Joshua Evans

5.30 AM

I get up, get dressed, and go out to the car. Since it’s winter, I pour some water over the windshield to get rid of the frost, and I drive to the gym.

7.15 AM

Once I’ve smashed my one rep max, I drive home and prepare for the rest of the day. I have a shower, get into my suit, and prepare to take my kids to daycare and preschool. I pack their bags with a change of clothes and a lunchbox with a sandwich and some snacks.

8.40 AM

I drive to daycare, drop off one kid, then drive to preschool and drop off the other one. My kids always complain about going to daycare, but then when we arrive, they race in faster than me and are stoked to see their mates.

9.00 AM

I drive back home, park the car, and walk 5 minutes to the bus stop. The bus is a sacred time where I get to listen to music or a podcast uninterrupted.

9.35 AM

I arrive at work. As I arrive a little bit later than most of my colleagues, I normally just say hi briefly and pick up where I left off the day before. When I arrive, there is usually a bit of news exchange. Our team is friendly and has a strong sense of humor, so there’s often some good banter or some interesting stories. As our work can be affected by current events, exchanging news is part of my work, and it’s one of my tasks as a graduate to find relevant news articles and distribute them to the team so that we stay wise about what’s happening in our area.

I start working by catching up on emails, which, strangely, I enjoy. It’s satisfying when I get a response to a question that I’ve been trying to answer, or when an important report comes through.

10.00 AM

It's time to go into a meeting. My team tests policy with stakeholders, meaning that we have the job of talking to lots of different groups, which can be other groups within the government, unions, businesses, or other community groups. We talk to them about how particular communities are impacted by a specific policy. These meetings are usually for collecting feedback on a program that we are all working on together, to make joint decisions, or to share progress on mutual tasks. Most meetings are about 1 hour long, and there are usually 1–2 per day in this role.

11.00 AM

The morning meeting is usually finished, and I return to my work. For the last few months, this has meant researching and producing reports on large business collapses. As there’s often flexibility to spend our time as we see fit, obviously we need to get work done, but sometimes people take 10 minutes to get a coffee or a snack at this time.

12.00 PM

Time for lunch. Our office has heaps of food shops, and a shopping center within 5 minutes’ walk, so I go out and grab lunch. I often meet people for lunch or relax in the square near work for a while.

1.00 PM

Back at my desk. I log into Kahoot and progress through the graduate learning assigned to us by the department. I’m learning about how the government is structured, and about how the government achieves its aims through the long arms of the law. My work is one of these aims, as we are empowered to do specific things, such as design a program that supports retrenched workers, so the training helps me do my job.

3.00 PM

I met with my supervisor to discuss the impact of an important email our team received from another part of our department. This email has a draft version of a website that I have recommended changes to and will be a tool that retrenched workers use to help process what’s happened to them and move on to the next stage. We divide the work we need to do into sections so that the team can progress.

5.30 PM

I knock off work and catch the bus home.

6.00 PM

I arrive home, give my wife and kids hugs, and play with my kids before dinner. This usually means chasing them around, playing hide and seek, or a game where I am always the villain that Spiderman (my son, 2.5 y.o.) beats.

6.30 PM

We say grace, have dinner together, and talk about how the day was. I usually have a good laugh about the funny things my kids do and say throughout the day.

7.00 PM

I read the kids a story or two, make them brush their teeth, and put them to bed, which usually takes 30-45 minutes.

8.00 PM

I do some chores and set out my clothes for the next day.

9.00 PM

Once everything is done, I get some time to relax! Often, I read or respond to calls or messages from friends and family.

10.00 PM

Off to sleep!

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