Working It

This week on Working It we take a step back from day-to-day workplace life and explore the issue of whistleblowing. What drives people to speak up against their employers - and what happens to those staff? Does it necessarily end your career in that company? Isabel talks to Siri Nelson, executive director of the US National Whistleblower Center. Siri has devoted her professional life to protecting the rights of those who speak up. She offers advice for listeners who have seen something wrong and want to report it (first step: get a lawyer). Siri and Isabel discuss some of the whistleblowers who have changed history - including Sherron Watkins. In 2001 she was a popular member of staff at US energy giant Enron, but when she spoke out about corruption in the company, it made her an outcast at work. Her efforts were not in vain, though - and Watkins ended up testifying at government hearings. Plus, Isabel gets some insights from the FT’s whistleblowing expert, Brooke Masters, our chief business columnist. What sorts of staff decide to report wrongdoing? And how can managers ensure that our corporate cultures encourage honesty - and can deal with internal problems before it is too late? Want to read more? National Whistleblower Center [US] - lots of advice and resources https://www.whistleblowers.org/Whistleblowers UK -British campaigning group https://www.wbuk.org/ Brooke Masters on why whistleblowers deserve our thanks - and protection https://www.ft.com/content/7e89bfa8-25d5-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0The corruption of cronyism in workplaces - and a whistleblower's experience of calling it out https://www.ft.com/content/98fdcde8-eba1-45b3-98a6-eceb5269e07cAndrew Hill on the business lessons learned from Enron, 20 years after its collapse https://www.ft.com/content/4676e3e2-bdaa-4c78-8011-49508279c9eaWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle in 2022? Email the team at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Working It is a bit different. It turns out our most read stories so far this year have been about hybrid working, a term that describes working weeks split between the office and working from home. Not only do readers binge on the topic, they also have very strong views, so we thought we’d open up the debate here, too. Isabel talks to FT experts Camilla Cavendish and Pilita Clark, who have both written columns on hybrid work that went viral. Camilla and Pilita point out that the progressive view on hybrid work is that employers need to be flexible and allow more homeworking, even after the pandemic ends. But the reality is that many business leaders are afraid to say to their staff that there are many benefits to being in the office. We talk about loneliness, mental health, collaboration and what the future of hybrid work will look like. Isabel also shares what some of the FT readers think. Why is hybrid so polarising? Because it’s so personal. Want to read more? These are the columns we discuss in this podcast:Camilla Cavendish - ‘It’s Time to Admit That Hybrid is Not Working’https://www.ft.com/content/d0df2f1b-2f83-4188-b236-83ca3f0313dfPilita Clark - ‘If You Thought Hybrid Working was Hard, Wait Until 2022’https://www.ft.com/content/006e0751-21ee-4ab0-8bd2-0b954c7132dfWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle in 2022? Email the team at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we are stepping outside the 9 to 5. Side hustles, second jobs, crafting and more have boomed as millions of workers embraced working from home during the pandemic. Isabel talks to Tim Fung, co-founder of Airtasker, a platform for buying and selling services and skills, used by many as a way to earn extra cash. How does he cope with his own staff’s side hustles?Taylor Nicole Rogers, the FT’s US labour and equality correspondent, explains that many people have two jobs because of shortfalls in pay. But during the pandemic many of us lost touch with our workplaces and focused on developing a sense of personal purpose and identity. Building an Etsy business or sock-selling empire is one expression of that - and having tasted freedom, it’s easier to walk away from a main job.Isabel and Taylor come up with strategies for managers dealing with staff side hustles.    Want to read more? Follow Taylor Nicole Rogers on FT.com for her reporting on employment trends https://www.ft.com/taylor-nicole-rogersThe banker turned bamboo socks seller  https://www.ft.com/content/5f0e6c76-7cda-4b62-bb2f-36fd4771efaaFinancial influencer Ken Okoroafor on how his side hustle TheHumblePenny.com became a big business https://www.ft.com/content/27eff0d1-e2d0-4e41-afaf-c2aadf437873We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle in 2022? Email the team at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many of us work with - and manage - people 30 years older or younger than we are. And sometimes it can feel like there's a bit of dissonance between the "wisdom and experience" that Gen X and Boomers can bring, and the "innovative energy" of those in their twenties and thirties. So what, and how, can both learn from each other? Isabel (Gen X) explores how reverse mentoring programmes are bridging the generation gaps in a growing number of organisations. She talks to Alvaro Romero Artigas, a (Gen X) senior manager at Santander, the bank, and to his mentor, Philippa Whelan (a young Millennial) who have been in a reverse mentoring partnership since 2018.  Josh Chaffin, the FT’s New York correspondent (Gen X), talks about the different expectations of younger colleagues and the importance of making an effort to know colleagues with different cultural reference points - and that’s not just an age thing.  Plus, Josh challenges Isabel’s fixed ideas about corporate culture. He says that younger staff and new staff can help change culture from the bottom up - it’s not just about older people passing on their institutional knowledge. Want to read more ? Tips for managers in a multi-generational workplace, by former Google executive Sarah Drinkwater https://www.ft.com/content/f56d6a1b-9d64-4380-ac84-a44cb1bebb0fThe return of the corporate handbook, helping to create workplace culture for everyone. By Emma Jacobs https://www.ft.com/content/b69d4fb7-9b6b-4507-bb0e-ac9a02de37baWhy reverse mentoring works and how to get it right - from Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2019/10/why-reverse-mentoring-works-and-how-to-do-it-rightWhat younger staff expect from their managers - tl;dr - they want a LOT of information and feedback. This is a really useful survey from IMD business school https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/making-generational-differences-work-what-empirical-research-reveals-about-leading-millennials/We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle in 2022? Email the team at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Team building sessions and awaydays have always been a part of office culture. But in a post-pandemic world, where we meet our colleagues IRL, or even in the virtual metaverse, will the awayday survive? Isabel explores the appeal of the awayday with Ed Mumm, who owns Dig This, a ‘super sized sandbox’ for adults in Las Vegas. Driving Ed’s giant diggers is a popular team day out, giving staff the chance to let loose and compete for prizes. Andrew Hill, FT management editor, talks about more ‘out there’ awaydays - including geese herding and Hunger Games reenactments - and what staff get out of them. Research on the topic is scant, but it’s likely that the impact is short-term and focuses [can an impact focus on?] on improved interpersonal relations.The serious version of the awayday is the corporate offsite, where leaders gather to discuss strategy or do a course. There’s a long history of big companies having their own ‘campuses’ for training and retreats - famously GE’s Crotonville in New York State. That might be coming back into vogue - Salesforce’s Marc Benioff has talked about buying a ranch for his employees. Finally, Andrew and Isabel discuss what might be next for team building and strategy days. Aside from ayahuasca journeys - favoured by some out-there start-ups - the metaverse offers a lot of potential for remote teams to gather in one place, joined via headsets.  Want to read more ? Andrew Hill on working in the metaverse ttps://www.ft.com/content/61ce8588-5233-44d0-aa12-ce9ed60fb314 ... and on strategy awaydays ttps://www.ft.com/content/4aa19b24-6935-11e6-a0b1-d87a9fea034fGE’s own fascinating history of Crotonville - established in the ‘Mad Men’ era, and still going strong https://www.ge.com/news/reports/inside-crotonville-ges-corporate-vault-unlockedEd Mumm’s Dig This in Las Vegas, where you can watch your boss drive a giant digger https://digthisvegas.com/From our colleagues at the tech news site Sifted, strange stories of taking psychedelics on team awaydays https://sifted.eu/articles/psychedelic-retreat/We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle in 2022? Email us at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter or Instagram.Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Belinda Parmar, founder of The Empathy Business, shares insights on the importance of empathy in the workplace. She emphasizes that small changes can significantly boost engagement and productivity. However, too much empathy can lead to burnout among leaders. The discussion also highlights the value of workplace friendships and how supportive relationships can enhance job satisfaction. Isabel and Brooke dive into their own experiences, revealing how camaraderie can combat fatigue in a demanding work culture.

In this conversation, Diane Thornhill, director of people for UK, India, Middle East, and Africa at Arup, shares insights on the company's experimental seven-day work week. She emphasizes the need for leaders to set examples by taking flexible time off. Topics include the impact of constant availability on team collaboration, the importance of transparent communication, and the balance between work and personal life. Emma Jacobs, a Financial Times journalist, discusses the pros and cons of being 'always on,' highlighting evolving workplace dynamics.

Jonathan Frostick, a heart attack survivor, shares how his life-altering experience inspired him to open up on LinkedIn. His viral post sparked conversations around work-life balance and emotional authenticity in professional spaces. Isabel Berwick and Emma Jacobs discuss the increasing trend of personal storytelling on LinkedIn, the challenges of vulnerability in a career context, and the generational shifts in perceptions of sharing. They also ponder the risks of oversharing and its potential impacts on professional relationships.

In this discussion, Alexis Gonzales-Black, an expert in organizational design who implemented Holacracy at Zappos, dives into the pros and cons of a workplace without traditional managers. She shares insights from Zappos' experience with this model and the challenges that arose. The conversation also touches on unique approaches taken by companies like WL Gore that eschew job titles. Finally, they explore the potential dark side of a boss-less environment, where toxic behavior might flourish unchecked.

Chances are, not even your best friend knows how much you earn at work. In this episode, Isabel tries to work out what we are worried about - surely salary secrecy only helps our bosses? She talks to Joel Gascoigne, chief executive of social media business Buffer, which publishes its employees’ salaries on its website - including that of Joel himself [$290k]. He thinks radical transparency helps with all sorts of potentially difficult issues at work. Isabel also talks to Brooke Masters, the FT’s chief business commentator and an expert on CEO pay. Brooke thinks there are often good reasons for secrecy: when companies are forced to be open about top leaders’ pay, CEOs can compare themselves to people leading other organisations and demand even higher salaries. Isabel and Brooke also talk about how the rest of us can negotiate a pay rise. To do that, it may help to know what your colleagues are paid ...We love to hear from you: email us at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter or Instagram.Mentioned in the podcast: See how much everyone is paid at Buffer https://buffer.com/salariesBrooke Masters’ column on CEO pay in the pandemic https://www.ft.com/content/0676c6f6-1ad2-490d-b8cf-d3bccdb76182Want to get a pay rise? Here’s how https://www.ft.com/content/967db31f-f49b-4039-a295-23db588d2a1cListen to Claer Barrett’s #MoneyClinic podcast on getting a pay rise https://link.chtbl.com/K3vLw7lVNational Bureau of Economic Research - the wider effects of pay transparency https://www.nber.org/papers/w28903Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.