Culture at Services Australia

Happy with setup

Depending, some team are very sociable and some are not.

My team in the Communications Division is amazing, they organise lunches and morning teas, they check up on peoples wellbeing and they celebrate birthdays. They are quick to help and again, very accepting to people who are new and perhaps don't know as much about how things are done - overall, my company's culture from inside this team is one of support and friendliness.

Almost no after work social events, which can be a plus for some. Overtime is usually fairly well regulated, so whilst some teams might feel pressure to work overtime, and some (very few) managers might apply that pressure, generally that isn't the case. Service officers feel a lot of pressure to be always on, so work through breaks, but they are also given the ability for rostered days off. However, decisions have to be escalated through many levels of the hierarchy before something can be approved, so it can be quite forboding to request flexible work arrangements, or in some cases, even leave. Many managers have the work first, human second approach, with no trust in their team. Hence very structured rosters of breaks and phone time are applied, and it can be quite difficult. There is often an environment of competition as well, especially with service officers, as advancement is often talked about but in reality can be quite difficult to achieve (due to budget constraints, the need to keep talented people in their service jobs, that multiple escalation of decision factor).

My team is lovely, and some others in front of house but outside them it does not feel as supportive or friendly

Supportive and helpful workplace culture.

Inconsistent approach to flexible work depending on the team you work in.

Depending on what area you work in and what office you are in. Devonport, TAS Service Centre with FOH and BOH, has a positive work environment, and engaging health and wellbeing committee.

I do not socialise with colleagues culture at work is friendly and supportive relations between teams is difficult- work and teams are very isolated from each other

The company culture favours the top of the company over those who are at entry level.

There is not much of an after-hours culture which is fine by me. I get along well with my current team in P&I however I felt left out of my original team in TDP. In my first team I was occasionally left out of both social and work related activities/meetings which left me disconnected and often with not a lot of work or support. That team was rarely in office at the same time and kept very largely to themselves, sitting away from one another/next to only their closest work mates. In my current team we are in office regularly together, the social culture is great - we get along well and make sure to have fun while working and collaborating together. As someone who is new to the workforce this has made work far more enjoyable and I now see a future staying at the agency and hopefully in this team. Hierarchy-wise, decision making is generally respected and logical with impacts on other staff generally considered. In my current business area immediate hierarchy does not impact culture negatively.

Varies greatly depending what team you are in and if your team is customer facing or behind the scenes. I work in a regional area, so the hierarchy is not so strict, and socialising is pretty consistent. However, the workload for my customer facing workmates can be overwhelming and people burn out.

The office is friendly and gets along well, colleagues are supportive, events are organised for staff leaving/Christmas etc. Everyone is supportive of each other, there are no toxic hierarchy's.

Distant far off senior executives move budget figures around while co-located and middle management that run our teams foster a collaborative work culture. Unfortunately any work socialising is on our own dime because it's the public sector.

Overall very welcoming and kind. Very dependent on what group of people you are in. The graduate cohort has been at times segregating for those who have never worked in the agency prior to the program.

There is no culture in my office in the way of socialisation - and my team is all remote

Culture is one of ignorance to the plight of your fellow employees, the customers and the agency as a whole. There is no accountability for people who make massive mistakes on customer records that leads to hours of work for others, and highly stressful situations for the effected customer.

My team is amazing. I love the people I work with. But how can the Agency honestly say that they care about our self-care and wellbeing when they expect us to manage such a large workload while offering no overtime? Picking up one WLM a day while managing walk-ins, social casework and other assessments is not showing care about staff wellbeing.

My immediate team has a great culture and work extremely well together. The Agency as a whole has a way to go with moving into 21st century workplace practices.

People tend to genuinely get along in my team. There is little socialising that happens between those of us who work in Adelaide though. I have no major complaints on this front.