Origin Energy Reviews

Massive structural changes being experienced to drive cost out, changes determined via desk top review, and little in the way of taking the time to understand current resource strengths and skills. Little to no change impact assessment completed and telling the story leaves a lot to be desired where authenticity doesn’t meet reality experienced by their people. The idea around this transformation was to make it simpler to get things done, however, what has ensued is a need to get things done with less people and no support to drive the culture, even less to hold people to account, with constant finger pointing / blaming others. It’s all smoke and mirrors with our senior leadership. The top layers are sadly out of touch and haven't listened to their leaders or their teams for far too long and recent changes have resulted in even poorer culture and a drop in engagement, which would account for absenteeism and productivity challenges being experienced. There was a drive to bring people back into the office, but done so in a way that has brought about challenges in what was once a flexible workplace, resulting in their people no longer feeling valued for their output or for their delivery. Rather than developing leaders to support them in managing performance and accountability through results, best just to bring people back into the office by connecting hybrid to the bonus structure.

Psychological safety does not exist here. Feedback is constantly requested. Anonymous surveys. Open forums. “We want your honest thoughts.” What happens next? Anonymous criticism is brought into town halls, dissected publicly and analysed like a crime scene. Leadership debates tone and timing. People start whispering about who wrote what. You can practically see the room doing the maths. The message is clear: speak up at your own risk. Rather than asking “What do we need to fix?”, the energy goes into “Who said this and why?” It creates paranoia. People self-censor. Conversations move offline. Trust evaporates. There was an all-team moment where leadership attempted to defend the department’s inclusivity by pointing to specific team members as evidence — including referencing someone’s sexuality in front of peers. Inclusion is not demonstrated by publicly using an employee’s identity as proof in a reputational defence. It was uncomfortable, unnecessary and deeply telling. Strategy shifts frequently. Priorities change quickly. The workload remains relentless. Documentation and systems lag behind expectations. The MLT talks about vision; the layer below absorbs the chaos. Below the MLT, people operate carefully. Not collaboratively — carefully. You measure your words. You rehearse questions in your head before asking them. You think twice before giving feedback. That’s not high performance. That’s survival mode. This isn’t about one tough quarter or one difficult project. It’s a sustained environment where psychological safety has been eroded by leadership behaviour. When senior leaders personalise criticism, defend themselves publicly, and speculate about who said what, the culture becomes one of caution, not creativity. High performers don’t burn out here because the work is hard. They burn out because they don’t feel safe. If psychological safety matters to you, avoid working here.