(None of them involve death😊)

Having a Micromanager as a boss can be a great source of frustration and impact your day-to-day working life. We have all had to work for one or more at some stage of our careers and if you haven’t yet then you probably will eventually.

You know the type, they try to control every aspect of the work, no matter how small, leading their employees to feel distrusted, disrespected, and dissatisfied. This can end up negatively affecting your mental wellbeing and productivity, and sometimes you resign as a result.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! With some careful attention and action, you can improve your work situation. I wanted to share some strategies with you on how to have a productive working relationship with a micromanaging boss.

1: Understanding the Triggers
People may micromanage for several reasons and may not even realise they’re doing it, so the first thing you should try to do is understand why they’re MM you. Your manager may lack confidence, be under stress or have had a previous employee situation where there were some trust issues. It could simply be a personality trait, often individuals with strong planning and organisational tendencies find it difficult to delegate. They find it hard to trust that someone else can do the job as well as them, or within the timeframe that they expect.

It might be difficult, but if you try to understand the triggers for their MM then you’ll be better equipped to deal with the situation.

2: Build Trust
Trust is key to any healthy relationship, be it personal or professional. But when a MM boss is concerned it becomes crucial. As mentioned above, a common reason someone will micromanage their employees is because they struggle to trust them, regardless of whether they’ve done something to jeopardise this trust or not.

You need to earn trust by demonstrating it to your manager that you’re on top of things, ensuring that tasks are completed on time and notifying them when there are delays. Keeping your manager informed about the progress of your work can do wonders for the situation. Sometimes building a personal relationship can also contribute to improving trust between two parties.

3: Open dialogue about the situation
MM can often have a very negative effect on employees, causing low morale, lack of confidence, stifled creativity and a general loss of independence and freedom. But often managers don’t even realise how their behaviour is affecting their employees. If you feel like your boss’s MM tendencies are impacting your ability to fulfil your role to the best of your ability, then it might pay to address the issue in a sensitive and discreet manner.

Explain politely how their behaviour makes you feel and have some specific examples on hand. You might want to explain that you’re more fulfilled at work when you feel empowered and can work independently. Done respectfully, having this conversation could really improve your situation.

4: Establish boundaries and expectations
As part of the conversation above it may be useful to establish further clarity on the role responsibilities and expectations of both parties so that there is no misinterpretation. What’s more it is good to talk about your communication, expected communication time frames, methods, and channels then there is less need for managers to be constantly checking in.

5: Keep communication open
If all these strategies help and you find your situation greatly improved, don’t become complacent. Continue to be proactive and talk to your boss, to make sure that they’re happy with your output and avoid things slipping back to how they were. If your manager wants to be informed regularly then set up a regular communication channel to keep them informed before they need to ask.

When it comes to workplace relationships, as with personal relationships, you shouldn’t expect to change things overnight. But by establishing and maintaining open, honest communication, setting boundaries, and understanding the drivers for the controlling behaviour, you can work toward improving your working relationship. This can provide benefits to both you and your boss.

Resume? Done. Application? Complete. SEEK and LinkedIn profile is updated, and you have double check the job description…. but there is one last question. Where does your volunteer experience fit into all of this? How can you leverage your volunteering experience to show your skills in a way hirers will understand and help you land the role you want?

Research performed by SEEK has discovered valuable insights that can help convert a candidate’s volunteer experience into real skills, experience, and values for a role in a workplace.

Volunteer experience is valued experience
One of the key elements of any job interview or application is the “Experience” section. Traditionally, the less work experience that a person has, the less hirers know about their qualities, and more resources may need to be expended (training them up, the potential for making mistakes).

However, the research showed that there is a positive hiring attitude toward volunteering, with 75% of hiring staff agreeing volunteer experience is an advantage in a job interview. This means that hiring managers don’t just consider paid experience to be the only valid route into a job. Your volunteer experience also counts. Volunteering can help develop transferable skills, which hiring managers rank as the highest selection criteria for career change and entry level workers.

Hiring managers are looking to add value to their workplace, and the research found that they prioritise three main selection criteria: cultural fit, professional capabilities, and soft skills. Hiring managers also value what volunteering shows: a caring nature and a willingness to help, as well as a focus on good culture, determination, and commitment.

Key Points:

Volunteering is a great way to start to build transferable skills, while gaining soft skills

Hiring managers look for candidates with a combination of cultural fit, professional capabilities, and soft skills

Frame your volunteer experience in an easy-to-understand way.

How to speak about your volunteer experience
To make the most of your volunteer experience, its important to convey your learnings in a way that clearly shows their value, while also directly addressing the job description and application criteria. If we can’t see how, it will help or support your application, it isn’t as impactful.

You can speak about:

What was gained through volunteering and how these skills apply to the job

Why you decided to volunteer, to help hirers understand more about you as a person

How long you volunteered for, which can demonstrate your commitment

You can always speak to your volunteer experience during an interview, and on your resume, your volunteer experience should be clear and succinct. You can reference it in your covering letter but keep it after paid work. Keep your description short, informative, and relevant.

Key Points:

Framing your volunteer experience in the relevant context of the role you’re applying for is an important part of your job application

You need to communicate the value of your volunteering, so that the hiring manager can recognise how you can fit into their workplace

Successfully articulating your volunteer experience is a great way to put your best foot forward with 82% of hiring managers agreeing that volunteering can be a credible way to get real-work experience.

So, you’ve landed a new job, handed in your notice, and you’re about to start packing- when your boss calls you in and offers you a pay rise if you’ll stay. What do you do?

You might have heard it a lot lately-it’s a job seekers market right now. There are huge demands for workers in many sectors in many sectors, so it could be a great time to be exploring your options and applying for new roles.

But what if your current employer puts forward a counteroffer- that is, better pay or conditions to keep your current job. Do you stay or do you go?

Why employers make counter offers
Workplace culture expert Jade Lee says its understandable for organisations to make counter offers because they don’t want to lose valuable employees. Organisations are coming to realise that they can’t easily replace you in this market and not in the notice period and quite often they’re worried about the workload and what that means for the existing staff.

In the short term, it can possibly work for the employer. But now you know that you were being paid less than the company was willing to pay for a period, and this can also lead to resentment.

Why you might like to rethink that offer
One quarter of people report that they have been made a counteroffer at some stage, research at SEEK shows. But accepting such an offer may be more of a quick fix than a strategic move. In fact, 70% of people who accepted a counteroffer left that employer within a year. It might not have anything to do with salary, it could be the culture/environment of the organisation that is leaving you dissatisfied and in my experience no amount of money they throw at you will fix that-the problems that were will still be there.

When a counteroffer might work
A counteroffer can be the answer to your problem in some circumstances though, but those parameters are narrow. There can be some benefits to accepting a counteroffer if you are generally happy with the company. If the only reason you were leaving was because the company couldn’t meet your financial goals, then a counteroffer can solve this missing piece. But as I highlighted above if your current employer only offers more money and doesn’t address other concerns you have with your position, this could be a problem.

Money will not sustain someone long term if there are other factors, like no progression or problematic workplace relationships, that are contributing to you wanting to look elsewhere.

We see it all the time in our capacity as recruiters I had a young accountant who was treated badly by his partners in a firm. He felt undervalued, burnt out and taken for granted. I was absolutely flabbergasted when he turned down a role that he had accepted, for a $10K counteroffer and a corner office at his original firm no less. Six months later I get the call from him he was ready to finally make a permanent move, as nothing had changed, and the extra money had become meaningless.

Using a job offer as leverage
If you’re planning on using a job offer to encourage a counteroffer from your current employer, you’re not alone. Only half according to SEEK who accepted a counteroffer intended on changing jobs rather than using it as leverage.

So, while a counteroffer may seem flattering, and the extra money or perks can be tempting, it may not address the reasons you started looking around in the first place. So, before you start looking around for something new its much better to address concerns with your manager proactively, prior to looking for other work. If the concerns are not addressed at that point, they’re unlikely to be addressed once an offer is on the table. Then it might be time for a fresh start.

Jackie first registered with PP in 2008 and has received this award numerous times, we love having her on the temp team, she continually receives glowing references. Congratulations Jacks you are the most friendly and professional person and ALWAYS so reliable representing team PP. Thanks you.

Just a couple of responses we have had about Jackie from host employers in the last month.

‘’After one week with Jackie in the office, all of us would like to say: Jackie is so amazing! Thank you for arranging Jackie to help us in such a special and busy time”

“I am very impressed with Jackie. Jackie has fitted in well with the other team members and whilst she has only been here a short time, it is obvious that she has a very strong work ethic”

Today if a Biz wants to snag top talent (and keep the staff they already have) they’re having to get savvier with the benefits they offer. Here are some to cast your eyes over.

1.      No set hours
With work emails on our phones and deadlines keeping many of us working at all hours both inside and outside the office, the concept of a nine-to five workday is outdated. Entertainment company Netflix decided to do away with set hours and give their employees “Freedom and Responsibility”. Their argument is that if you do the work, you don’t need to clock standard hours.

2.      Unlimited annual leave (gotta say I’m a fan of this) within reason though
Now although I think Richard Branson is (we call him Ricardo in our family, but in a derogatory tone😊) a douche (I’m allowed to have my opinions people) he introduced an unlimited annual leave for all Virgin Employees. His thought was if work hours aren’t being logged, why should our holidays? So, he allows salaried staff to take time off whenever they want for as long as they want, and they don’t have to get approval or keep track of their days away. The only condition is that employees must only take leave when their team is up to date on projects and when their absence won’t damage the business.

3.      Chef-prepared breakfast and lunch, plus free fitness memberships
Design and publishing company Canva, offer fully catered meals each day. Canva’s focus on happy and healthy people doesn’t end there, staff also get access to free memberships at a range of fitness studios as well as “vibe and thrive” allowance to spend on their wellbeing however they wish.

4.      $2,000 referral bonus
Companies are only as valuable as their people, so it makes sense that any help finding their new excellent employee is rewarded. It is not uncommon for companies to offer rewards for successful referrals, but software development company Atlassian goes a step further and offers an incredible $2,000 bonus for anyone who refers someone for a permanent, full-time position.

5.      A support network
SEEK has a great SEEKer Support service to look after its peoples mental and physical wellbeing. It is a confidential service that offers SEEK employees up to three complimentary sessions with an external professional of their choice. Whether they need support to manage or cope with a personal or work-related issue and is available 24/7.

6.      Annual travel credit
Online marketplace Airbnb gives all its employees an annual travel credit to use anywhere in the world. It’s a smart way of making sure their workers actively engage in the product and it also encourages their employees to take time off and travel.

7.      100-seat theatre and games room
Many companies say they “work hard and play hard”, but how many can live up to that claim? A company called “Interactive” does, the IT company provides its employees with purpose-built entertainment facilities including a games room where table tennis showdowns are a regular feature, lots of social spaces for staff to hang out, and even a 100-seat theatre where sporting events are televised.

Now not all companies have the budgets to provide some of the benefits the big boys are offering but it does open your eyes to what could be but also that not all benefits are monetary in form. In fact, the potential to offer something of value aside from money is only limited by the individual employer’s imagination it seems.

Just a quick note to say have a very safe and Happy Easter. The Peninsula Personnel office will be closed on the following public holidays:

• Friday the 15th of April for Good Friday
• Monday the 18th of April for Easter
• Monday the 25 of April for ANZAC Day

If you require support please email info@peninsulapersonnel.com.au and we will respond as soon as possible on the following business day.

If your problem is urgent you can call the office and dial 1 for Lisa, leave a message and we will endeavour to address your problem.

Have a wonderful long weekend.
The Team @ PP  

Murilo it is wonderful to hear you’re enjoying the job and the people are nice and helpful, and that you’re happy working with our client whilst learning new skills and getting more experience. The host client agrees, telling us “Murilo truly deserves this award and recognition, I really appreciate his work skills and overall work ethic, Murilo is one of our key team members”. Well done and congratulations from the Peninsula Personnel team.

At any given time, there is a proportion of the population over the age of 15 who are not working. Some want to work, while others do not. Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that earlier this year the proportion of that population grew to a size that has several economists sounding alarm bells.

There are two possible reasons that millions of Australians are on the workforce sidelines. The first is the “system” actively pushes people out of the jobs market. The second is that its simply too soul-destroying being unemployed, as the ABS defines it, for months or even years on end.

In Feb 2021 the stats revealed 2.2 million were not employed and wanted to work and that was long after the first lockdown and before the even longer second lockdown. Of those 2.2 million, 808,000 were looking for work. This is the group that falls under the accepted definition of “unemployed”.

But the data also reveals 1.81 million did not look for work. That is, there were more than a million Australians who were not in work, could work and wanted to work, but did not look for a job. Also, over three quarters of these candidates were available to start immediately or within four weeks.

The numbers raise a critical question: what’s stopping folks who are perfectly willing and able to land a job from finding work?

Life Gets in the Way
A key reason many Australians are finding themselves on the jobs market sidelines is simply because they’re too busy with life or study. Unemployed graduates make up a big chunk of the group.

Why People aren’t looking for work | Reason & Statistic

• Attending an educational institution: 223,000
• Childcare: 127,600
• Family commitments/Caring: 176,000
• Discouraged Job Seekers: 103,000
• Ill Health/Injury or disability: 110,000
• Had a job to go to or return to: 68,400
• Other: 52,300

It still takes a graduate on average 2.6 years to find their first full time job, they might still be living at home making decisions on whether they undertake further post graduate studies or they’re taking part in other forms of work, as they patch their way into full-time. But childcare is also proving a sticking point and mostly for women. Parents must weigh up the benefits of receiving income from paid work compared to the cost of having their children in day-care for one, two or five days per week.

Fed Up with Looking
It’s possible the reasons mentioned so far don’t come as a shock to you but the next reason many are finding themselves out of the job market is more disturbing. Have you ever stopped to consider what’s required of you to receive unemployment benefits from the government? The process has the potential to be gruelling and soul-destroying. The whole 20 jobs a month you must apply for a year or more and the impact that has on self-esteem and just your view of yourself.

Those who find themselves out of work have, on average, three months to land a new job before the likelihood of finding more work falls dramatically. Beyond three months there’s a drop, beyond six months there’s another one and beyond 12 months your chance of being employed is halved.

This can be due to prejudice from employers who will wonder about the gaps in your resume as the further we move away from lockdown, the less inclined they will be willing to accept that as a reason for your lack of employment.

Opting Out Altogether
Many Australians decide to go without payments from Centrelink, they could be delving into savings, be independently wealthy or simply come from a dual income family where their partner is the main bread winner so don’t have the pressure to find something straight away or if at all. Some have made excellent investments over the years, own multiple rental properties or have extended family to help support them.

In other words, economists say the data points to an extraordinary number of Australians who are educated, skilled up and have financial resources to draw from, who are waiting for the right job to come along.

But we’re still missing something.

There’s a separate group of people who economists say have been punished by what they describe as a harsh unemployment welfare system. They argue that unemployment benefits act as a disincentive, or an impediment, to finding work. For example, a job candidate without any savings to draw on is going to find it challenging buying a new shirt for an interview, or even travelling a long distance to get to that interview.

Our system now doesn’t support people to get back to work in any meaningful way.

The “Actual” Unemployment rate
Is it fair to spruik Australia’s unemployment rate as “the lowest in 12 years”? Research house Roy Morgan has its own measure of unemployment. In addition to those who were unemployed, 1.18 million Australians (8.2% of the workforce) were under-employed- working part-time but looking for more work. The same figures and referenced an underutilisation rate-which combines the unemployment rate with the underemployment rate- at over 20%.

The official unemployment rate is just the tip of the iceberg, underneath that iceberg is a great chasm of people falling behind in the labour market that’s failing to put them into jobs. As for the headline rate, Roy Morgan has an Australian unemployment rate of 9.5%. Unlike the ABS Roy Morgan counts all those who want to work, rather than just those actively looking for a job, as unemployed, explaining the much higher figure.

We know job seekers have been opting out of the jobs market recently, but we’ve assumed, haven’t we, that many of these people don’t want to work? Even before it became physically challenging to look for work, it appears millions of Australians just itching for a chance to contribute to working life were either forced back into joblessness by the system or found work and life too difficult to juggle. It is clear though that Australia has a considerable untapped capacity.

Happy birthday to us! Thank you, current clients, temps, suppliers, long term candidates and internal staff who have equally played a huge role in Peninsula Personnel celebrating 27 years in business on the beaches, especially throughout the past 2 tumultuous years. As we look to the future, we continue to work hard in helping local companies find local staff.  

Hi everyone! Hope you’re all well (not too waterlogged) from these heavy rains we have been having. Welcome to another edition of Tips, we hope you find them useful and make sure you check out the Positions on the Peninsula at the bottom to keep you up to date on what roles are available through our agency.

We have noted a bit of a shift in employee expectations around hybrid models of work. Many of us have been working at home during the pandemic, and you might be hoping for those flexible working options to become permanent.

However, it’s possible your manager might be keen for you to return to the office full-time. Interestingly over 54% of employees say their organisation is offering hybrid working arrangements (survey conducted by Seek) but over a third (35%) say their employer hasn’t offered any support to transition into hybrid working.

Keep in mind that flexibility and hybrid working should matter to employers, too. As more companies adopt it, there is a risk to the employer brand for the companies that don’t. Research has found that 30% of employees say their workload has increased since working from home (as the hours they might have spent commuting are generally now spent online) and 37% of Managers believe their teams have been more productive.

But plenty of workers have missed the social connection and the buffer between work and home life. Many have missed having the “disconnect” between work and home they had when they commuted. The face to face and spontaneous interactions are gone and they do play a significant role in who you are as a team and, for many of us, are contributors to why we love our work. This is where the combination of home and office work-or hybrid work- fits in.

Before approaching your Boss, plan your conversation so you’re clear on what it is you’re asking if you want to explore Hybrid models.

Think about your role and be realistic: Can your role even be conducted remotely? Keep in mind that some roles-such as an office coordinator or reception role-sometimes can’t be performed effectively if they’re entirely remote.

Highlight the Benefits: Explain the benefits of working remotely, and how you might overcome any obstacles you’ve already identified

Outline the structure of your days: Be clear about which days you would like to work remotely, explain how your days at home will be structured in a practical sense, and whether every week will have the same structure

Explain how you will be contactable: Reassure your boss that you’ll be responsive via phone, email or through your organisations messaging system. Everyone needs to be on the same page about reasonable contact ability and responsiveness. Its important the whole team and key stakeholders understand how to contact each other so there aren’t impacts to deliverables.

Suggest a trial period: If your manager is unsure about hybrid working, suggest a trial period. A trial is great for both parties because you can see how its working and review it.

Questions your manager might ask: Your manager believes you’ll be less productive at home- explain how you’ve maintained the same productivity during the pandemic and give examples of specific tasks if you can back that up. There are plenty of ways your manager can monitor output such as daily phone calls/messaging/virtual meetings. Give your manager regular updates as your day progresses.

Your manager thinks you will be distracted at home: Employees are generally more productive at home because there are fewer distractions (except for home schooling and the day care drop off). There are viewer incidental interruptions at home, with none of the office social chats leaving more focus time in general.

Your manager is concerned about the impact on team culture: Research does suggest that 52% of managers are concerned about their team’s culture because of hybrid working. Technology offers plenty of opportunities to connect with the team. You could suggest ideas for weekly team activities such as a Zoom/Teams lunch meeting, team trivia or end of week drinkipoos so you stay connected. You could also suggest a dedicated office day where everyone is there on the same day at least once a week.

Working from home suits some of us well, and if you’re keen to continue or move towards hybrid working, talking to your manager is the first step. Take the time to think about exactly what you want, and how it will work in a practical sense so your boss is confident it will work.