7.00 AM
My alarm goes off. Working from home means I can enjoy a little extra sleep. I make myself a coffee and toast, read the news on my phone and catch some sunshine to wake up properly.
7.30 AM
Work time. I’m in Brisbane, but with border restrictions I was fortunately able to work my third rotation remotely in the Behavioural Research & Policy team, which is primarily based in Sydney and Melbourne. I decided to do my own personal daylight savings and start and finish my day early to sync up with my team. The first thing I do is read through my emails, which include ASIC’s daily media report. It’s a great way to stay on top of what’s happening at ASIC, across the industry and in government.
8.15 AM
As my team is split across three offices, we catch up three times a week for a quick morning video call. We chat about our work, what’s happening in the news or just share a funny story from our personal lives. It’s a great way to maintain the social connection while most of the team is still working from home.
8.45 AM
Time to get stuck into my rotation project. I’m working on a paper that looks into complexity in the credit card industry, which will supplement a report my team is preparing on the challenges faced by financial consumers when dealing with complexity. My paper might be sent out in a media pack accompanying the main report, so I’m working on communicating the most salient findings with appealing graphics.
10.20 AM
My dog walks into my office so I take the opportunity to play with her while I brew another coffee and stretch my legs.
10.30 AM
I keep chipping away at my credit card research, now looking at the features of one specific credit card for a more detailed analysis.
11.00 AM
Each week I video call my manager for our one-on-one catch-up. We fill each other in on the work we’re doing, the behavioural science podcasts we’ve been listening to and our plans for the weekend. It’s also a good opportunity for me to run some ideas for my paper by my manager, who provides me with helpful feedback and steers me in the right direction.
12.00 PM
Lunch time. I jump on my bike and ride down the road to my regular local lunch spot. It’s a beautiful sunny day so I spend the rest of my lunch break down by the river listening to music and enjoying the breeze.
1.00 PM
One of my team members has asked me to research a legal issue concerning remediation payments. I’ve almost finished, but just want to research one last point and do a final proofread of my file note.
3.30 PM
I receive a message from some of the recent Brisbane grads who have organised to meet for drinks on Friday night. Since a lot of us have been working from home, we’re all looking forwards to catching up in person, so I let them know I’ll be there.
3.40 PM
I’ve found the answer to the last legal point I was researching and am now happy with how my file note looks so I send it off.
4.00 PM
The day starting early also means that it finishes early, so I make a mental note of the tasks and meetings I have on for the rest of the week before logging off and heading out to play basketball with some of my mates.