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Speaker 1: Hi, welcome back to our ask me anything with Tiffany

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Speaker 1: and Gerald where Gerald will answer a work related question

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Speaker 1: and sometimes I do chime in as well.

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Speaker 1: So today's question was sent in by our listener, Simone.

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Speaker 1: Simone says she's going to start work in a few weeks,

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Speaker 1: but her would be boss has been sending her work

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Speaker 1: emails and things to do. She's even been asked to

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Speaker 1: attend meetings. Now, Simone is in a dilemma because she's

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Speaker 1: not paid for this work. But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: the project has started and the team looks like they

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Speaker 1: are trying to get her up to speed with everything.

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Speaker 1: So Gerald, I think this is a question about boundaries,

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Speaker 1: but how do you draw the line when it may

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Speaker 1: be beneficial for you in the long

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Speaker 1: run?

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Speaker 2: You are right, Tiffany about it being about boundaries. It's

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Speaker 2: good that Simone is being engaged early, being involved before

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Speaker 2: her official start date so that maybe she can hit

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Speaker 2: the road running when she starts her work. But there

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Speaker 2: are actually quite a bit of disadvantages or negatives to

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Speaker 2: this situation. Yeah, I mean, for example,

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Speaker 2: when you mentioned about how she has to respond to

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Speaker 2: work emails being sent, work emails from the new company.

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Speaker 2: I already see that perhaps there's some difficulty there in

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Speaker 2: terms of disclosure, company privacy. You know, you are sending

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Speaker 2: sensitive information out of the company into somebody else's email account, not,

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Speaker 1: not into their private

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Speaker 1: email.

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Speaker 2: Yes. Correct. So I think Simone's new colleagues could be

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Speaker 2: breaking company disclosure and then they could also be maybe

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Speaker 2: putting you in a very uncomfortable position

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Speaker 2: to make you have to make business decisions or contribute

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Speaker 2: suggestions when you don't fully know everything

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Speaker 2: and could even be if Simone is going to the

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Speaker 2: same industry or moving to a competitor. Wow, that's even

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Speaker 2: more sensitive.

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Speaker 1: Yes, that's correct. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So Simone is in a very compromising position, very uncomfortable

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Speaker 2: because of what the new company is making her do. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I

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Speaker 1: did think it was a red flag as well because

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Speaker 1: I felt that if this would be boss is already

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Speaker 1: giving you work and everything, basically they are not really

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Speaker 1: respecting the fact that your time is theirs once you

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Speaker 1: start work, right? I feel that in Simon's case, it

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Speaker 1: might be some

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Speaker 1: thing worth thinking about maybe communicating to the boss as

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Speaker 1: well that this is a boundary that shouldn't be crossed

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Speaker 1: because more boundaries will be crossed later on the boss

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Speaker 1: might say, well, you seem ok with it at the start.

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Speaker 1: So why don't you do more or work on hours

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Speaker 1: that we are not expecting you to work.

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Speaker 2: I think many companies, if I were to speak on

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Speaker 2: behalf of the company itself, they may not see themselves

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Speaker 2: as doing something negative.

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Speaker 1: They see it as helpful. Right. Get you up to

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Speaker 1: speed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they are saying that this project when

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Speaker 2: you come in, it's going to be yours and there

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Speaker 2: are some pivotal decisions that need to be made now.

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Speaker 2: So I'd rather let you take ownership now and then

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Speaker 2: when you come in and you say, oh, it's all

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Speaker 2: done and dusted, you have no choice but to follow through.

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Speaker 2: These are some of the justifications the company will give

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Speaker 2: themselves as they engage a person like Simone before the

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Speaker 2: official start work there. I can see that happening. But

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Speaker 2: like I said, it's really not productive because how much

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Speaker 2: of control and influence can Simone have because she has

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Speaker 2: not even started the work. And would she be making

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Speaker 2: the best decision

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Speaker 2: if today I am the new employer? And Simon wants

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Speaker 2: to put certain things in place, I would be a

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Speaker 2: bit more cautious. So it really brings back the point

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Speaker 2: of what's the purpose of this type of meetings. Why

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Speaker 2: are you engaging the new hire before the official start date?

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Speaker 2: If it's just a get together to meet the team

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Speaker 2: a little bit more? I think it's ok if it's informal.

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Speaker 2: But when it comes to work related decisions, I think

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Speaker 2: it's better to just start on the official work day

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Speaker 1: and it may also affect existing work that she

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Speaker 1: to finish up.

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Speaker 2: Right. Exactly. When we are exiting a company. Right. There's

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Speaker 2: so much handover. Yes, there's so much to do so

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Speaker 2: much that we want to focus on closing up. Well,

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Speaker 2: finishing up the work as much as possible before we leave. Right.

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Speaker 2: So I can imagine like Simone will be kind of

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Speaker 2: distracted from completing her work. Well, so today, if I'm Simone,

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Speaker 2: I will really have to think of how I want

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Speaker 2: to end my job properly, not burn bridges, do a

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Speaker 2: good job in handing over rather than think too much

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Speaker 2: about the new job.

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Speaker 1: So what can she say to this would be

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Speaker 2: boss? I think just

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Speaker 2: you have to be honest to stop. Yeah, you can

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Speaker 2: say that. But you know, in a nicer way, Simon

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Speaker 2: can say that she wants to put her focus on

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Speaker 2: ending her current work. Well, and she wants to focus

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Speaker 2: on the new role when she joins them on the

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Speaker 2: first day.

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Speaker 1: That's a

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Speaker 1: very good holding statement.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Correct. So I think this also maybe signals to

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Speaker 2: the employer that, ok, there's a boundary and you know,

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Speaker 2: clearly where your priorities are so they can't take you

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Speaker 2: for a ride.

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Speaker 1: Ok, Simone, as promised, I asked Gerald your question and

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Speaker 1: I hope that our tips have been very useful to you.

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Speaker 1: If you have a question, write into us, we're at

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Speaker 1: CN A podcasts at media corp.com dot SG. We're happy

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Speaker 1: to take any of your questions. The team behind the

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Speaker 1: work it podcast is Christina Robert, Joan Chan, Jaini Johari

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Speaker 1: Sye Wen and Toh Yan Yan sound mixing is by

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Speaker 1: Cary Lim. Video by Haida Amin. I'm Gerald and I'm Tiffany.

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Speaker 1: Have a super work week ahead.

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Speaker 1: Ok?