This Working Life

A new study has revealed that we trust management decisions made with AI involvement more than those made by humans alone. But what does the future of this digital co-worker look like?

And how many of us actually trust the technology, and how does where we live change that level of trust?

“It’s not reasonable to ask people to function without daylight, sleep and proper food for weeks and months at a time” - Ruby, lawyer.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about reasonable and unreasonable work hours, thanks to a certain high profile legal case.

Research has found Australians are working some of the longest hours in the world. It’s costing us tens of billions of dollars in unpaid wages, with experts calling it 'time theft'.

So when is it ok for your boss to ask you to work overtime? And what is overwork doing to our brains and bodies?

The weekends are easy to fill with a long list of things you want to get done. Chores, errands and, yes, even work make their way onto that list.

Then all of a sudden it’s Sunday night and you feel like you haven’t rested at all, and another work week is right around the corner.

So how can we better harness the power of the weekend for an energised and productive week ahead?

The good news is that it’s a simple solution you can implement immediately.

It’s being called “world’s best practice” and we’re being told to take it seriously.

A new code of practice and regulation will be protecting your psychological health at work from April 1st. It explicitly addresses psychological harm and the psychosocial hazards at work that can cause things like burnout, depression and anxiety.

So what are these hazards exactly, and how will the code work in practice?

Picture a capital T. 

The vertical line is the Expertise line - your deep experience in your field.

Then the horizontal bar is the Generalist line - your other interests and experiences that can combine with your expertise to strengthen it.

This is called the T-shape - and it’s being recognised as a powerful tool for people and teams to innovate at work. 

But what exactly we can put into the horizontal line that can add to our vertical expertise line might surprise you.

Meaning, purpose, identity – all of these are wrapped up in our work and career. So it's no surprise that when we step away from work we can feel a bit unmoored.

In the second half of our two-part special on the 'unretirement' movement, we look at what's underpinning this return to work in retirement years.

It can come down to rediscovering purpose and meaning in both life and work. But how can we do that?

While you might be dreaming about the day you can clock off work forever — why are we instead seeing so many people leaving the green and re-opening the laptop?

It's all part of a trend being dubbed the 'great unretirement', in which 40% of the nearly half a million people who entered the labour force in the last three years were over the age of 55. Which has led to Australian workers now retiring at the oldest age since the early 1970s.

So, what's driving it? And who are the people getting back into work when they're meant to have their feet up?

We’ve all had to work with ‘that’ difficult person that we just clash with. It’s tense. It’s stressful. And it’s exhausting.

So, do we have to get along to do our best work? Or is it in our best interests to make peace and move on? And how can we best do that? The solutions might surprise you.

We’ve seen the Great Resignation, Lying Flat in China and Quiet Quitting. And now we’re hearing murmurings of another movement that some are calling ‘Anti-Striving’. So what exactly is it? And what will making peace with feeling less ambitious bring us in the long-term?

How inclusive are workplaces for the rainbow community? What is working and what needs improving?

We hear how small things like conversation starters can help LGBTIQ+ people feel more welcome and safe at work, and how larger things like equitable design in physical and virtual spaces can improve belonging and job satisfaction.