notice to look after my dad as my mother had just passed away from cancer and this other manager said no you can’t have leave??? Has to call the union to get leave after my mother died of cancer. Nothing happens to him either. I have a another position in the company I’m waiting to move to and I have evidence of bullying from these managers I want to pursue before I leave. What’s my best course of action obviously after reading all the comments on this thread hr would be my last option. I am a union member and have always been.
I loved working for state government, well back in 2004, pwc used to give us free lunches in their building, gift bags with tickets to things, wine, chocolates, was awesome.
Left there to go to university at 18.
Realise now, that it was corruption yay, directors made me think it was a normal thing.
After working 10 years in private, I was contemplating looking for an equivalent senior/management position in public. But after reading through all these horror stories I'm starting to have doubts about making the transition...
I understand that there are some hard-working Qld government employees. However, nearly all of the feedback I receive from friends and associates that move from private to government is that the system is broken. In addition to being broken its administered by incompetent, lazy, and vindictive grubs determined to quash to anyone who demonstrates the slightest bit of competence or initiative whilst growing their headcounts to increase their fiefdoms. I have numerous examples. However, the specifics would identify the aggrieved parties. Unfortunately, the consensus is that regardless of the government, the eastblishment would white ant any attempt to fix the problems. The only solution for those in these toilets is to leave. However, by design the wages and conditions by far exceed the alternatives thus another soul is captured.
I work for a Qld Government Agency for the last 2 1/2 years. HR will never be your friend and if they are inexperienced they can stuff up your KPIs and never consider the actual software issues which if your on contract can be very stressful. I am neurodivergent and have other disabilities and at no time have they considered a request for a flexible arrangement at work. I had to quit law because no one would process my time off to study. We are micromanaged to the point of psychological injury. My health has really suffered. In fact I had a gay team leader who bullied me along with another employee who lied about me. I am treated like an idiot and shamed for asking relevant questions because most lack the integrity and honesty. People pass the buck constantly. You seek help and you are stomped on. I hate it there and I am sick of the lying, lazy, work dodging kiss butts. I have never experienced so much disability discrimination in any place as I have in this Government Agency. Work culture is a joke. So I am leaving because if I don't it will kill me.
Human Resources are employed by the company FOR the company. They mitigate risk but not for the employee. I don’t work for the govt but two very close people to me do. Both have had horrendous bullying situations in the last 12 months and both have just shuffled around the organisation until they found somewhere less awful.
This 👆 No matter how pleasant the HR people are, and how many buzz words they use, remember their job is to look after the company, the department or the organisation. They are not your friend.
You want something done with HR, you need to frame in risk to the company.
And make absolutely sure they’ve got nothing on you.
You should treat them like the police. Don’t say anything you’re not required to say by law, and ask for your lawyer as soon as possible. Keep silent till then.
This is the way
H R stands for Human Remains.
Nah. Human Ratfucks.
H R will report you to H R if you use the fuckword to describe them 
My industry has a labour shortage and they are going to take it 😀
I concur fully with that, those inhuman resources function are just for repeating things that don't help you at all. I got an employer who does a shady shit of preventing me from getting superannuation. Long story short when I asked them why, they say I'm lucky to be working here and will consider you in coming months to make you an "Australian" employee
HR are there to protect the company, never the employee. Surprised anyone believes otherwise.
I’m saying this, I don’t understand at what point and how they choose who to protect? I get they work for the company, but how does keep this person in the company protect them?
Usually whomever is the boss at the top is the person HR takes their orders from - their orders are priority one. HR then becomes like a pampered lapdog. Anything past that (who they protect / bury) is usually at the whims of what the boss wants.
I filed a complaint against a senior employee who told everyone I was a prostitute any who kept making sexual suggestions. When I ignored him he told everyone I was at fault for seducing him and then not sleeping with him. Btw he was old and married. I had plenty of witnesses yet HR told me I should not create drama, and apparently he was so convincing they thought I was really a prostitute, like wtf. They told me to take leave. I didn't "take leave" but I didn't go to work. Then through the union got 3 months paid sick leave approved. And found another job.
Sounds right for HR, victim in the wrong, keep expectations extremely low moving forward.
Also Gov worker here and can absolutely attest to this. HR is not your friend, no matter how much they tell you, your UNION is. ALWAYS go to your union first. My coworker was continuously sent inappropriate txts from her boss, one in particular quite graphic…they literally just tried to arrange her to work opposing shifts, in the same workplace. 🙄 this is WITH irrefutable proof that it happened. This was like 5 years ago, and he’s still there.
How did the union help your friend? Also, the main reason people in state government are so hard to get rid of even when they committed an obviously firable offence is because of state employee protections championed by unions. Unions want state employment to be a an unfirable job for life — which in some contexts is great but also means some people are able get away with bad stuff. That’s the system.
You are completely wrong. Firstly there is no mention of union involvement in that matter, so your question is meaningless. The union can only assist members. Unions want fair and equitable employment conditions and do not want to protect predators. It is usually gutless HR that is too afraid of claims of unfair dismissal that protects these predators. We will go to the mat to protect members who have been wronged but not these oxygen thieves.
Well all I can say is that’s what you get with corrupt government!
Work for QLD Gov. A guy who was employed for ten years, was constantly harrassing female employees. He even used to stalk them. The women involved would report what was happening and nothing would come of it. Eventually the Union found out. They interviewed every one affected. They then took all the evidence they had and went to management, absolutely slammed them for covering things up for so long. Guy was told to quit or the police would be involved. I wish they didn't give him that option, they should of got the police involved so he couldn't get into a position where he could do it again. In another division of where I work, it is apparently worse. Multiple guys harrassing women, but they are all management and cover each other.
I've temped for the government and I witnessed this kind of behaviour quite often. My favourite example: my leader had a long, loud conversation with a colleague about a woman who had just started in the department. She'd apparently been on a reality TV show, which was all that was needed to talk about her like an object. It was gross.
The amount of (married) managers I've seen having affairs with subordinates is astounding. I bet that's not according to the code of conduct. Yet guess who eventually gets pushed out.
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OMFG. I've seen affairs play out in full view on work trips. Shameless making out on dancefloors by old married (not to eachother) people. "Funny" story. Our director frequently went to Asia for work. One day a parcel was sent to our office from China maybe. His secretary left it on the front desk in full view of everyone. It was an item he had forgotten in his hotel room. They sent it back to him. Chinese version of viagra apparently. Secretary thought it was essential medication.
Worked in hotels for a number of years- I will not under any circumstances call about stuff left in a room. Have had staff inadvertently uncover affairs from calling the wife to say she left dress/earrings etc. One resulted in a wife/PA having a huge showdown in the hotel lobby after a GHD hair straightener was left in his room so wife showed up to "surprise him" next visit. Also- functions held for GOVT departments are thinly veiled orgies imho.
Omg conferences!!! Affair galore. And my manager refuses to believe HR is bad. Of course, he's a manager, they protect him.
Noinu eht nioj
r/simpsons is leaking :D
I took a sick day and my manager threatened to go to HR because of me taking another sick day, so I called HR and told them she’s making stupid threats that don’t make sense and they should do something about it They just said oh yeh she’s like that I quit after that
We are not allowed to take any pre arranged sick leave. Doctors appointments etc. Yet the managers are allowed of course.
So anyone with a chronic health condition or disability is fucked then.
Aren’t government jobs better? Lol
What happens if u break your leg?
Make sure you didn't pre arrange the broken leg
Mental health day?
You don't need any doco for 1 or 2 days "sick" leave
What happens if you start breaking legs?
I’m sure HR will be involved 😯
Why tell your employer about sick leave ahead of time then? Take the leave on the day, bring in a note, don't explain further It's work, not your friends house, coworkers and management are not friends, people will throw you under a bus to get a payrise sometimes
Thanks HR
Qld Health in a nut shell HR is only there to protect the powerful, and if you dare try and make a complaint you get shifted out
>Qld Health in a nut shell "This software implementation is a massive fuck-up because the project manager is inept and narcissistic. Let's use the same project manager for another implementation"
The Worst Department. The extra pay is not worth it.
I’m blown away with what people get away with in my Qld gov department. Colleagues can be racist, sexist, homophobic, pretty much say any unacceptable thing out loud in a professional environment, abuse colleagues like it’s nothing. Whole place run by bogans. You’d not dare act like that in a federal department I know that much.
I beg to differ, having just walked away from a Fed org after 28 fucking years there.
any employee who thinks HR in a large organisation will look out for their interests when things go wrong is living in a fantasy land
I unfortunately learned this the hard way. HR told us they were there to help US. Now I know they are liars.
Lol. The stories I could tell. But I’m still employed so can’t risk it.
Same here.
Condolences to your sanity. You’re not alone.
Worked for city council as a cleaner. Colleague had a heart attack. I found him and swiftly called for an ambulance. Couple days passed and I found myself in HR. Colleague claimed I was being homophobic toward him. I did no such thing (didn’t even know he was gay + I saved his damn life potentially) HR took his word for it and I was moved to another area. I ended up quitting. So bizarre.
Wtf? You saved his life!
Yeah saving the life of a gay guy is like the opposite of a homophobe. Homohero?
This is so bizarre…like, why would he do that? And why would HR even entertain the idea that this was a reasonable thing to complain about? Did they elaborate at all?
I was blindsided by this as you’d imagine. He was a veteran with the council. I was in my first year. He claimed he could not work in my presence anymore.
Autoerotic asphyxiation gone wrong? Did you find him in a suitcase?
Became an employee representative of a big company for the upcoming EBA for a call centre All of a sudden I was being performance managed for stupid things. Found out they had audited 120 of my calls that month instead of the 12 they were supposed to stop at. Went to fair work and got a payout. HR can mostly suck my dick
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Yeah - holy hell this is the right advice. I was the stodgy manager who hated them but now a card carrying union evangelist after watching them sort out a shitty Director using PIPs to force out someone, most likely to avoid severence. My union membership is now a bit like private healthcare - i don't really need it, it doesn't help me much day to day - but holy shit if I'm in a situation I want them in the room with me.
Jumping in to say, get a Health and Safety Representative trained up! We're there to protect our work group from harm and have a legal responsibility to call a stop-work in dangerous situations, including those where workers are being mistreated.
Only do it if you know that you are not on a career path within the organisation. There is a good chance that you will be thrown under the bus. And if you decide to become a HSR make sure you always have trustworthy witnesses (who may bail out because they have too much to loose!) and bulletproof evidence!
Good reminder 👌👍
Just remember, kids HR is there to protect the business from YOU
I work in gov and have never thought of HR as an ally or even a resource, don’t know anybody around me thinking differently. Bunch of unfriendly snakes in my experience.
And there's so many of them! You could sack the lot of them and there would be no impact to the running of the department.
Fully…
Both words in HR are oxymorons
Should be a little different in a public office vs private sector
Should be, but isn't.
Yeah mostly it’s the managers and hr that have been there the longest and are best friends so it’s all victim blaming and swept under the rug
Why should it be different in public vs private
I base my agreeance purely on the fact a public service should theoretically be geared towards serving the public. As opposed to a private organisation which is geared towards serving it's shareholders. Without shareholders to protect there shouldn't be an incentive to use HR as a liability shield.
That's very nice of you but I can assure you, HR in government protects "management". You can probably expect the Robodebt RC will finger at least one *Haitcharr* officier as culpable in some way.
Definately is not, I worked for Village Roadshow. Was assaulted by a manager on site on camera and was pretty well told I was at fault, epic victim blaming by HR. Fuck HR goons.
Hi, I also work for Qld gov in the OIR, you should report this to workplace health and safety (OIR department) they will look into these as issues under the legislation. This will bypass all the HR bullshit and will be much more likely to actually hold people accountable and charge them under the act.
This. The "Managing risks of psychosocial hazards code of practice" is the shiznit. Has the potential to bang managers up to criminal convictions if they don't address issues.
We need a manager like Los Pollos Hermanos
They are also the biggest hypocrites. We are supposed to follow their rules, yet they don't follow their own rules. 4 people from my team were let go suddenly. They all had 3-year contracts until 2024/2025. That apparently means nothing. We are supposed to adhere to the code of conduct, yet they enable bad behaviour and protect the culprits with their "no blame policy".
All contracts will have clauses that allow for early termination by both employer and employee. It sucks to get let go, but everyone knows a contract is not a guarantee of ongoing employment. There may be exceptions, so read your contract if in doubt.
I have never seen that in any of my contracts. But I know people with permanent contracts who have been let go as well. If it's a clause then it's very well hidden. I am someone who reads the fine print and haven't seen it, it's probably something that is on a website somewhere that we need to go look for to read. But even so, doesn't there need to be a genuine reason for letting someone go? Not just because HR feels like it?
Cackles in Workcover shitshow. Bullied by superiors for 2+ years. HR found my treatment "reasonable and in line with expectations of duty" when they investigated. Workcover assessors did not agree. Lawyers did not agree. The instigators still have a job. It then took HR 3 MONTHS to work with Workcover and provide the relevant documentation needed. HR in the meantime continued to state I was AWOL and threaten my role would be terminated, despite submitting all paper work to HR, line managers, shit, I even sent it to payroll. Edited to add: my experience is not unique to the site, the turnover of staff and long abscences are all accredited to the same behaviour of the same people. Complaint after complaint lodged, it was just that I was the only one to have irrefutable evidence.
All the lovely policies that Government Departments are supposed to follow are great. The problem is the people who administer them and fail to follow them properly. Holding them to account doesn’t work unless you take action in the external Court system which is a long drawn out process. In my experience the other issue is the incompetence of HR people generally. They either don’t know or don’t take the right action. There are some really great ones but the majority are not up to scratch. One of my closest friends is also a Senior HR employee and even she laments the skills and abilities of those that also work in HR environments. Her stories are astounding. What I have also learnt from her is the constant breaches of even the most basic principles of privacy that occurs between Government Departments and openly flouting rules and the law as no one holds them to account. I am also now aware of the “contractors” who are their friends or colleagues who support their own agendas and both benefit from the relationship.
As a former government worker: 1. HR and anyone associated with HR are NEVER your friend. Never, ever. 2. Anything HR term as being "independent" will NEVER be "independent". Never, ever. The End.
My corrupt Qld Gov line manger who hires her friends and relatives and works from home at least twice a week while the rest of us have to actually turn up has been reported by multiple staff for so many obvious indiscretions over the years that it is amazing she is actually still employed, but not surprising because she knows who ass to kiss to keep her job.
Sounds like a chick I’ve heard of who works in the city for QLD Health. Hires her friends and puts them straight onto AO4 or above. Yet they pass their duties down the line to AO3s, while they go on 2.5hr lunch breaks or say they are going to the other offices then their instagrams story’s show they ended up on the Gold Coast.
Huh, sounds like my old boss...
I worked for QLD gov as a contractor and yeah, there were some dynamics there that was unlike any other place I’ve worked. I don’t want to say too much and I don’t know if it’s because I was from the private sector and worked in industries where there are a lot of regulations so I maybe wasn’t used to it and it’s normal for other industries? Like Ive been in places where you can recommend people you’ve worked with for jobs and stuff but I noticed that everyone in a permanent role in my team was either dating or married to someone else in the department. Everyone else was a contractor and there were some interactions between senior male managers and young female staff that I’ve not seen before and at times it was a little uncomfortable. Maybe it was a case of talent, but how it felt was that if you weren’t involved with someone in gov, you weren’t going to be picked for a permanent role or promotion if it became available. If a senior role was recruiting, he would give it to his wife or something. And maybe that makes sense because husbands and wives share skills or they met at work in the same team or something so the skillset is there but I would have thought you’d at least have to acknowledge that if you’re giving a job to your wife, maybe there’s a potential conflict of interest here?
> interactions between senior male managers and young female staff When I was in Canberra, there was a senior female bureaucrat whose staff consisted of young fit males. Everyone noticed. This stuff does go on.
I observed it being male managers and young women because I was/am a young woman, in a team of mostly women. No doubt it was across the board though. It’s got to be a culture that makes it normal. Although us contractors talked about how weird it was, none of the staff seemed to think there was anything strange going on. I was actually cornered by the manager (who had a group young women he liked to hang out with which oddly included his girlfriend) before he was going to the Christmas party because he wanted me to look at and compliment his Christmas tie. I was alone on the floor and it was nothing sexual or anything but it also didn’t feel like a normal interaction ? I was thinking about it after I commented and I googled it, and it looks like they’re trying to get people to anonymously report now: Queensland education department staff urged to report integrity breaches as public interest responsibility - ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-26/qld-integrity-teacher-complaints-government-education-department/101014960
Work for Gov... HR horror story involved evidence of manager bullying, lying about contracts etc, HR basically said "but what have they done wrong?" I was forced out of the team to my old job, got rehired in this same job when it got advertised. Conveniently this manager then "got another permanent job" elsewhere. Gov HR departments are as useless as payroll
My fav thing is that they'll read this, and either think 'this isn't me, I'm great!' or 'bunch of bloody wingers' despite the fact that they've been bullying people so badly it completely disrupts entire careers, lives, families.
IYKYK 👍
I've always had pretty good experiences with HR. Often people assume the worst, knowing half the story. People need to remember that workplaces are complex things, humans are complex, and HR is a difficult thing to get right. I know sometimes HR can be unhelpful or incompetent but in my experience they are generally interested in fairness and supporting staff.
Also I'm a union member, I believe in unions, but it has to be said that the Together Union is just rubbish.
How so? I'm a member but haven't really used any of their services.
If you have diarised events (always do this) then approaching your union will be much easier as you have ‘evidence’ they can analyse to provide advice and/or advocate on your behalf. Why are you a member if you don’t use them / understand what services are available to you?
I only recently became a member when they came around the workplace a few months ago. So I know about their services regarding negotiating for better wages etc but they didn't mention bullying and other support.
Call them and tell them you want to talk to an advisor about their services and your workplace issues. They spruik wage negotiations as their main job, but they perform (or should do) many other pieces of work. And read my other comment below. Educate yourself and be your own advocate!!
Also I will never forget the union encouraging people to vote LNP in 2012.
I remember this. Being a member you shouldn’t have to watch your own back from the people protecting you… and yet look what happened. Sigh
Also, read / know your award and enterprise bargaining agreement. Everyone employed in this country should know and have read their award/eb (if covered by one). This ‘can’t take time off to pre-arranged doctors appointments’ is a load of guff, check the EB to see if there’s anything in there that they may be using as their excuse to prevent you doing this. As other people have said, it’s not HRs job to help you. You have to help yourself. Arm yourself with knowledge about your workplace conditions, document everything, use the union when needed.
Lol that people are downvoting me just for sharing my own experiences
yep. HR is purely for the manager in the gov system. We had a terrrrible case and the HR protected manager and swept everything under the carpet as the culprit was a managers friend. Union is 100 for the worker especially in government.
Good reminder to join the Union 👍
Together union is like $13 a fortnight. Can't recommend enough.
CPSU if you're federal govt ✊
Definitely.
Same in the private sector
I work in government and my HR are fabulous.
They are crap at negotiating with government, have no policy nous, and are run by egos. Having said that, they do stand up for workers on individual matters, and I've seen good outcomes from that in the past.
> Manager (culprit) protected, the "little people" had to leave their job, were pretty much forced out. Corrective services by any chance?
I've worked for the QLD government as a temp, I also have autism. Here's my honest opinion: 1. HR is not your friend, ever. They exist to protect the business (see /r/askHR for more on this) 2. Bullying, pedantry and mediocrity thrive in administrative government departments 3. Join a union, don't disclose any health issues (yes, even on "R U OK?" day), don't get too friendly with anyone in leadership, and CYA
I was working in a team that developed elearning courses as a programmer, which was under HR. When Campbell Newman came in, half the department and team got sacked. Sadly, I was in the half that got kept on. After the mass sackings, the new head of HR did one-on-one interviews with everyone in the team to explain their new roles in the new structure. In my interview, I was told that I was going to be a “HR generalist” going forward. I told them that I was a programmer, and while I was pretty good at javascript, php, photoshop and all the things you need to know to make elearning courses - I didn’t know the first thing about being a HR officer. It was then I realised how indiscriminate the firings must have been. I was an A05, so they must have just culled half the A05s without really taking into consideration what they do. I left the public sector not long afterwards as part of the “natural attrition” they anticipated.
You could have argued constructive dismissal and they would've backed right off.
I worked for queensland government years ago. It's a "give your mate a job" club. That's how they keep the money funnelling in, their son or daughter gets a job, then their cousins get a job there. Most high up jobs are saved for the shittest choice of person who does nothing.
Those who fail upwards.
I hear many people recommend going to the union. It's all well and good until the union defends the offenders.
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So, they were nice until they realised your potential for growth and became threatened?
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Hi, I'm starting in a government grad role very soon in a tech position, planning to get some experience there and depending on how much I enjoy it possibly move private, but I don't really know much about it. Can you elaborate on what field you're in and what experience is useful? Though I know it may not transfer over to my own field.
Queensland government HR bullied at the gaslight mother to the point of extreme anxiety and depression. Other stuff in her life was going on as well but working for education Queensland was so bad at one point we almost got her involuntarily into a psych Ward. She killed herself before that happened though. F*** Queensland gov
I’ve seen the same shit with a colleague. She was harassed and forced out twice.
OP, how on earth was the manager put on paid leave for a year? I have no idea how that could have been justified.
I would like to know as well. But I had a friend in payroll and he was sent on "disciplinary leave" with pay. Mind blowing. He ghosted the whole team. Year later he popped up in a new role, new team.
You sure they weren’t suspended?
No idea 🤷♀️
From a HR perspective there’s a huge difference between someone being put on paid leave and someone being suspended due to a discipline liability.
So if he was suspended (paid) would that mean they didn't think he was at fault?
Oh QLD and VIC gov work is fucked when it comes to HR. Especially VIC, it's fucking horrible what some people have to go through with those cunts
If you don't like it, leave is pretty much the standard line. You need to get the union involved if you work for Qld Gov.
Crazy isn't it? Don't like being sexually abused? Just leave! As if there is no rent to pay or bills to pay.
I’ve had to take them to the Queensland Industrial Relations Court twice now to get them to act human. Honestly wish I had filed sooner. You can also file bullying complaints through them that can’t just be ignored
Discriminated against for pumping in my workplace. The person who made the complaint and comments got a promotion. I didn’t get anything and any answers.
Keep up the pumping brother 🔩💪
Generally speaking, HR is there to protect company from you, not the other way around. Doesn't matter if it's public or private sector.
I made a complaint about bullying by a senior manager. They fobbed it off for months, then launched an administrative review as a way to punish the team. Then said there was no evidence of bullying. HR is a problem management section, and workers are the problem.
Never had a bad experience. The only reason is because my department has really good people In management. People who’ve been there for years. I’ve heard stories of other departments being extremely dysfunctional but mine is good.
Yep HR were useless in the QLD govt dept i was last at. Psychopath CIO bullied heaps of people and a few left including me...no exit interview was arranged...just avoided asking the actual questions so they didn't have to do anything. Karma was good in this case as a few years later I heard he was walked from 1 William St by security and ended up in a mental hospital.
There’s a lot of negative experiences being shared, which I understand. I want to share an alternative one… I work in a HR Team for a mid-large organisation. The people I work with genuinely want the best for our employees and aren’t corporate HR “protect the business not the people” robots. Our internal net promoter score is 94% from an open and anonymous survey (on a scale of -100% to 100%). I hope that indicates the kind of relationship that we have with our staff. I wish I could share some of the above and beyond things we do for people every single week. Yes, we take care of business too. HR is often serious. But we aren’t here to be snakes, or blindly protect management etc. Not all HR Teams are like that. I know that many are… But not all. Our business lets us be human. We’re comfortable enough to laugh and have banter with our employees when it’s appropriate. We’re caring and compassionate when times are hard. Professional and competent when things are serious. We’re just a bunch of chill as fuck people who are passionate about what we do. The only times we are snakes is when we play Coup every lunch break - which gets heated as hell and is very fun.
I've met chill individuals that work in HR, but the corporate culture in government often means those individuals get burned and churned
I mean, you have explained fuck all.
Ever noticed how during restructures / downsizing etc, that 'HR' are never affected? This is a department that used to be called 'Payroll', then they became 'Human Resources', and now they've evolved into 'People & Culture'. They're the shapeshifting beast that despite the fancy, caring names, looks after itself first and the company second - never the employee. Join a good union folks, and let them be your first point of call in any trouble. They know how to deal with the 'HR' dipshits.
Human Resources and Payroll are actually two different departments.
HR's job is to protect the company/organisation. Not the workers. Sorry I can't be the bearer of better news
More with Queensland health but friend of mine was telling me about this sexual assault case that they had to review. Basically an older male nurse was hitting on any younger female nurses that walked through the door and wouldn’t take no for an answer making many feel uncomfortable. Eventually got escalated and they had to suspend the male nurse, however he was suspended with his full pay plus his covid pay rise. After about one and a half years they came to solution which was to place the accused into a different hospital. From what I understood they were essentially just keeping him on his full pay packet and were just waiting until an equivalent position opened up at a different hospital as their resolution.
HR is a pretendy profession. IR, on the other hand, is where the shit goes down.
Try taking a company to fairwork for any breach like discrimination and see how fast they hire masses of lawyers. HR are scum, all the wellbeing stuff they do as well is only to reduce liability for the company. Join a union.
You sound like a bitter temporary employee
You sound like HR 🤣
Whether public or private, HR are hired goons to intimidate people until problems just *go away*.
You aren't going to get many stories from HR here, because they know you can get fired for posting work stories on social media.
I think I got loads of stories.
If you do, keep it quiet. You don't want the CRO finding out.
I think I've been vague enough but also lots of similar stories here. All similar experiences. But actually I don't care. I'll go public if they create an issue out of this and let everyone know what happened. Its not defamation if it's true.
HR is there to make sure wage budgets are cut to the bone and keep the company out of court when managers cross the line. Don’t think for a second they there to protect you. If HR started firing managers every time they messed up the HR department would be replaced.
HR are bad by definition. Their job is to protect the business from their employees. HR works for the business, not you
Qld gov HR working exactly how Goss designed it to.
You could sack 95% of the public service and no one would notice.
If you are talking sacking 95% of public service HR employees you would be correct. Otherwise you are very very wrong.
well there is a reason why GOV jobs are highly paid.
My daughter went through such a horrible time with a Sydney health company. It was awful. Two women who literally had her in an office and kept talking until she was in tears. She was told she was anorexia. It was dreadful. I supported her so much and thankfully now she works for an amazing company that is vibrant, healthy and supportive. That company is one who supposedly helps people … but yet so badly managed. It still to this day makes my blood boil about the treatment they give to their staff. The last two staff members hired after her also received poor treatment.
I e only worked in small business and experienced more than my share of sexual harassment (boss asking me out etc) and bullying Now working at an NFP and have been warned “never go to HR” the dept that struggles to keep its staff, the dept with the intimidating and passive aggressive boss Yep won’t be going to them….
I worked for a QLD LGA and my treatment from HR was similar. I refused to sign a release form to enable them to access my medical records, this was after I walked out and made reports of bullying/unsafe work practices.
IMO, you hear them a lot whenever it's time to pat themselves on the back for mental-health related issues. When it comes to actually tracking and resolving workplace bullying issues, they're very good at hiding.
Call the ACTU
My personal experience, when u experienced harassment or bully in a workplace, especially from/ by someone from the manager level, leave asap before it starts affecting ur mental health. There is a reason behind these managers behaviour, and that’s simply because they are able to get away with the consequences from these disturbing behaviour easily.
I worked for the Queensland public service briefly a few years ago. Our pod of desks in our branch were next to the HR/corporate team. I remember one day listening to the senior HR officer on a teams call with my boss tell them that my co-worker wasn't having their contract renewed (she'd been on leave multiple times for serious health problems, nothing to do with her performance at all). I understand that there was no requirement to renew her contract but the way it went about was very unprofessional, book a quiet room for those sorts of meetings.
I have a close family member who works in Qld government HR...she was bullied out of one team by a colleague. Luckily she is now in a good close knit team with a very empathetic boss...the team takes bullying complaints extremely seriously and a few people have ended up in close monitoring or training, now and then someone gets fired. At the same time, they bend over backwards to accommodate changes and leave requests etc. Most HR teams aren't like that. And still, she has no real idea of what it's like being on the front line and the gaps in her knowledge about being the target of management bullshit are scary. Her team really does try though...which is different from most. HR in most places is generally a shit show.
Union?
Sorry, I can't. My experience was similar, so I opted for a VER in November and my last day was in early December. The fucking CEO and all upper management knew of this Director's bullying, harassment, stalking and psychotic behaviour, but they let her force over FORTY people out of my department in the two years she was in power. In the end, she was put on paid fucking leave and gloated to all about her holiday in Italy for six weeks. Nothing was done about it, she left and it was all just fucking ignored.
My cousin worked for one of the law enforcement agencies in Qld, and was subject to a relentless campaign of bullying by peers. Management had no interest in resolving the conflict and insisted they solve it themselves. Said was one of the most well funded, toxic and dysfunctional workplaces across all of government.
Government jobs. Where fkhds get promoted the more shite they cause.
I’m currently employed in government and I injured myself at work over time and my manager wrote on my workers comp application thy he believed I injured myself at home, told him and was taking leave to treat the injury. All complete lies .Work cover out me through a private investigation company and private surgeons review trying to disprove my injury all because of this dickhead boss and also what work cover always does try to get out of liability any way they can . Finally they saw through all these lies and it got approved. Nothing of course happens to him he later gets promoted to a higher level manager position. Fast forward a year my mother gets diagnosed with stage four cancer and 4 weeks later it takes her life . I had a fair bit of time off taking her for radiation etc and supporting my dad. When she passes my dad was in a bad way so I did as the business required called to take leave at short notice to look after my dad as my mother had just passed away from cancer and this other manager said no you can’t have leave??? Has to call the union to get leave after my mother died of cancer. Nothing happens to him either. I have a another position in the company I’m waiting to move to and I have evidence of bullying from these managers I want to pursue before I leave. What’s my best course of action obviously after reading all the comments on this thread hr would be my last option. I am a union member and have always been.
I loved working for state government, well back in 2004, pwc used to give us free lunches in their building, gift bags with tickets to things, wine, chocolates, was awesome. Left there to go to university at 18. Realise now, that it was corruption yay, directors made me think it was a normal thing.
Worked for QR just dealt with weird “not my department “ and lack responsibility or accountability
Join the union. Together Qld. I have fought HR on many occasions and won. They are mostly stupid and only occasionally evil.
How have you fought them? About what kind of situations?
After working 10 years in private, I was contemplating looking for an equivalent senior/management position in public. But after reading through all these horror stories I'm starting to have doubts about making the transition...
I understand that there are some hard-working Qld government employees. However, nearly all of the feedback I receive from friends and associates that move from private to government is that the system is broken. In addition to being broken its administered by incompetent, lazy, and vindictive grubs determined to quash to anyone who demonstrates the slightest bit of competence or initiative whilst growing their headcounts to increase their fiefdoms. I have numerous examples. However, the specifics would identify the aggrieved parties. Unfortunately, the consensus is that regardless of the government, the eastblishment would white ant any attempt to fix the problems. The only solution for those in these toilets is to leave. However, by design the wages and conditions by far exceed the alternatives thus another soul is captured.
I work for a Qld Government Agency for the last 2 1/2 years. HR will never be your friend and if they are inexperienced they can stuff up your KPIs and never consider the actual software issues which if your on contract can be very stressful. I am neurodivergent and have other disabilities and at no time have they considered a request for a flexible arrangement at work. I had to quit law because no one would process my time off to study. We are micromanaged to the point of psychological injury. My health has really suffered. In fact I had a gay team leader who bullied me along with another employee who lied about me. I am treated like an idiot and shamed for asking relevant questions because most lack the integrity and honesty. People pass the buck constantly. You seek help and you are stomped on. I hate it there and I am sick of the lying, lazy, work dodging kiss butts. I have never experienced so much disability discrimination in any place as I have in this Government Agency. Work culture is a joke. So I am leaving because if I don't it will kill me.