Managers within volunteer organisations are renowned for their ability to run operations with incredibly limited resources. Working with both paid staff and volunteers, there is a sense of needing ‘all hands on deck’ within busy community and charity groups. We explore today some of the hidden dangers of unconscious bias and nepotism that can arise […]
The CFA dispute between paid and unpaid volunteers has been a salutary tale for any Australian organisation with a mix of volunteers and paid workers. In many cases, these groups work together in relative harmony. After all, paid staff and volunteers tend to share similar values and goals in these workplaces. But how, when and […]
Fraud is enormously detrimental to Australian organisations, with KPMG putting the average cost of each case in 2015 at $1.4 million. There can be a number of reasons why an employee commits fraud, such as personal financial pressures, personality traits, rationalisation, and opportunity. Since it’s fairly impossible to control other people’s personalities, thoughts and […]
When it comes to workplace fraud, it can be tempting to boil down the cause into simplistic statements, such as saying the fraudster was just “greedy and dishonest.” But of course things are generally not quite that simple, and just as plane crashes usually require at least two or three things to go wrong, in […]
Sometimes when we investigate issues of misconduct and/or corruption in workplaces, we find ourselves asking – why didn’t anybody notice this earlier? Yet more often than not the answer to this question will be that people at least partially knew, but for a number of reasons they felt unable to act. Those reasons tend to […]
By Andrew Hedges Wanting to belong How does bullying operate in the corrupt workplace? If there is anything a new employee in a workplace does not want to feel is it’s being an outsider. Just as a new student in an established class at school wants to fit in and be a part […]
By Andrew Hedges WORKPLACE CORRUPTION AND SOCIAL IDENTITY If you’re new to an organisation and you’re given a company credit card for work-related expenses such as taking clients out to lunch or for travel purposes, your social identity can be tied in to how the workplace culture “interprets” that company credit card. This ties in […]
By Andrew Hedges Whistle blowing is a part of who we are Australia is no stranger to a tradition of whistle blowing and it comes in various forms. They can be individuals who speak out against fraud, wrongdoing, illegal activities and corruption in the workplace. But, while that whistle blowing tradition has probably been […]
Do you remember the “sneaky nuts” craze? If you do, you can blame the character of Daniel as created and brought to life by Australian comedian Chris Lilley in the mockumentary series Angry Boys. He introduced us to sneaky nuts photo bombs in 2011. For those of you who have no idea what we are […]
It is heartening to see that the stigma around mental illness is slowly reducing, both in workplaces and the broader community. Yet when it comes to identifying and monitoring mental illness at work, many employers are uncertain of the best mechanisms to use. We understand that employers want to do the right thing by their […]