This Working Life

In the last 20 years, the way we’re employed has evolved almost as quickly as our mobile phones. For a lot of us that means our work has become a lot less secure than it once was. We explore why that is, the impact on us and what we can do about it.

Many of us dream about making big changes in the world, but so few do. So what does it take to be a changemaker?

Geoff Hucker’s 34-year career as a pilot took him around the globe multiple times. But he didn’t always feel the calling to make change. It was a trip to Ethiopia that led Geoff to start not one but two organisations aimed at making the world a better place: Beyond the Orphanage and Work For Impact.

And the end of 2020 is in sight and frankly it’s been a hell of a year. It’s been particularly tough on our mental health so we get some tips on how to manage mental health with people management specialist Karen Gately including avoiding burnout and what to do if one of your colleagues is struggling.

Producer: Maria Tickle

Never underestimate the power of habits, especially the teeny, tiny ones we repeat every day, the ones author James Clear calls “atomic habits”. We discuss Clear’s ideas of how we can harness habits to perform better at work especially in these stressful pandemic times with fangirl and neuroscientist Dr Sarah McKay.

Then organisational psychologist and leadership coach Dr Travis Kemp explains why You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney is his go-to work book.

Recommended read: Atomic Habits, How to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear.

Producer: Maria Tickle

“A group of behavioural scientists walk into a bar…”  

Sounds like the start of a joke right - it’s not.

Those ten people were gathering to perform sketch comedy and two of them ended up researching the hypothesis that humour is serious business and that it is vastly underleveraged in most workplaces today.   

Dr Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas now teach the course Humor: Serious Business at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and have co-authored the book Humor, Seriously: why humor is a secret weapon in business and life.

They explain what levity does to our brains and how anyone can harness it and use it skilfully at work.

Can you spot the finger in the photo? Now that's funny.

What is your humour type? Here is the quiz.

Producer: Maria Tickle

Trust is hard to gain but easy to lose. And it's crucial at work particularly in times of crisis like the current pandemic.

So how do you build trust with your colleagues and throughout the wider organisation? Can you re-build it after you lose it? And what does the neuro-chemical oxytocin have to do with trust?

GUESTS:

Dr Paul Zak, Professor of economic sciences, psychology and management, Claremont Graduate University and author of Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performance Companies 

Dr Nicole Gillespie, Professor of management and KPMG chair in organisational trust, University of Queensland.

Producers: Edwina Stott and Maria Tickle

What works and what doesn't in a virtual job interview? How should you prepare? And managers, how do you evaluate someone when they aren't in the same room? People management specialist Karen Gately has all the answers.

Producer: Maria Tickle

Is it too much to ask to be happy at work? Do you subscribe to the view that work mainly involves pain and suffering, that is why we get paid to do it. 

In this episode we explore the meaning of happiness, and why striving for society’s measures of career success: status, power, money - may not in fact lead you to happiness.

Our guest: Penny Locaso, author of Hacking Happiness: How to Intentionally Adapt and Shape the Future You Want and Dr Tim Sharp, clinical psychologist and founder of The Happiness Institute. Tim’s new podcast Habits for Happiness at Work: 10 Steps for Living Your Happiest Work Life is available on Audible.

Producer: Maria Tickle

Like it or not, your employer has the right to track and measure just about everything you do in your work day. But should they, is it helpful or does it simply kill motivation? In the second episode of our series on Big Brother at work, we examine how surveillance is changing the way we work and we ask what ever happened to trust?

Assistant Professor of marketing from UC San Diego, Dr Liz Lyons says that tracking employees at work can have varying end results - not all of them good. She shares some of the best examples of boosting productivity in the workplace through tracking and emphasises the importance measuring the right things.

On the other side of the fence is Professor Paul Zak, a 'neuroeconomist' who says that the secret to helping workers reach their potential, doesn't lie in tracking worker through tech, but can be found in our ability to build trust.

If you're certain tracking employees is the way to go though, Dr Joeri Mol, who's an expert in organizational studies from Melbourne University has a warning about the change that can occur in organisations when people simply know they're being watched.

This technology which allows bosses to track what workers are up to whenever and wherever they are has developed rapidly over the last few years and the market has only increased thanks to the pandemic causing a rise in those of us who work from home. So what does this mean for the future? Jathan Sadowski from the Emerging Technologies Research Lab has a warning and a few suggestions for how we could even the scales and get this tech working for the employees.

Producer: Edwina Stott

Supervising producer: Maria Tickle

Our team has self-experimented with the productivity tips we've covered in 2020 and we reveal the hits and misses. Warning: there IS a mention of "sex" so if taking about procreation bothers you, may we gently suggest an episode of Conversations.

Producer: Maria Tickle

PERFORMING IN A PANDEMIC EPISODES

How does your boss keep tabs on your work? Before the pandemic, they probably popped their head over the partition or reviewed your KPIs over a coffee. But now, with more of us working from home, many companies are increasingly using time tracking software or surveillance technologies that allow employers to check what you’re up to whenever and wherever you are, even if you don't work at a desk. So how are you being tracked, how is it changing your work and is there anything you can do about it?

GUESTSJathan Sadowski, Research Fellow at the Emerging Technologies Lab at Monash University Assistant Professor Liz Lyons, from UC San Diego School of Global Policy

Tyler Sellhorn, Head of Customer Experience for Hubstaff

Lauren Kate Kelly, Senior Policy Researcher at the United Workers UnionPatrick Turner, Senior Associate at Maurice Blackburn lawyers.

CASE STUDIESBen Worthington, IELTs Podcast

Producer: Edwina StottSupervising Producer: Maria Tickle