Unf*cking Work

It's a new year and we're ready to get things started on the right foot with the first episode of the Unf*cking Work podcast for 2023 by sharing our UnF*ckit List for the year ahead!

Tune in to hear our top picks for what has the best chance of improving work in the next 12 months:

🏴‍☠️The 4-day work week! It's a full culture shift where a reduction of hours doesn't equal a loss of pay. Proven to improve engagement, productivity, and energy levels.

🏴‍☠️ Why collective action, such as through trade unions, is necessary to unf*ck work and fight for basic benefits and a liveable wage.

🏴‍☠️How a strengths-based culture that understands and empowers individuals' strengths leads to increased sales, profits, and reduced staff turnover.

🏴‍☠️Fear-based management is unsustainable and leads to high employee turnover. We discuss why it should be replaced with a more humane, intuitive, and value-led leadership style.

Want to add to the UnF*ckit List? You can do that by clicking here!

Climb aboard, subscribe and join the movement!

If you want to hire or become a Work Pirate get started at https://www.workpirates.com/or follow us @WorkPirates

Rachael is the founder of SIC, shaking up what it means to have an accessible and inclusive workplace. Disabled since age 12, she has faced barriers to education and the workforce.

An inclusive work culture expert, Rachael takes academic theory combined with lived experience of disability and growing and leading both small and large-scale operations to effectively make change.

In this episode we dive into:

• How society fails disabled workers, and why companies need to build accessibility into work from the ground up

• Why employers underestimate those who don't fit the mould, and how people can thrive when given the suitable adjustments

• The power of the purple pound, and re-educating employers to ensure that the 47% of disabled people who are unemployed in the UK get the chance to work

Find Rachael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-mole

Rachael's company SIC: https://sicofficial.co.uk/

Help shape the future of Work Pirates! Take our survey now: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QYCLYCB

Remember, if you want to hire or become a Work Pirate, get started at https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates

Laura is a Consultant and Founder of Thrive Leadership. She helps businesses understand and manage stress to build cultures of resilience through workshops, programmes and retreats.

Laura co-hosts the "Healing Corporate Trauma" series which gives expert advice on personal strategies to protect against corporate trauma and how organisations can stop traumatising their people.

A registered yoga teacher, Laura leads transformational retreats around the world which help leaders use holistic and integrative practices to build self-awareness, compassion, and resilience.

In this Unf*cking Work episode, we dive into:

• The realities of corporate trauma and how to get distance from the 'monster' that is the corporate world.

• How do we measure the damage done mentally by bad workplaces?

• Why workplaces thrive when their staff are provided psychological safety.

Find Laura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracaiken/

Healing Corporate Trauma project: https://www.instagram.com/healingcorporatetrauma/

https://youtube.com/@corporatetrauma

Thrive Leadership:

www.thriveleadership.net

Remember, if you want to hire or become a Work Pirate, get started at

https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates

Laura Rothwell is an accidental marketer of almost two decades. After 10 years in fashion, retail, and destination marketing, she founded cultural communications agency Crystallised in 2013 to work on projects that prioritise people, planet, and purpose.

Over the years Crystallised - which is a certified B-Corp - has won multiple awards for their work with organisations in arts, culture, charity and ethical brands who believe in a better way of doing business.

An outspoken advocate of the 4-day work week and extremely passionate about dismantling capitalism, listen to this episode to find out how Laura is leading the way in unfucking work.

In this Unf*cking Work episode, we dive into:

• How to confront your internalised capitalism - is it giving you an illusion of equality? Why self-awareness and examining your own bias are crucial to minimising the negative impacts of living and working in a capitalist society.

• Is the business pursuit of 'more' risking the health of your staff? Why you need to prioritise pre-recovery, life/work balance and the protection of the individual.

• The reality of creating the company you've always wanted to work for: minimising exploitation and compromises to rethink and reshape what work can be.

Find Laura on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_laurarothwell_

Follow Crystallised on Twitter: https://twitter.com/crystalliseduk

Remember, if you want to hire or become a Work Pirate, get started at https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates

Great minds are Unf*cking Work alike in this month's episode as James and Michelle sit down with Neil Usher, Chief Workplace and Change Strategist and author of the upcoming book Unf*cking Work: How to Fix Work for Good (yes, he's on the same sweary mission as Work Pirates!).

This episode is a deep dive into what Neil believes is at the root of why work is f*cked. Join us to discover:

• Why unf*cking work has to start with empowering the individual and how nobody is coming to save you from the stormy seas of a bad workplace.
• How you can unpick and rebuild what isn't working for you, with real-life examples of how Neil has cut the cr*p, freeing up time and stopping unnecessary busy work.
• The power of reframing your thinking around your job; hear how Neil utilised the concept of 'being good neighbour' to unf*ck a workforce of over 3000 people and what you can do to implement it yourself!

With over 30 years in industry as a property, workplace and change leader, Neil has delivered innovative environments for organisations in a variety of sectors, all over the world including Warner Bros., Honeywell, Rio Tinto and Sky. He is now Chief Workplace & Change Strategist at GoSpace AI, creators of the only dynamic and intelligent workspace management application available today. He leads the advisory arm of the business, providing strategic and practical advice to clients on creating and operating human-centric workplaces in a hybrid world. He has been actively blogging about work for over a decade. His first book The Elemental Workplace was published in 2018, the follow-up Elemental Change in 2020 and his third Unf*cking Work is out in September this year.

Find Neil on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilusher/

Remember, if you want to hire or become a Work Pirate, get started at https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates

This week Work Pirates are unpacking (and unf*cking!) toxic workplaces with Jimi Okubanjo. Director of documentary film Vanishing Women: Why Senior Women of Colour are Fleeing the Corporate World, Jimi's expertise comes from her first-hand experience as a woman of colour in the global workplace and London over 20 years.

This episode is a treasure chest of Unf*cking Work wisdom, with Jimi giving insight on combating toxic workplaces. Join us and dive in to:

• Why work doesn't need to be a linear climb, and why leaving a job that's making you sad should never be considered a failure!

• Is your CEO lying to you? And what damage is done when we assume all employees have the same goals at work?

• The importance of doing the work! Why leaders must be proactive in combatting systemic issues and ensuring they pay people for their knowledge.

You can find Jimi:

Jimi's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/folajimi/

Vanishing Women website: https://www.vanishingwomen.com/allies/

Remember, if you want to hire or become a Work Pirate, get started at https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates

Work Pirates are ripping up the one-size-fits-all rule book with Rob Baker and Chloe Mark from Tailored Thinking and learning all about the power of Job Crafting!

Join them on this podcast journey to discover:

- How job crafting and personalisation can revolutionise your workforce and unf*ck the 'we've always done it that way' mantra

- Which small, positive and tangible differences will unf*ck your job (and the power of just 1% change!)

- Why Gen Z might be the greatest job crafters of us all

Rob is a specialist in bringing positive psychology to life within organisations. He is the founder and Chief Positive Deviant of Tailored Thinking, a pioneering evidence-based positive psychology, wellbeing and HR consultancy who were named the UK's HR Consultancy of the Year 2020 by the CIPD.

Chloe is the Marketing and Engagement Officer at Tailored Thinking, Chloe is passionate about changing the world of work for the better and helping others thrive.

Find out more about Tailored Thinking: https://tailoredthinking.co.uk

Remember, if you want to hire or become a Work Pirate get started at https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates

Raise the sails! We're five episodes into the Unf*cking Work podcast, and James and Michelle are dropping anchor, to pause and reflect on the voyage so far.

Dive into this episode where we explore:

• What will the work strikes across the country achieve and should we start a Work Pirates union?
• How do the Swedes do break times better than any other country?
• What is the 4-day work week trial in the UK and will it change anything?
• The one workplace that's too f*cked even for the Work Pirates and why if you don't value your staff properly, someone else will!

Climb aboard, subscribe and join the movement!

If you want to hire or become a Work Pirate get started at https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates

Work Pirates are joined by maverick talent maven Elizabeth Lembke. Jump aboard this episode to uncover golden nuggets of Unf*cking Work wisdom, including:

- What is the Great Resignation, and why is it happening now?

- How do we recognise and protect talent?

- The importance of civil courage in unf*cking work for everyone!

Trust us, this one is worth watching on our YouTube, Elizabeth's visual metaphors are not to be missed! Think maleficent horns and an oracle Furby. Yes, you read that right – this podcast features an oracle Furby. For the video version of this episode follow this link: https://youtu.be/KGPlicEnT5E

Elizabeth is a certified work, pedagogical, and culture psychologist, a systemic team and individual coach and is the Chief Talent Navigator at Transforming Talent, specialising in all thing's talent and impact-at-work related.

A talent and learning maven with 20+ years of experience in global, strategic, and hands-on HR, she is an ardent proponent in making talent and organisational development exhilarating - not debilitating.

In fact, Elizabeth is known as the devil's advocate for talent and has won multiple innovation, benchmark, and industry awards in Talent Development, Learning, Employee Engagement, and Human Resources.

You can find Elizabeth:

Website - https://transformingtalent.co

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.lembke

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hrimprov/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-lembke-6976547

Twitter - https://twitter.com/ElizabethLembke

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVZPJ8pc4ZfqhS6qjAPEPA

Remember, if you want to hire or become a Work Pirate get started at https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates

Sakshi is the world's first UNESCO Kindness Leader. She is the founder of Project LEAP, a social service project that she established at the age of 17 in India. Sakshi leads three key regions: India, Australia and Africa for the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) mission which is a part of an acceleration program for the SDGs globally.

As an Occupational Psychologist and published author, she also facilitates change management sessions globally and is creating a movement for Humanitarian Psychology based on her work on Kindness in organisations and ESG models. She also advises multiple AI-Based start-ups after three years of her own start-up experience which began in early high-school years. Sakshi has received recognition from the Division of Psychology in the UK, Association of Business Psychology, European Association of Work and Organisational Psychology and is frequently featured in various media mediums for her work.

She has made efforts to essentially- unf*ck work, one LinkedIn post at a time! She is currently researching ESG, social work and organisational resilience. She keeps sane by travelling alone with 54 trips under her belt (and counting).

You can find Sakshi at:

Website - Www.theprojectleap.org

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/project_leap

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sakshi-bansal

If you want to hire or become a Work Pirate get started at https://www.workpirates.com/ or follow us @WorkPirates