The totally off-topic thread

[JessicaTam]

I thought AFFers may get a laugh out of the various viewpoints on this :mrgreen:
Money Moral Dilemma: Should we share in sister-in-law's cashback? - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

As Melbourne* dos are so frequent we take it in turns.

*AFF social capital of the known and parallel universes.

 

[JohnSydney2000]

Ahem...: Queenslander!!

 

[JohnK]

This is not supposed to offend, so I am sorry if it does... but that sounds like rather dubious grounds to keep you in the organisation!

I have no idea who you work for, but you'd think that the recruitment people could do a better job finding people who are suited for the role who can write decent reports.

What if the people applying are not suitable? You really need someone and you take who you think is next best but they turn out to be incompetent. You realise they are incompetent within a few weeks or months. The 3 month probation comes around and you do nothing about it.

Seriously. Why have a 3 month probation? To look pretty?

Then you need another and talent pool has not grown since the last person you hired. Hire another incompetent?

Before long you realise you have a lot of dead wood so you ask everyone for a better effort. But the dead wood is still dead wood.

Then you need to hire more people and now you just take anyone. The dead wood keeps growing.

I don't get it.

 

[JessicaTam]

What if the people applying are not suitable? You really need someone and you take who you think is next best but they turn out to be incompetent. You realise they are incompetent within a few weeks or months. The 3 month probation comes around and you do nothing about it.

Seriously. Why have a 3 month probation? To look pretty?

Then you need another and talent pool has not grown since the last person you hired. Hire another incompetent?

Before long you realise you have a lot of dead wood so you ask everyone for a better effort. But the dead wood is still dead wood.

Then you need to hire more people and now you just take anyone. The dead wood keeps growing.

I don't get it.

Probation is a necessary tool but must be utilised correctly. I have been involved in initially extending a probation period for an under-performer to give them the best chance to subsequently terminating their employment. A difficult but necessary decision.

Although I disagree with the tendency to employ people on a 'trial' basis and pay them pittance for the duration before getting rid of them on a trumped up reason and starting the process again.

 

[amaroo]

One of the things I've learnt ... Easy to Hire - Hard to Fire

 

[Hvr]

Probation is a necessary tool but must be utilised correctly. I have been involved in initially extending a probation period for an under-performer to give them the best chance to subsequently terminating their employment. A difficult but necessary decision.

Although I disagree with the tendency to employ people on a 'trial' basis and pay them pittance for the duration before getting rid of them on a trumped up reason and starting the process again.

Properly utilised probation is an effective management tool but very few managers are up to the task of managing. Most probation periods are six months now with 12 months or more for specific occupations such as police. The probation period also allows he employee to leave with no notice if they determine they aren't in the right position.

I'm surprised you were allowed to extend the probation period, generally the Fair Work Commission and its predecessors have found that the period specified at the commencement of the employment relationship is the maximum and cannot be extended.

 

[JessicaTam]

Properly utilised probation is an effective management tool but very few managers are up to the task of managing. Most probation periods are six months now with 12 months or more for specific occupations such as police. The probation period also allows he employee to leave with no notice if they determine they aren't in the right position.

I'm surprised you were allowed to extend the probation period, generally the Fair Work Commission and its predecessors have found that the period specified at the commencement of the employment relationship is the maximum and cannot be extended.

There was discussion between the employee, employer, and union. Extending the probation was deemed a better option than just terminating the employment. The employment contracts do state that the probation may be extended if necessary.

 

[medhead]

Well if we want to discuss numeracy. I was given a $1 coin yesterday that was label 100 years of Anzac, with a 2014 minting date. As ANZAC happened/started 99 years and almost 2 months ago, I have a minor issue with that coin. It may be the 100th year now, but there will not be 100 years until 25 April 2015. Someone at the mint can't count.

On a related note I was checking out the sample HSC questions when I came across the question below. Now both of the figures shown time varies inversely with speed, ie bigger speed lower time. But apparently only one is the correct answer. :?:

View attachment 30292

 

[amaroo]

Properly utilised probation is an effective management tool but very few managers are up to the task of managing. Most probation periods are six months now with 12 months or more for specific occupations such as police. The probation period also allows he employee to leave with no notice if they determine they aren't in the right position.

I'm surprised you were allowed to extend the probation period, generally the Fair Work Commission and its predecessors have found that the period specified at the commencement of the employment relationship is the maximum and cannot be extended.

When the 10% recruitment fee (15-30K) comes out of your own pocket - you quickly learn to monitor the probation period.

 

[JessicaTam]

Well if we want to discuss numeracy. I was given a $1 coin yesterday that was label 100 years of Anzac, with a 2014 minting date. As ANZAC happened/started 99 years and almost 2 months ago, I have a minor issue with that coin. It may be the 100th year now, but there will not be 100 years until 25 April 2015. Someone at the mint can't count.

On a related note I was checking out the sample HSC questions when I came across the question below. Now both of the figures shown time varies inversely with speed, ie bigger speed lower time. But apparently only one is the correct answer. :?:

View attachment 30292

*A is the correct answer - as the speed approaches 0 the time taken to travel the distance approaches infinity.*
I have hidden the answer above for those still thinking about it.

 

[Austman]

It may be the 100th year now, but there will not be 100 years until 25 April 2015. Someone at the mint can't count.

And was 1st January 2000 actually the first day of the new millennium? The whole world celebrated it then.

 

[JessicaTam]

And was 1st January 2000 actually the first day of the new millennium? The whole world celebrated it then.

The calendar ticked over from 1999 to 2000 but they still had a year to go before the new millennium started. Because 1 is the first of something, not 0.

 

[rogerkambah]

Originally Posted by anat0l
This is not supposed to offend, so I am sorry if it does... but that sounds like rather dubious grounds to keep you in the organisation!

I have no idea who you work for, but you'd think that the recruitment people could do a better job finding people who are suited for the role who can write decent reports.



You would think so....

I'm sure that OATEK, besides being able to write and edit reports from youngerlings, also has a wealth of corporate memory, which is very useful to his organisation. Loss of corporate memory through retirement or forced redundancy is a problem for many organisations.

 

[JohnK]

One of the things I've learnt ... Easy to Hire - Hard to Fire

Do you work for my company?

 

[Julesmac]

Wisdom = old?

There's intelligence. There's street smart. There's clever. There's wisdom. All subtly different.

I agree. Went back to study at 58, having been an A+ student but not wanting to go the teaching/commonwealth scholarship route. Meandered through work life. Attended TAFE diploma course = Uni Arts degree. Folks in my classes were of all types, a few having to leave school at 15 or so - and spent their whole lives feeling inadequate or plain dumb. We also had kids who'd finished Year 12, and wanting to do a year of study before applying as a mature age student to the courses they missed out on. However the mature aged ones found that simply because of their life experience, a certain amount of wisdom had kind of crept up on them and they did very well indeed. The youngies? Sadly 99.9 disappeared without trace!

 

[Pushka]

The calendar ticked over from 1999 to 2000 but they still had a year to go before the new millennium started. Because 1 is the first of something, not 0.

Wasn't that John Howard's theory too? And it turned out he was a year late to the party.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Well that was a disappointment but still a great game.

NSW 6 Qld 4.

I may have moved away from Queensland but I still support Queensland in the state of origin, a few other AFFers may have moved away from Queensland, some might even live in enemy territory but still support Queensland.

Took NSW long enough to finally win a series.

 

[Julesmac]

In the case of Cop Shop, I think you will find that it wasn't even Grundy, but was from the Crawford stable.

Are you sure? Better send it to Forensics...

 

[Princess Fiona]

Well that was a disappointment but still a great game.

NSW 6 Qld 4.

I may have moved away from Queensland but I still support Queensland in the state of origin, a few other AFFers may have moved away from Queensland, some might even live in enemy territory but still support Queensland.

Took NSW long enough to finally win a series.

There will be a couple of excited little girls in my house tomorrow morning
I was supposed to waken them up with the score but considering as the eldest is up at 04.30 for training that might be unwise

 

[JohnK]

Took NSW long enough to finally win a series.

Does anyone other than a Queenslander care?

At least it will shut up the one-eyed canetoads at work for a little while....