Work Appropriate

Sometimes the job is fine, the pay is fine, the schedule is fine, but you still feel stuck. It's a miserable feeling, like no matter what you do, this is going to be your life until the end of time. Josh Gondelman, pep talker extraordinaire and our first three-peat guest, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to offer some glimmers of hope to listeners who feel woefully, hopelessly stuck.

Of all the roles you can have at a workplace, "intern" is one of the most vulnerable. Alice Wilder, writer of the Starting Out newsletter, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about how to get taken seriously as an intern, how to justify paying interns when you think they don't add much to the company's bottom line, and how to make an internship program worth everyone's time.

Ifeoma Ozoma joins host Anne Helen Petersen for a much-requested episode about the trials and tribulations workers face in the tech industry. From overwork to the nebulous "culture fit," we answer listeners' questions about when the start-up hustle is no longer worth it.

Is considering diversity in hiring actually reverse racism? What if advocating for my colleagues of color means I lose my job? What do I do if I think my colleague doesn't like me because I'm a white guy?  Garrett Bucks, writer of The White Pages and founder of The Barnraisers Project, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer questions from white listeners struggling with issues of allyship and social justice at work.

As the saying goes, death is a part of life. So why are workplaces so ill-equipped to provide employees with compassionate and expansive bereavement leave? Dina Gachman, author of So Sorry For Your Loss: How I Learned to Live with Grief, and Other Grave Concerns, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about dealing with grief at work.

What do you do when your job is burning you out, but you can't really *care less* about it? When children need teachers and vulnerable populations need social workers and hospitals need nurses-- how can you walk away? Dena Simmons, founder of LiberatED, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about how to make caring professions more sustainable.

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A sneak peek of the first book from Crooked Media Reads, Mobility, by Lydia Kiesling. Mobility is a gripping coming-of-age story about navigating a world of corporate greed that's both laugh-out-loud funny and politically incisive. The novel tracks themes of class, power, politics, and desire throughout the life of its compelling main character, Bunny Glenn. 

Vulture called Bunny Glenn “a complicated heroine for the ages, a striver who values the comforts of her oil-industry job even as she must reckon with the fact that the world is quite literally on fire.” 

Mobility is out on August 1. Pre-order your copy today at www.crooked.com/mobility

Lydia Kiesling, author of Mobility, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about the amorphous intersection of parenting and work. We’re talking about big, philosophical questions about fulfillment, passion, and even division of ambition with your co-parent.

Rebecca Cokley, program officer for the Ford Foundation's first-ever U.S. Disability Rights program, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about navigating the workplace while disabled. From advocating for accommodations, to giving yourself a pep talk during a relapse, to saying "no" to work travel while immunocompromised-- Rebecca shares the wisdom that comes from lifelong personal experience.

There's a persistent idea that when you finish high school or college, you pick a career and then do that one thing for the rest of your life. But what if you get a few years, or even decades, in... and you hate it? Can you pivot? Ailsa Chang, host of NPR's All Things Considered joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about making a change.

Need advice about a sticky situation at work? Head to www.workappropriate.com and tell us about it. Some episodes we’re working on include problems around taking a much-needed vacation, juggling parenthood with work, and making caring professions (e.g. teaching, nursing) more sustainable.

Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events.