This Working Life
ABC listen
You spend so much time on work, why accept the status quo, when there are ways to do it better? Get expert advice, research and hacks that will crush your inertia.
Join Lisa Leong and other This Working Lifers as we experiment and explore the latest in the world of work.
We cover policy issues, like hybrid workplaces and remote work, employee wellbeing and organisational culture, the use of AI, employee surveillance, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion. We talk about progress on wider issues that relate to work, like work life balance, organisational change, restructures, and casualisation. On This Working Life our focus is on everything related to the people in a workplace too, including culture, individual experiences, performance management and career advice.
Join Lisa Leong and other This Working Lifers as we experiment and explore the latest in the world of work.
We cover policy issues, like hybrid workplaces and remote work, employee wellbeing and organisational culture, the use of AI, employee surveillance, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion. We talk about progress on wider issues that relate to work, like work life balance, organisational change, restructures, and casualisation. On This Working Life our focus is on everything related to the people in a workplace too, including culture, individual experiences, performance management and career advice.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 28, 2022 • 30min
Micro stress: How small stuff piles up - and how to find the antidote
Micro stressors - they’re just a normal part of the day, right? From when you wake up and check your messages, listen to the news, wrangle your kids, jostle your way to work, and then deal with that colleague…you’re stressed without anything major actually happening. Rob Cross says the people who maintain and prioritise their social connections, often through shared activities, are way less affected by these micro stressors.Guest:Rob Cross is a professor at Babson College, which teaches entrepreneurship. His latest book, The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems--and What to Do about It, comes out next year.Presenter: Lisa LeongProducer: Sarah Allely
Oct 21, 2022 • 30min
Autism at work
This Working Life explores ideas that are shaping changes in workplaces.
Oct 16, 2022 • 30min
How to recognise and transform a destructive leader
What we want in our leaders has evolved; we’ve seen a growing desire for more ethical and empathetic leaders.But destructive leaders are still in charge in many workplaces and their impacts are far-reaching. So how can we identify them and, more importantly, change them?We look at the personality traits and four styles of destructive leaders and get some tips on how to avoid them to help improve employee and business wellbeing.
Oct 9, 2022 • 30min
Mind your head: The Pros and Cons of EAPs
How’s your mental health? Is it affecting your work? Or maybe it’s the other way around and your work is affecting your headspace? Employee Assistance Programs….what are the pros and cons, and how could they work better? Is confidentiality actually a problem? And if so what can be done to make it safer?
Oct 2, 2022 • 0sec
"I lost sleep; I'd vomit before going to work." The human cost of bullying in the workplace.
Workplace bullying is a complex and insidious problem that one in 10 of us in Australia experience at some stage in our careers.We look at the organisational structures behind bullying itself, how many of us might be unwilling bystanders, and the impact it has on us physically and mentally.
Sep 25, 2022 • 30min
The power of fun at work
When’s the last time you had fun at work? Really had fun? FUN. What is it, and how can it help us enjoy work more, which of course will help us work better! How can we bring more fun into our working lives? Catherine Price is a science journalist and author of The Power of Fun. She also wrote How to break up with your phone.
Sep 18, 2022 • 30min
Leadership nirvana: How can we make leadership development more useful for all?
Are you seeking leadership nirvana? Is there even such a thing? Leadership development is such a lucrative, multi-million dollar industry but are we just throwing resources at the executive level managers with little benefit to the broader organisation? Are we going about leadership development all wrong?
Sep 11, 2022 • 30min
The burnout shop
Burning out has become a phrase thrown around almost as often as anxiety. But being stressed and overworked is not actually burnout. There is more to it.Individuals can’t fight burnout alone - things have to change in our organisations. This is what the ‘pioneer’ of burnout theory and research has found.It’s Christina Maslach's measurement tool that’s been used by workplaces and the World Health Organisation to assess if someone’s burning out - the Maslach Burnout Inventory.
Sep 4, 2022 • 30min
The (new) working lives of teachers
What's it actually like to be a teacher these days? There’s a worldwide shortage of teachers at the moment, so what’s going on in the classroom and school yards? In this episode we meet a bunch of teachers and former teachers and hear first hand about the new pressures, and what’s driving them out of the profession. What needs to change about the working lives of teachers?
Aug 28, 2022 • 30min
When size matters at work: Dunbar's number
Have you heard of the Dunbar number? It’s the number of social connections one person can maintain at any one time. It turns out that this also plays out at work. How is Robin Dunbar’s research relevant for your workplace?What are the optimum numbers for teams and factories? How important are social connections and friendships at work, and how do these affect our productivity?Guest:Robin Dunbar is professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford. He wrote Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships and his new book, The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups, comes out next year.
