This Working Life

Taking very small doses of magic mushrooms or LSD every few days in a bid to boost productivity, creativity, focus and mental health has become perhaps surprisingly popular in Australia and around the globe. People are experimenting with tiny doses of illegal psychedelic drugs to help them perform better at work. But why take this risk, and does it even work?

Scientific studies on microdosing are in the early days but Vince Polito, cognitive psychologist and senior research fellow at Macquarie University, is at the forefront of research in Australia. 

We also hear from workers microdosing around Australia. 

Premortems - How to practise hindsight in advance, by looking at what went wrong before it does. And on the flip side, imagining success and how you got there, with a previctorem.

When is an interaction an interruption? Why do we now feel the need to ask if it’s OK to interrupt a colleague, in the middle of a work day? And hybrid work has made managing communication even more nuanced, yet crucial. Our guests explore the benefits of talking, and what we lose when we stick to typing.

Office renos for the hybrid world....organisations with empty floors are figuring out how to make the office more useful and attractive.

Guests:

Evodia Alaterou - design strategist at Hassell, principal in the Melbourne studio 

Ethan Bernstein - associate professor of business administration at  Harvard Business School.

Peter Wheatley - PWC workplaces leader

Presenter: Lisa Leong

Producer: Sarah Allely

Tony Fadell was instrumental in creating the iPod and the IPhone. 

He shares in his book Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making - that his greatest successes have come from his greatest failures. And he has some dooseys. 

Micro stressors - they’re just a normal part of the day, right? From when you wake up and check your messages, listen to the news, wrangle your kids, jostle your way to work, and then deal with that colleague…you’re stressed without anything major actually happening. Rob Cross says the people who maintain and prioritise their social connections, often through shared activities, are way less affected by these micro stressors.

Guest:

Rob Cross is a professor at Babson College, which teaches entrepreneurship. His latest book, The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems--and What to Do about It, comes out next year.

Presenter: Lisa Leong

Producer: Sarah Allely

This Working Life explores ideas that are shaping changes in workplaces.

What we want in our leaders has evolved; we’ve seen a growing desire for more ethical and empathetic leaders.

But destructive leaders are still in charge in many workplaces and their impacts are far-reaching. So how can we identify them and, more importantly, change them?

We look at the personality traits and four styles of destructive leaders and get some tips on how to avoid them to help improve employee and business wellbeing.

How’s your mental health? Is it affecting your work? Or maybe it’s the other way around and your work is affecting your headspace? Employee Assistance Programs….what are the pros and cons, and how could they work better? Is confidentiality actually a problem? And if so what can be done to make it safer?

Workplace bullying is a complex and insidious problem that one in 10 of us in Australia experience at some stage in our careers.

We look at the organisational structures behind bullying itself, how many of us might be unwilling bystanders, and the impact it has on us physically and mentally.