AusCorp Runs

Good morning AusCorp. Christmas is right around the corner and many Aussie Corporates are celebrating the festive season the exact same way - cost cutting.

We also held our first AusCorp morning run in October so if you got cancelled on by the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge last month, feel free to join us in November when we’re in Melbourne on the 11th and again in Sydney on the 18th.

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💡 Brains Trust

1. Tis isn’t the season

With the last public holiday long weekend just under a month ago and Christmas right around the corner, it’s officially that time of year when corporate Australia enters this “busy” period where nothing actually gets done, a much welcome lull that kicks off right after Melbourne Cup (this Tuesday) and lasts all the way til Australia Day. But with those two corporate “holidays” facing their own controversies - horses racing for their lives in the Melbourne Cup and Australia Day celebrating colonial Australia, Christmas seems next in line for ethical debate - this time for favouring one religious holiday over others.

When we asked everyone how their companies were celebrating, the answers were mixed, and also mildly depressing. We’re seeing an increase in self-funded events where we get offsites at the park or Wednesday-afternoon drinks in the office kitchen (very much intentional so no one goes too hard). Others are still going all out with some teams getting superyachts, Christmas on the hill at Taronga Zoo and the usual flood of corporate merch. Though we question whether merch is a proper People & Culture initiative or just a marketing write-off.

Cost cuts have been pretty common across the board. Many of our Aussie corporate colleagues in the public sector echoed a resounding “f-all”, with some attributing this to the bad optics that would likely come out of spending taxpayer money on Prosecco. And as we continue on the current economic wave that very much looks and feels like a tech bubble, you might want to check in on your tech bros and see if their workplace benefits still contain free lunches and ridiculous company kickoffs.

What we can confirm is that many of us are just grateful to be going into Christmas with a job.

2. J.P. Morgan AusCorp Corporate Challenge

In October, Sydney’s biggest corporate fun run was called off due to “extreme heat and strong winds”, with no refunds for its registrants. So while some would argue that a fluoro J.P. Morgan Finisher T-Shirt is worth the $70, we feel that your money and time would’ve been better spent at the AusCorp morning run. The 7AM jog along the harbour had multiple pace groups with the aim of catering for every fitness level including those who “walk every few hundred metres”, to those whose Strava screen-time greatly exceeds Instagram. With free coffee to finish, no one said no to a free iced latte or iced matcha.

It turns out running might just be the new first date of networking. Short enough that no one feels stuck, long enough to actually talk - and if the conversation dies, you’ve always got your lack of fitness as an exit strategy or a meeting to duck away to once you’ve finished your coffee.

We had strong turnout from across consulting, banking, tech and professional services, with roles ranging between Analysts right through to Directors. With no interns in sight, it’s proof that the best connections don’t always happen over canapés and a function room. Sometimes, they happen between breaths on a 7AM run - highlights below:

Our first event in Melbourne has been pencilled in for next week - Tuesday the 11th of November and again in Sydney on the 18th of November. Word on the street is that Decathlon will be joining us with a few freebies. You heard it here first.

3. Director from leading finance firm has viewed your profile - 6h ago

It’s a notification that comes with an asterisk. Because apparently, some people take professional networking a little too personally. When we asked our community whether sliding into LinkedIn DMs for dating purposes was appropriate, 76% said absolutely not. We have our suspicions that men probably make up the remaining 24%.

We received a few hundred DMs from women who also told us that over the course of their career, dealing with unsolicited LinkedIn messages from senior male professionals were a daily or weekly occurrence. Many had LinkedIn requests from hundreds of male strangers and while only a handful of people mentioned that they actually met their partners through LinkedIn, they too had felt it was very cringe at the time.

Between the AI slop and curated profiles, it’d be hard to tell the difference between LinkedIn and the brain-rot content on Instagram, so where would you draw the line? Your digital footprint, especially when it’s attached to your job title, is a lot harder to delete than that message you regret sending. So probably somewhere between a polite “Happy Birthday” and not triple messaging someone.

4. Do you use chatgeepetea?

In case you missed it, here is a reminder that Deloitte admitted that parts of a $440,000 report that it commissioned to the government were generated using AI and that some of the references and quotes it included didn’t actually exist.

The report, prepared for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, was ironically meant to assess automation in the welfare system. Instead, it cited academic papers that were never written, included a fabricated quote from a Federal Court judgement, and even misspelled the name of a judge it quoted. More than a dozen fake references and footnotes have since been deleted, alongside a made-up case citation and entire paragraphs that were completely AI-generated.

The revised version was quietly uploaded before the October long weekend and now includes a small line in the methodology admitting GPT-4 was used “to address documentation gaps.” Deloitte has agreed to refund part of the contract, though the department says the report’s “substance” remains unchanged.

For a firm that earns millions advising clients on responsible AI use, it’s not a great look.

🏉 Sports Catalogue

October brought a mixed bag of results for Australia on the international sporting stage. In a tight contest at the top of Formula 1, Oscar Piastri saw his lead in the Drivers' Championship slip away. After the Mexican Grand Prix, Piastri is now a single point behind his teammate, Lando Norris, with just four races to go in what is shaping up to be a thrilling title fight.

Meanwhile, the Kangaroos showed their dominance, defeating England to clinch the Rugby League Ashes (terribly named) series 2-0 with one game to spare, extending their formidable record against the Poms. On the court, the Australian Diamonds showed incredible composure to defeat their rivals, the New Zealand Silver Ferns, in an extra-time series decider to successfully regain the Constellation Cup after the series was tied 2-2.

Unfortunately the Wallabies were underwhelming over the weekend, suffering a disappointing loss to England, 25-7. One of the most painful sounds for Australian sports fans is a packed Twickenham crowd singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot on the back of an English win. However, one of the ultimate tests of national pride is next: the Cricket Ashes begins in Perth on November 21st, launching a five-Test battle for the urn and deciding the true bragging rights between Australia and England.

📊 AMP’s Finest

The September quarter inflation numbers came in much hotter than expected, with prices up 1.3% for the quarter, the biggest jump since March 2023 with annual inflation lifting to 3.2%. While inflation pressures were spread across goods and services, the jump was largely driven by the end of government electricity rebates, which pushed up household utility bills.

Even the RBA’s preferred trimmed mean measure rose sharply, up 1% over the quarter and 3% over the year with electricity prices up +9%, property rates +6.3%, and rents +1%, while travel, petrol and tobacco all moved higher.

The data likely rules out another rate cut at the RBA’s November and December meetings, with the cash rate expected to hold at 3.6% as the bank waits for clearer signs of easing inflation. That said, the next cut could come in February, provided the December inflation print cools as expected but for now, inflation isn’t done with us yet, and the RBA won’t risk fanning it further.

If that was helpful at all, you can listen to the AMP Econosights podcast here, featuring Shane Oliver, Diana Mousina and My Bui.

 🗞️ On Your Minds

🇦🇺 TOP AUSTRALIAN NEWS RECAP

1. Australian Facebook users may receive a share of a $50M payout for data misuse as long as they register by 31 December. LINK

2. A Westpac banker secured permanent remote work rights while challenging corporate return-to-office mandates in court. LINK

3. Centrelink is urging parents to use up to $1,132 in free dental benefits under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule before the 2025 expiry. LINK

4. Millions of Australians with student loans will receive a 20% debt reduction backdated from 1 June as part of a $1.6B relief plan delivering up to $5,520 each. LINK

5. Nearly 250,000 Australians will get an average of $1,400 each after the Fair Work Ombudsman recovered $358M from wage underpayment in FY25. LINK

🌏 THE ODD PICKS

1. The most active dating app in some parts of China appears in a park every weekend, and it's run entirely by parents - on Friday and Saturday nights, parents attend a real-life matchmaking market on behalf of their single sons and daughters. LINK

2. Cancel the boys' trip to Turkey as researchers in Taiwan have developed a simple rub-on serum that helped completely bald mice grow a fresh coat of fur in just 3 weeks. LINK

3. 19% of Australians don't always wash their hands after using the bathroom with under-24 year olds were the worst culprits. LINK

4. 26% of Gen Z job seekers in Australia were rejected for inappropriate social media posts as employers increase screening efforts. LINK

5. The No. 1 way I boost my brain energy when I ‘hit a mental wall’. LINK

19% of Australians don't always wash their hands after using the bathroom.

Under-24 year olds were the worst culprits.

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