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a conclusion. She was not performing, and that was the language used. On paper, situations like this are exactly what the Fair Work Act 2009 is there to deal with. There had been no clear explanation of what performance meant in that environment. No defined expectations, no structured warnings, no real opportunity to adjust. Just a quiet decision that she was not aligned with how things were done. Her employment ended not long after. She did not argue. She did not fully understand what she was supposed to argue against. What she did feel, more than anything else, was relief. Something had not felt right for a while, and now it was over. She found another role soon after. This time, it was a more traditional recruitment environment, without the same complexity. On paper, it was straightforward.
No one told her she was doing it wrong until it became a problem. The feedback did not come as guidance or a clear conversation about expectations. It came as a conclusion.
And she liked that. It mattered to her that someone was better off because she had been involved. After a couple of years, she moved on. It looked like a better opportunity, a bigger purpose, something that aligned even more with what she believed she was good at. The role was meant to be about helping people get back into work. She approached it the same way she always had. She placed people, checked in, made sure they were settling, and stayed close enough to know when something was not right. What no one told her, at least not at the start, was that this was not how success was measured, and just like Andy, she was
failing because this job was not about helping someone stay in a job. It was about placing them into a role, keeping them there just long enough to trigger the placement fee, and then moving them on so the same person could generate multiple placement fees. That’s what success looked like there, and Julia did not work like that. If someone was doing well, she left them where they were. If something felt right, she did not interfere. If someone had finally found stability, she saw that as the outcome. No one told her she was doing it wrong until it became a problem. The feedback did not come as guidance or a clear conversation about expectations. It came as
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GLOBAL PAYROLL MAGAZINE ISSUE 23
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