This Working Life

Is COVID-19 making you push yourself too far at work? Could you be at risk of burnout?

We explore what causes burnout, how to recognise and deal with it and how burnout can even become deadly.

GUESTS

Professor Michael Leiter has extensively researched the experience of burnout at work, most recently through Deakin University in Victoria.

Dr Nadine Hamilton is a psychologist who works with veterinarians and her PhD research looked at vets' lived experience of animal euthanasia.

And sharing their stories of burnout: Marie Cecile Godwin, UX designer and editor of Burnout: let’s reignite the flame; Alice Cooney, the Law Institute of Victoria's Young Lawyers president; and vet Dr Claire Stevens.

This episode kicks off our four-part series: Performing in a Pandemic. We know that things won’t “snap back” exactly to the way they were - so how do you prepare yourself to adjust to this new way of working? In our next episode: what to eat to optimise mental performance.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Nadine's book is Coping with Stress and Burnout as a Veterinarian and her charity is Love Your Pet Love Your Vet.

Claire's book is Love Your Dog.

If this episode has raised any issues for you the number for Lifeline is 13114

Producer: Maria Tickle

Hump day help for these stressful times in our new bonus episodes. In business you need to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run. Especially in the world of fashion.Something investor Roanne McGinley Knox learnt the hard way.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts,” according to Winston Churchill.

So when is a mistake a failure? How do we avoid failure becoming fatal and could failing actually be good for our careers? Psychologist Dr Rachael Sharman from Sunshine Coast University has studied failure and she has the answers. And Dr Paige Williams from the University of Melbourne explains why we need to become “anti-fragile” to help us fail better and get ahead at work, especially if you are a leader.

BOOK: Becoming Anti-fragile by Dr Paige Williams

Which of the following is legal: Your boss can ask you to work more hours than usual to "earn" jobkeeper, your boss can force you to take annual leave, or your boss can make you take leave without pay?

Jobkeeper legislation has temporarily rewritten the rules around employment here in Australia. So to clear things up we're diving into the murky waters of what your boss can and can’t ask you to do and what YOU can ask of THEM in return. Helping us is Zana Bytheway, executive director with the not-for-profit legal service Jobwatch.

Then then we learn the art of negotiation so that you can get what you want, and deserve, at work. But if you are a woman beware, because according to research by Dr Ruchi Sinha from The University of South Australia, you have to choose a different approach to men or it could have a "social cost".

I(f you are listening on Apple Podcasts and enjoy the show please take a moment to rate and review.)

Producers: Maria Tickle and Zoe Ferguson

Finding yourself the right mentor is more critical than ever before to get through these tough and uncertain times at work. But how do you find the right mentoring relationship? And do men and women need different things out of it?

In this episode: * Bobbi Mahlab from Mentor Walks explains and how walking and talking helps develop a safe and trusting environment for sharing for women.

* Miles Protter of pro bono mentoring program Men’s Business tells why having a mentor is so critical for men.

* Writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law and entrepreneurs Naomi Simson (Red Balloon and TV series The Shark Tank), Kietah Martens-Shaw and Julie Demsey tell how mentoring has helped them in their careers.

Producer: Maria Tickle

Is it safe to go back? How should it be managed? Will your skirt/pants still fit or is an emergency shopping trip on the cards?

As restrictions begin to ease around the country, businesses are grappling with how to transition employees back to the office space. And employees are struggling with the idea too.

We speak with Clare Harding who heads up the return to the workplace transition at consulting firm Deloitte, where 10,000 employees were transitioned to remote working in one week. Their approach will be a staggered hybrid model, with a “pilot” mindset.

According to a recent survey by the Australian HR Institute the thing employees are most anxious about are their health and wellbeing. AHRI CEO Sarah McCann-Bartlett describes how employers might provide such support in the return to work.

And finally, Jim Stanford, the director of the Centre for Future Work, draws attention to the flip side of remote working - what are employee’s rights to demand a safe office working environment?

Stood down or sacked and needing to pivot to find a job? Which way? How?

Do you need to upskill, reskill, into which industry? It's all a bit hard and even hard in a global crisis so we've pulled together some expert advice.

We've mined the collective wisdom of an entrepreneur, psychologist and a career coach to share their insights and tips on how to bag your next role or career move if you have been stood down or lost your job due to Covid-19. GUESTS:Adam Jacobs, co-founder of Hatch Exchange a B-B online marketplace for workers who have been stood down due to the pandemic and THE ICONIC, online fashion store.Rhonda Andrews, senior psychologist at Barrington CentreKate Richardson, career mentor and executive coach

(And if you enjoy the show help us out by rating and reviewing us, it helps others find us.)

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.

And we delve into the origin and uses of corporate jargon and buzzwords with Charbel el Khaissi, he’s a consultant in AI and language technology who is studying a PhD in linguistics at ANU. 

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

Producer: Maria Tickle

Emotions at work - do you repress or ruminate? One thing that is being truly tested at the moment at work and in our personal lives is our ability to deal with the uncertainty and emotional turmoil brought about by this pandemic. 

So this week we’re revisiting a conversation with Dr Susan David, one of the world’s leading management thinkers and a Harvard medical school psychologist.  Susan's Ted Talk has been viewed more than seven million times and her book Emotional Agility is a bestseller.

Susan discusses the benefits of bringing our whole selves to work; emotions as data not directives (we shouldn't let them boss us around) and why emotional agility is important for teamwork and creativity.

We sort fact from wishful thinking when it comes to some of the biohacks Lisa feels is helping her do her best work while working from home in these uncertain times. 

And as usual we’ve enlisted a posse of experts to run them through the hard science research filter.

Butter coffee, chaga (dried fungus “coffee”), "earthing" and mindfulness meditation all go under the microscope. Will any of them survive to be utilized another day?

Guests: 

Accredited nutritionist and dietician Catherine Saxelby from FoodWatch

Belinda Smith, freelance science journalist on sabbatical from ABC Science

Dr Nicholas Van Dam, clinical neuroscientist Deputy Director of the Brain and Mental Health Hub within the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. Nicholas is currently recruiting volunteers for a research project into mindfulness meditation.

Never miss a show! Subscribe to our weekly podcast on the ABC Listen app, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or your favourite podcast app. (And if you enjoy the show help us out by rating us with those little stars it helps others find us.)

Producer: Maria Tickle