child support agency

I moved to Child support from another Federal Government  branch as a promotion from APS3 to APS4. This was the worst possible move I could of ever considered. The job has no job satisfaction. In order to make one person happy. You will make the other person mad. Customer aggression is huge. The support given by your team leaders and EL1 and 2 staff is not existent. In fact, I started to struggle with my mental health while in the role. In stead of helping, Child support services Australia made a ruling that I was not allowed to suffer panic attacks during work hours. I wish I was making this up.  The wage is terrible for the work load given to staff and what they deal with all day.
Its a shocking place to work. Please think hard about making a move to this agency. Its destroys people.

In addition. Due to the level of anxiety and depression I discovered I was Nero divergent. I came to my TL and EL1 with this and it was used as a negative for my work capacity. Rather than supported. Services Australia dose not respect people with Nero divergent conditions and is in no way inclusive.

Constant loss of staff and new recruiting as the job is so stressful. Be prepared to deal with vulnerable customers, where money, separation and children are high pressure talking points. 
Management say they are supportive but overall want staff to stay as it doesn’t look good with so many staff leaving. Constantly talking about mental health but not doing much to assist.  Customers saying they want to commit suicide is an every day occurrence. Be ready to be a relationship counsellor, financial advisor and therapist on the phone calls. The scheduled environment is rigid and anxiety inducing. Overall for the pay you get, not worth your mental health. Stay away at all costs! 

I started with this organisation and it was awesome, great environment, staff morale, loved the job and the roles. A great balance to phone rostering and actual time to process work to service the clients. Then it became part of the Department of Human Services and it turned into a call centre where all you do is take calls and have little to no time to actually do the work. You're under the pump to adhere to phone rostering and yet are still expected to keep your work (which is complex and working with highly contentious and emotive issues to begin with) up to date when there is barely any time allocated to do so. This job really pushed my time management and organisational skills to the limit.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Government benefits and wages. The only issue is the workload you are expected to process and do 3 hr phone shifts. Job would suit people who lack empathy and compassion. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Dealing with very emotional, suicidal people. Nothing prepares you for a client suicide 😭

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Far to much nepotism and looking after favourites.

Worked here for years and it's by far the he worst job I've ever had. Management is appalling, the team leaders are legitimate bullies, incredibly toxic work culture and an all around miserable place to be. Workload is ridiculously high with zero time scheduled to complete anything which results in high levels of customer aggression, and the way the place is run just keeps getting worse. You're worked like a dog until you're completely burnt out, with absolutely no "thank you's". 


Toxic work environment - top down hierarchy and constant put downs. management does not care about staff welfare. 

Insufficient allocated time to complete work which are mostly complex and emotive in nature. Poor scheduled work time with too much I/B call time and insufficient processing scheduled work time.

Area had been allowed to become understaffed.
Refusal by management to follow Fair Work Act
Refusal by management to follow their own APS Values and Code of Conduct and the Public Service Act.
Staff morale is extremely poor.
Staff thus have a reduced work output and do not attend to customer enquiries in a suitable manner.

I've been with CSA for a little over 3 years. Its been hard work but over those 3 years I've progressed from APS 3 to 5. If you are looking for an easy government job, this isn't it. You will need to be ready to work hard and be prepared deal with what can be very emotive subjects (children and money). 

This is a job that requires ability to work to work with some of the nicest people you will meet on the phone and some of the rudest.

Typically you will spend 5-6 hours per day on the phone speaking to customers.

You could take up to 50 calls per day.

Would not recommend  anyone to work at Child Support
Staff are treated poorly once training has finished .Workload is huge and limited no assistance from team leaders.Your coaching is next to nothing and put down when you ask for help.
A whole lot of very unhappy people 


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