Game Plan

In the first episode of The Pay Check, we go deep on pay discrimination. Host Rebecca Greenfield tells us about an equal pay fight in her own family. We take you inside a gender discrimination case against Goldman Sachs that’s been unfolding for over a decade. And we look at how companies magically make their pay gaps disappear—without actually paying women more.

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In our last episode of Game Plan before a hiatus, we cleared our backlog of Half-Baked Takes; the weekly segment in which we give voice to some of our most passionate ideas before thinking them all the way through. Come for the take-down of guessing your co-worker’s age, stay for definitive rulings on the value of sheep and movies.

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We'd like to think that what we wear to work doesn't matter, but tons of research has found that it does. Yes, people judge you based on your outfit choices. The right work wear can also make us feel good and enhance our performance. One study found that participants dressed in suits negotiated for more money; another found that formal wear facilitates creative thinking. 

 

This week on Game Plan, Rebecca and Francesca learn how to dress well for work. Chris Rovzar, the editorial director of Bloomberg Pursuits, our luxury and lifestyle vertical, joins the show to answer all their work fashion questions. 

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Employers are increasingly putting prospective workers through personality tests. The idea is that certain characteristics lend themselves to certain types of work, and that a straightforward job interview can’t identify them. Rebecca and Francesca talk about how much personality matters at work, and the pitfalls of testing workers. Guest Melissa Dahl discusses her book “Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness,” and whether awkward types can get a leg up in the workplace.

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The initial allegations against Harvey Weinstein have opened the floodgates for what seems to be an unrelenting stream of sexual harassment claims against the powerful. But this isn’t the first time the country has had to reckon with inappropriate behavior in the workplace. In 1991, Anita Hill testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about the alleged harassment of Clarence Thomas, who was ultimately confirmed to the Supreme Court. This week, Francesca and Rebecca look back at the decades since her testimony and talk about what has and hasn’t changed. We hear from Hill, who Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait interviewed at Bloomberg’s “Year Ahead” conference, about how we can take the current moment and create safer workplaces.

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Career coaches claim to help navigate everything from nailing a tough interview to figuring out what you want to do with your life. Rebecca and Francesca sat down with prominent career coach Vicki Salemi to talk through their own career transitions and find out what really goes on in these sessions.

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Most of us are really bad at thinking about and planning for our retirement. Only a third of Americans contribute to employer-provided 401(k) accounts. And around half have no retirement savings at all. There are lots of forces working against us when it comes to saving up for the future. But never fear, the behavioral economists can save us. See, it’s not our fault that we’re bad at saving: We’re wired to make bad retirement decisions. At least that’s what Steve Wendel, a behavioral scientist, us. Steve teaches us how to take advantage of our shortcomings as humans, and trick ourselves into becoming super savers.

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After dozens of women accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and harassment over decades, some singled out the Hollywood power structure for criticism. But in recent years, harassment scandals, inequities and patterns of abuse and mistreatment have been uncovered in nearly every field. There are common themes across disciplines, but they each require unique solutions. Becca and Francesca talk to Beth Alpert Nakhai, an archeologist and professor who is working to make digs safer for women.

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By some measures, at the end of last year LGBTQ workers in the U.S. had more protections than ever before. The Trump administration, however, has proven to be hostile to the LGBTQ community. All of these big picture policy changes trickle down into people’s every day lives. Francesca and Rebecca dig into what it’s like to be an LGBTQ worker in 2017. The hosts of Nancy, a WNYC Studios podcast about queer life, join them to talk about the decision to come out, how to navigate discrimination, and other unique challenges of being gay in the office at this moment in time.

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Work meetings at hotel bars, making small talk with total strangers, and waiting in line to use the restroom: It's that time-tested corporate ritual, the conference. This week, Rebecca and Francesca went to a conference to report on the $14 billion conference industry. Attendees shared their thoughts on conferences, panels, and compulsory networking.

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