There’s been a lot of chatter online lately about unions pushing for five weeks of annual leave instead of the current four. The predictable response has been a mix of enthusiasm from workers and pearl-clutching from certain quarters about how this will “destroy the economy” or make Australia “uncompetitive.”

What strikes me most about this whole discussion is how we’ve been conditioned to think that four weeks is somehow generous, when it hasn’t budged in over fifty years. Think about that for a moment. Half a century. In that time, worker productivity has skyrocketed thanks to technology (hello, DevOps automation and everything else we’ve built), yet our mandated time off has remained frozen in the 1970s. Something doesn’t add up.

There’s something darkly comedic about watching a major bank accidentally reveal exactly what they think of their customers. ME Bank managed to do just that this week when they sent out what I can only describe as the most tone-deaf interest rate increase notification in Australian banking history.

The message was meant to inform customers about a rate hike. Fair enough – the RBA moves, banks follow, we all know the drill. But the wording? Chef’s kiss of corporate incompetence. “We are pleased to announce… we’re passing on this rate increase in full!” Followed by congratulatory language and what basically amounted to “Congratulations! You now owe us more money! 🎉”

There’s a discussion doing the rounds in corporate circles that’s got me thinking about something we’ve all probably encountered but rarely talk about openly: the high-performing employee who also happens to be a bit of a bigot.

The scenario is frustratingly familiar. You’ve got this junior team member who’s technically brilliant, delivers results, and has the seniors singing their praises. The catch? They regularly drop comments like “girls have no dignity these days” and question why there’s “all the rainbow stuff” at company events. The kicker is that this person belongs to a minority group themselves, which somehow makes the whole situation feel even more complex to navigate.