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Should I stay or should I go?
We're asking whether you should stay at one company or keep moving, how AI adoption is racing ahead of governance across Australian banks and insurers, and which job ad red flags the AusCorp community says you should never ignore.
The Aussie Corporate & Pick & Scroll News
May 26, 2026
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Good morning AusCorp. A female intern is suing EY in the Federal Court alleging she was victimised after reporting sexual harassment, and Meriton reported a 20% jump in investor visits the week negative gearing was scrapped on existing properties.
In this week's edition, we're asking whether you should stay at one company or keep moving, how AI adoption is racing ahead of governance across Australian banks and insurers, and which job ad red flags the AusCorp community says you should never ignore.
AUSCORP STRESS INDEX
56.5 (-0.5 from last week)
This index tracks what the professional market is actually doing - not what the headlines say it's doing. Every week we aggregate live signals across hiring activity, employer sentiment, salary movement and market stress across 50+ major Australian employers. Fuller cups = more stressed.
The Pulse is flat this week. Unemployment ticked up, NAB is calling another rate hike, and everyone's still interpreting the budget differently depending on where they get their news. Layoff coverage has slowed coming into EOFY and hiring remains consistent, but the next few weeks will tell us whether that holds or whether CFOs get cautious as new financial year headcount budgets come into focus. If you're thinking about a move, the window is still open but the confidence to walk away from an offer and wait for a better one is thinner than it was 6 months ago.
THE BIG CONVERSATION
Should you stay or should you go?
A generation ago, loyalty was the strategy. You joined a firm out of uni and the company rewarded you for staying - defined benefit pensions, seniority-based promotions, long service leave. It looks a lot different now. Companies are restructuring every 18 months and the person who stayed 10 years now gets treated the same as someone only 1 year in. The conventional wisdom now says move every 2-3 years, grow your pay, broaden your skills.
But the data says Australians are doing the opposite. In 1989, almost 1 in 5 workers changed jobs in a single year. That's now dropped to 1 in 13. Self-employment is at a 20-year low. Interstate moves are falling. A $700,000 mortgage over 30 years makes taking any career risk feel like gambling your house. The cost of starting over means that even when people want to move for a better opportunity, they can’t.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
There are 3 things that matter at any stage of your career - learning, pay and progression. At any given time you're usually getting 2 out of 3. If you're only getting one, it's time to ask yourself what's keeping you there - there's a difference between choosing to stay and feeling like you can't afford to leave.
Loyalty starts to matter again the more senior you get. You can job hop into middle management but senior roles are harder to hop into because management generally want employees that have built something over time. There's also the goodwill factor - being somewhere long enough that people know you're committed becomes invaluable when kids are sick, parents need help and life gets complicated.
There's no single right move though. Hop early when the learning curve is steep and the pay gap between companies is wide. But if you've been somewhere 10 years, that doesn’t mean you lack ambition. The data suggests most of Australia agrees with you.
PICK & SCROLL NEWS BY THE AUSSIE CORPORATE
Flat White lands every week. The news doesn't. Even if you live under a rock, we’ll keep you in the loop.
Every weekday morning at 8:00am, we send you everything that happened across Australian business and corporate news in a 2-minute read. Same team. Same voice. Just daily.
TOP PICKS FROM LAST WEEK
A female intern is suing EY in the Federal Court alleging she was victimised after reporting sexual harassment by a male manager, as EY denies any victimisation. LINK
Meriton reported a 20% jump in investor visits and higher apartment sales after the government scrapped negative gearing on existing homes and the 50% CGT discount from July 1, 2027. LINK
The Fair Work Commission has ruled that a Sydney mother employed by Reapit Employment Services can work from home all but 1 day a fortnight to accommodate school drop-offs. LINK
Australia’s new 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts from 1 July 2028 has targeted big four and top-tier law firm partners’ income-splitting strategies. LINK
New analysis has found Coles and Woolworths frequently alternate high/low promotions on identical products such as electric toothbrushes, as a court has ruled Coles misled customers with its “Down Down” discounts. LINK
THE INSIDE TRACK
Your savings account has been doing the same thing it always does while everything else around it moves. You don't need to go all in on crypto. You just need to stop pretending it's not worth understanding. Kraken has been around since 2011, never been hacked, and lets you start with AUD from any amount.
THREAD OF THE WEEK - r/AUSCORP
Currently have an offer for a 'the team is lean and high performing so we need a superstar that can meet these requirements' place and I'm cringing at the thought of how broken/toxic/dysfunctional the workplace will be from day 1.
What are other buzzwords that you've gone into and come out learning from the better? Has it ever worked out? Do I take the job? Pay is 20% more.
“We offer four weeks annual leave, a generous 12% super, and access to an employee assistance program”.
I won’t touch a company that thinks minimum legal requirements are perks of the job.”
Job ads have developed a habit of listing legal obligations as though they are perks. Describing your workplace culture as a perk signals one of two things. You have nothing else to say, or the company you're about to join is completely out of touch.
THE BRAINS TRUST
APRA reviewed how Australian banks, insurers and super funds are using AI. They’ve found that adoption is racing ahead while governance is falling behind. Boards are excited about the potential but most lack the technical literacy to challenge management on the risks. Some firms are heavily dependent on a single provider across multiple use cases.
"While AI adoption is continuing apace, the systems and processes required to safely govern its use aren't keeping up."
Macquarie found that all of Australia’s largest insurers now us AI models. Microsoft Copilot is the most widely adopted, followed by ChatGPT and Claude. Most firms are running two or more models and only 10% rely on one. APRA hasn't imposed new rules yet but has made clear it expects "a significant improvement" in how firms close the gaps.
Source: Macquarie Research, May 2026 (GI: General Insurers, PHI: Private Health Insurers)
Goldman Sachs estimates agentic AI systems are 60 to 130 times more energy-intensive than the chatbots you're using now. Companies are now spending more on AI computing than on the people running it. Global IT spending is on track to hit US$6.3 trillion this year, up 13.5%.
“We believe always-on agents are turning the AI race into a competition for physical readiness, exposing chokepoints in power, grid buildout, high-voltage components, cooling, connectivity, and mission-critical services.”
So while most of us are worried about AI replacing our jobs, your company is busy worrying about whether its AI strategy will allow it to stay ahead of the regulators and the competitors who are.
OFF THE CLOCK
WATCHING
Toy Story 5 is coming for your childhood again
Woody and Buzz are back, this time squaring up against technology, which feels uncomfortably on the nose for anyone who has an iPad kid. LINK
GOING
IKEA will let you sleep in the catalogue
Nineteen dollars and ninety-five cents gets you a night in an architecturally designed home full of furniture that isn't on shelves yet, which is either a dream or a very long product briefing depending on your relationship with flat-pack. LINK
WEARING
Arc'teryx opens its biggest Southern Hemisphere store
The QVB has seen a lot of things come and go, but a flagship Arc'teryx with a repair centre for your existing gear is a reasonable excuse to walk through those doors without buying anything. LINK
READING
Millions spent, still just "eat your vegetables"
Bryan Johnson (the guy who spends $2M a year trying to become immortal) burned through a fortune on longevity research and landed on sleeping enough and not smoking. LINK
AUSCORP EVENTS
SPORTS
The Aussie Corporate x Kraken x Sneaker Laundry | Melbourne | Free Matcha
Thursday 28th May 7AM
SPORTS
AusCorp Pickleball After Hours | Sydney | Catering & Paddles Included
Tuesday 2nd June 5:30PM-7:30PM | SOLD OUT | WAITLIST HERE
SPORTS / SOCIAL
AusCorp Singles Event | 👀 Coming Soon
Early July
ODD PICKS FROM LAST WEEK
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