With above-award wages, free meals and recruit-a-friend programs, semi-skilled casual work in Canberra is not what it used to be, especially in the hotly contested hospitality and tourism sector.
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Worker exploitation scandals have dominated headlines in recent months with companies like 7-eleven and Pizza Hutt in trouble for exploiting and under-paying young employees.
But for the ACT's tourism sector, beset with a shortage of good staff, it is all about keeping its people happy.
Canberra's National Convention Centre needs a lot of casual waiting staff to run its business and manager Steve Wood says he and his team are determined that the workforce knows they've got some of the best casual jobs in town.
They start from first principles: most important thing in any job is getting paid the proper amount and getting your wages on time.
"We pay an amount stipulated by the enterprise agreement, which is above the award," Mr Wood said.
"We pay about $18.76 per hour, but there are a number of things that influence what that is, if you're on a seven-day availability, you're on a higher rate and then various levels.
"To attract and retain that good talent, we need to be paying people above that base level because it is competitive out there."
Retention is one thing, hiring is another and the Centre, run by the InterContinental Hotel Group, sees a steady stream of ANU students coming through those big glass doors.
But just to keep things moving along, there is an informal refer-a-friend scheme allowing workers to allow their mates to become their workmates.
"We realise that camaraderie in a team is a really critical factor to people enjoying their time at work and doing a good job," Mr Wood said.
"One of the things we rely on is that we try to look after our staff so that they're comfortable saying their friends that it's a good workplace and they should come and work here."
Then there's the food, with three hot meal choices, a salad bar, toasted sandwiches, an espresso coffee machine all for free, these are perks most former student wait staff would not recognise.
"We make sure the staff are well looked after from a meal perspective whether they are working a day shift or an evening shift," Mr Wood said.
The Canberra Business Chamber confirmed that employers were having to work harder than ever to attract and keep their semi-skilled workers and in the growing tourism sector in particular, being a bad boss would prove to be bad for business.
Chamber chief executive Robyn Hendry said the majority of the ACT's workforce were either skilled or highly skilled workers.
"This creates strong demand in the ACT from businesses seeking to employ low or unskilled workers," Ms Hendry said.
"This competition creates an environment where businesses are not only committed to meeting minimum wage and employment conditions for these staff, but offer incentives and benefits to attract and keep these workers."
