Hello!
I have been busy compiling your favourite workplace newsletter – a combination of things you need to know and things that will make you laugh out loud.
In this issue there’s a workplace trend, news snippets, cases, and sage advice in the “Dear Jen” column.
And of course, I share my recommendations for your viewing pleasure.
I hope this newsletter brings you some wisdom and joy!
Cheers,
Jen
What trend am I seeing across the workplace world?
The side hustle has gone mainstream.
According to the latest ABS data, more than one million Australians now have more than one job – a record 6.9% of employed people.
For employers, the issue isn’t whether employees should be allowed to earn money elsewhere. It’s what happens when the side hustle competes with the business, affects performance or starts borrowing customers, confidential information or paid working time.
A blanket ban isn’t the answer. Clear expectations and an early conversation about genuine conflicts usually will be.
Take-Out Point: What employees do after hours isn’t always none of your business.
See: ABS – Multiple job-holders, June 2026
Buzzword of the Week: Prompt-block
Writer’s block’s AI-age successor. Prompt-block is when you sit staring at an AI tool. Unable to articulate what you want it to do. Your mind goes blank. You type something. Delete it. Type something worse. Delete that too.
Twenty minutes later you’ve produced nothing and quietly accept you could have just done the thing yourself. The robots were supposed to save us time. Nobody mentioned how much time we’d spend trying to talk to them.
Job of the Week: Professional Line Stander
In the US there are people who get paid to stand in a queue. That’s it. That’s the job. Companies will dispatch a human being to hold your spot – for concerts, product launches, even the Supreme Court. One line stander’s longest gig was 138 hours. Standing. In a line.
Take-Out Point: Patience has a market rate. Boredom, it turns out, is billable.
See: Professional line-standing becomes growing business as Americans seek to skip waits
Draft Legislation to Ban Non-Compete Clauses for Most Workers
The Federal Government has released draft legislation to ban non-compete clauses for employees earning below the Fair Work Act high-income threshold, currently $190,100 per year. Submissions close 2 October 2026 and the reforms are intended to start in 2027.
The Government is also consulting on banning co-worker non-solicitation clauses, no-poach and wage-fixing arrangements, and cascading restraint of trade clauses and considering appropriate exemptions and safeguards to protect legitimate business interests.
Take-Out Point: The whole restraint clause is in play, not just the non-compete. Check your confidentiality, IP, client non-solicitation and garden leave provisions when you review your employment contracts.
See: Government to ban non-compete clauses for most Australian workers
and: Opening the door to better and higher paying jobs: banning unfair non-competes
Victorian Government’s Work-From-Home Bill Sent to Committee Review
The Victorian Government’s proposed legislation to make working from home two days a week a right for eligible employees has been referred to a Select Committee. The Committee is due to report by 20 October.
The Equal Opportunity Amendment (Work from Home) Bill 2026 would apply to workers whose roles can reasonably be done from home. The Government offered amendments to narrow its scope – including restricting it to Victoria-based staff and allowing employers to pause or revoke arrangements – but business groups maintained the legislation was fundamentally flawed.
With Victoria’s November elections approaching, the Government faces a tight deadline to progress the Bill.
Take-Out Point: The Bill is not law. Watch its progress before changing policies in response to the proposal. Existing flexible working obligations still apply.
See: Victoria’s work-from-home bill stalls as businesses claim ‘victory’
CASE YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
Overseas Worker’s General Protections Application Dismissed
FWC President Justice Adam Hatcher has signalled that the general protections may reach further offshore than most people assume. A Philippines-based manager, engaged there to work for the regional headquarters of an Australian outsourcing group, was dismissed at the end of his probation period and lodged a general protections claim.
Justice Hatcher inferred that an Australian company was the employer, the group having failed to show that its Philippine regional headquarters had a legal identity separate from its Australian parent. The man was not, however, an “Australian-based employee” within the meaning of the Act, because his contract was formed in the Philippines and his duties were performed there. Following Federal Court authority, the protections extend offshore only where the employer is Australian and the employee is Australian-based. He met the first limb but not the second, so the application was dismissed. Justice Hatcher’s own preferred reading was that either limb would be enough, but he followed the court.
Take-Out Point: The definition of an Australian-based employee turns on where the contract was formed as well as where the work is done, so an employee sitting overseas will not always fall outside it. An Australian business with staff offshore should not assume the Fair Work Act stops at the border.
See: Jeffrey Asuncion v ConnectOS Pty Ltd and Ors (C2025/7255)
27 September – World Tourism Day. A UN-sanctioned reminder that travel broadens the mind. Also a reminder that your annual leave balance is not a savings account. Use it.
28 September – International Day for Universal Access to Information. A noble cause. Unless you work somewhere that still cannot tell staff when the aircon will be fixed.
1 October – World Vegetarian Day. Respect to every vegetarian who has survived a workplace barbecue armed with nothing but a bread roll and coleslaw. Your resilience is noted.
1 October – International Coffee Day. If your employer stocks instant, that is not a coffee problem. That is your employer telling you how the next salary review is going to go.
2 October – World Smile Day. Science says smiling reduces stress. Science (probably) also says that forced smiling during an excessively long Teams meeting causes stress.
Have you recently promoted a high-performing employee and want to support them to step up and succeed in their new role?
Are you hiring for a critical role and know the cost of getting it wrong is far greater than the recruitment fee?
Do you have a complex workplace situation and need a calm, experienced professional to coach an employee who may not fully recognise the impact of their behaviour, support a team through tension, or address a sensitive issue before it escalates?
This is where Deborah adds real value.
With more than 30 years of HR leadership and executive coaching experience, Deborah combines strong commercial judgment with a practical, human approach to help leaders make better decisions, build stronger teams and deliver results.
Deborah is someone you can bring in when the stakes are high, and you want more than advice; you want clarity, traction and a better outcome.
Contact Deborah: deborah@jenniferbicknell.com.au | 0419 203 600
Or Jennifer Bicknell: jen@jenniferbicknell.com.au | 0411 275 920
Dear Jen,
I recently started a new job and discovered that the only coffee provided in the office kitchen is instant.
Not even the good instant.
Everyone else seems to have accepted this, but I’m struggling. Is this something I should raise with my employer, or do I just buy my own coffee and get over it?
Cheers,
Grounds for Complaint
Dear Grounds for Complaint,
If you like the job, enjoy the people and otherwise think you’ve landed in a good workplace, I’d let this one go. Buy your own coffee and save your workplace battles for something that matters.
Not every irritation needs to become an issue, and sometimes the most useful workplace skill is knowing what not to raise.
However, if you live in Victoria, I understand that instant coffee may be a deal breaker. I withdraw everything I’ve just said.
Cheers,
Jen
Slow Horses (Apple TV) is back. Gary Oldman returns as the magnificently revolting Jackson Lamb, leading MI5’s collection of spies whose career mistakes have landed them in Slough House. Clever, funny, tense and wonderfully British. Compulsory viewing.
Furious (Disney+) has an FBI agent hunting a female serial killer who has her own ideas about justice. Dark, clever and occasionally very funny, it quickly becomes less about catching the killer and more about wondering whose side you’re actually on. (The goodies… obviously).
Last Seen (Apple TV) gives us the very welcome opportunity to see more of Patrick Brammall, fresh from Colin from Accounts. He plays a former detective whose daughter disappeared 11 years ago and who becomes convinced that a teenage girl calling Triple Zero is her. Stressful but fabulous.
Dalliance (Paramount+) brings together Hugo Weaving, Heather Mitchell, Georgie Parker and David Wenham for a very grown-up Australian relationship drama. One chance encounter on a Sydney Harbour ferry sets off a spectacular mess of marriages, friendships, secrets and second chances. Turns out being in your 60s does not necessarily mean anyone has worked anything out.
Call My Agent! The Movie (Netflix) reunites the chaotic gang from the French series five years after we left them. Andréa is now directing her first film, her leading man quits days before shooting and the old team is called back into action. If you loved the series, this feels like catching up with old friends who remain spectacularly incapable of having uncomplicated lives. They are French after all…
