New year, new me, new tea

HELLOOO TWENTY TWENTY-THREE! Just like that, it's a new year and we are straight into another 12 months of grind. Who's excited to be back?

Things move fast but we have you covered with the latest and greatest in this edition of Flat White. This one is a bit of a bumper edition given our short break in December.

If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up to Flat White here:

We are currently looking to build our sponsors' list to help keep this party going. If you're interested in investing in us and the AusCorp community, then hit us up at [email protected].

💡 Brain’s Trust - conversations in Auscorp

I. AI takeover

For those that don't know, ChatGPT is a scarily useful chatbot developed by the folks over at OpenAI. Access is free (for now) and via your browser. In the nearish future, you might even see it appear as part of Outlook or Microsoft Word at work!

From our Instagram poll, it seems like a lot of you haven't actually used this nifty bot before. We'd say give it a try though. The general consensus is that at least for work, whilst it isn't perfect (as it still gets stuff wrong), it can do a lot of the heavy lifting. Is this the path to an AI-powered 4-day work week?

Why is it interesting?

We never remembered A.I. ever being this good, but the use cases now are pretty varied. From drafting legal advices to modelling cap tables to preparing tricky emails, it does a damn good job for a (currently) free chatbot.

If you really want to see its potential or have a bit of fun, here is a link that lists the myriad of things it can do. We wanted ChatGPT to be poet so it came up with a poem about being an Aussie Corporate that we thought wasn't half bad:

Want more? 

ChatGPT is just the surface. Here's a Twitter thread listing out some other insane AI tools that are probably going to change the way you think about life in the near future.

II. Pay secrecy is no more

In December 2022, the government banned pay secrecy provisions from employment contracts. This means that employers can no longer take adverse actions (e.g. termination or reprimanding) against an employee who decides to share their salary info with colleagues, family, friends, pets, plants or any other thing they choose.

The mini-catch here is that technically pay secrecy provisions in existing contracts entered into before 7 December 2022 are still valid until they are updated/varied. Whether your employer actually enforces any of these provisions though is a whole other question.

Why is this interesting?

According to Tony Burke (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations), this change primarily addresses the gender pay gap that exists in the current workplace.

We are all for this, but also selfishly keen to see how many more of y'all will now be encouraged to participate in our annual anonymous Salary Survey (which for 2022, has been published on our website).

III. Belts are getting tighter

Coming into 2023, firms are being way more fiscally responsible (boo!). In late 2022, we saw end of year parties cancelled and the tech sector struggling, with venture capital all but dried up.

Already this year, there have been job cuts and reduced bonuses at the investment banks (some up to 40%) and other large multinational companies. Recently, rumours were that grad roles at Akuna Capital (a quant firm known for their eye-watering salaries) were all rescinded just a week before peoples' start dates. ASIC's also removed stationery from their employee floors in the name of budget cuts... so no more pens, unless you grab one from reception!

Numbers don't lie and the investment banks have just released their end of year results. Many of you would know that bonuses kinda sucked. Anyhow, here's a quick download of their reported global revenues for FY22 (courtesy of our friends at Letter of Intent):

• -53% at Citi

• -49% at Morgan Stanley

• 48% at Goldman Sachs

• -48% at J.P. Morgan

• -32% at Jefferies

Why is this interesting?

Whilst you may have been through an economic downturn, including a full-blown financial crisis or two, this time around, things seem to be oddly calm. There's not really any panic (yet), the labour market continues to be buoyant and companies are still relatively cashed up from the many years of cheap cash.

We of course would love to hear from you if you have any juicy insights that might suggest otherwise. For now, as we probably aren't expecting the most blistering year of work, perhaps we might finally get a bit of a breather from the gruelling hours endured during COVID.

📮 Postbox - our best post

New year, new suit?

Technically, our AusCorp Guide to Suits isn't a post on our IG - instead, you can find the whole report on our website. Whilst out of fashion for many, we still think it makes sense to have one of these bad boys in the wardrobe, just in case you need to dress to impress.

For females, we don't have as comprehensive an article given the smaller number of submissions, but have some names that popped up a few times in the DMs

• P. Johnson Femme (lux product but you'll pay for it)

• Scanlan Theodore (crepe knit and $$$)

• Hugo Boss (will tailor for you)

• Farage (Australian-made)

• SABA (great for their blazers?)

• Banana Republic (for petite)

🙊 Community Bantz - best comments from Auscorp

You might remember the story we shared last month about a man being super proud of cooking raw chicken in his hotel kettle on a business trip to save his firm money 🤮

As if anyone needed any more reasons why this is an extremely poor idea, a follower shed some real life experience about kettle abuse in hotels.

🩺 Health Check - monthly health tip/reminder

New years reflection

It wouldn't be a new year if we didn't talk about new years resolutions. If you're in the 16% that actually stick to their resolutions, then good on ya.

For the rest of you, take 5 minutes to sit down and think (really think) about what you want to achieve in 2023. If you really don't know, here's a video to hype you the fk up and get your juices flowing (link).

Reflect on whether you're still learning and enjoying work, and if everything is still going according to your master plan. Many of us have seen colleagues quit in 2022 and might feel disheartened or even compelled to follow. Resist this urge until you've fully thought it through, take pause and evaluate what it is that YOU want. The grass is not always greener.

TIP: Work often gets us to learn about seemingly dumb concepts, but SMART goals are an exception. Using the SMART framework takes a tiny bit more effort but will help make your goals way more achievable to the point that you might actually achieve them!

👴🏻 Old is Cool - meme throwback (18 January 2022)

No one is supposed back until after "Australia Day" right?

👍 The Nook - what AusCorp recommends in January

🎾 The Australian Open (event) - Lounge chairs and big screens have officially been rolled out at your workplace lobby. Pull up a seat and watch some quality tennis... January is a slow month anyway.

📖 Carrie Soto is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid (book) | Goodreads 4.26/5 | - "If you can’t get enough of the tennis at the moment... after retiring at the top of her game, Carrie re-enters the sport at the age of 37 to defend her title. Set against the backdrop of racism and sexism in women’s sport during the 80s and 90s, it’s not just a book about tennis, but one about ambition, drive and grit" - @checkyoshelf_ on IG

🎵 SOS - SZA (music) - The "Kill Bill" MV just came out last week and its a banger - the perfect IDGAF / resentful vibe for January.

📺 Wednesday (TV show) | IMDb 8.2/10 | 72% Rotten Tomatoes | - An Addams Family spin-off, featuring Wednesday Addams. A bit late on this, but if you haven't watched her viral dance scene, it's worth your 2 minutes.

📺 Corporate (TV show) | IMDb 7.7/10 | 72% Rotten Tomatoes | - "Satirical look at a big soulless corporation with all the characters you'll recognise from your office. The megalomaniac leader, the idealistic new hire, the zany HR rep and the nihilist realist coworker who is the only one you can talk to."

🥿 Rollie Shoes (Shoes) - "Highly recommend these shoes for work. Have been seeing this Aussie brand everywhere at the moment. They're super comfy on the feet and seem to last forever"

☕️ Good Vibes Only (Cafe) - "Hidden gem of Barangaroo, located underneath the South Barangaroo overpass on Sussex St. Seriously delectable coffee and food, and great friendly service."

SEND THROUGH anything else interesting you're consuming (whether it be cool products, food, wine, cafe, restaurants, bars, videos, podcasts, tv shows, movies, books, newsletters, blogs) and we'll feature it in next edition's Flat White!

🚗 Under the Hood - what we're working on

Giveaway

Be on the look out for a nice little giveaway coming to you soon. We won't spoil the surprise yet but just to clue you in... it's got a bit of a kick to it!

Grad Hub

It's coming to that time of the year again and uni students will be gearing up for internship/clerkship applications.

We'll be opening and launching new premium guides/services on our Grad Hub for investment banking, consulting and law students. We will also have our team around to help you through what is inevitably going to be an arduous and highly painful process.

If you know any young aspiring Aussie Corporates still at university, please send them our way!

✍️ Feedback Loop - share your thoughts

We are always open to feedback from our dear community.

Let us know if there's anything you would like to see (or don't want to see). We are also very open to any cool, funny or interesting segments that you want to see permanently in Flat White.

Send us feedback HERE.

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