And finally…inform tax

The government department sent out a memo to 20,000 staff in December urging them to be aware of workmates’ behaviours and, according to local reports, the instructions encourage staff to report things like inaccurate timesheets or those spending too long reading the newspaper.

The memo began by asking workers: “See something suspicious?”

“You might have seen it before. A colleague makes a habit of taking long lunches, or regularly leaves early, or spends the first hour at work eating breakfast and reading the paper… or all of the above,” read the memo, now published on the agency’s website.

The memo also claims that falsifying work hours constituted “fraud” - something all employees were obliged to help report ,and it urged staff to raise suspicious behaviour with management or internal investigators.

In a statement, the tax office - Australia’s main revenue collection agency - said the majority of its workers had complied with its expectations.

“We are proud to have a workforce which seeks to uphold the highest levels of integrity, which the community would expect,” it said.

“Integrity is everyone’s business and we continually raise awareness of integrity matters with staff.”

However, Associate Prof Angela Knox, a workplace expert from the University of Sydney, said the policy would inevitably lead to higher turnover rates among staff and drops in motivation and productivity.

“If I were an employee I would be thinking that the workplace doesn’t trust me and that perhaps I should rethink the trust I have put into the workplace”, she said.