Working It – Details, episodes & analysis

Managers can’t get their heads around Gen Z employees. Why won’t they work late? Why do they talk like that? And do they even want to be here? But instead of emphasising points of difference with younger workers, we should get better at understanding their motivations. In this episode, Isabel speaks to researcher and futurist Chloe Combi, who has interviewed more than 20,000 young people about what they want. Chloe explains why Gen Z workers often clash with millennials (and how to give them better mentors). FT columnist Pilita Clark vents about her biggest Gen Z bugbear: the fact that they’re so often right about the workplace…

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The most annoying thing about young people at work

Making sense of Gen Z: employers seek answers on managing younger workers

How to adapt your leadership to a multigenerational workplace

FT subscriber? Sign up to get Isabel’s free Working It newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday: ft.com/newsletters

To take part in the FT audience survey and be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones, please click here. For the survey’s terms and conditions, please click here.

Presented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’ve worked hard all year, and the summer holidays have finally arrived. But it’s not like all your colleagues have downed tools. Would it be so bad if you checked your emails – just quickly – to make sure your team don’t need you? Well, yes it would, actually. In this episode, author and journalist Brigid Schulte tells Isabel Berwick why holiday work is a failure of management – and can cost employees their good health. Isabel also speaks to freelance journalist Oliver Balch, who recently asked senior executives about whether they really disconnect on their holidays.

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‘I’m going to get a spicy margarita and I’ll be back’: how executives approach work during holidays

Did summer holidays make this week’s market turmoil worse?

How taking a holiday went global

To take part in the FT audience survey and be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose wireless headphones, please click here. For the survey’s terms and conditions, please click here.

Credits:

Presented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All managers want to hire the best people, but the recruitment process can be a slog. Busy managers don’t want to spend their time sifting through hundreds of applications, and candidates don’t want to be ignored. Could AI help streamline this process? Host Isabel Berwick hears from micro1 founder Ali Ansari. Ansari says his AI interviewer is already being used to perform thousands of job interviews. Later, Isabel speaks to Chano Fernandez, co-CEO of Eightfold, to learn how the company uses AI not only to recruit candidates, but also to better match staff to potential career paths.

Want to get in touch? Write to Isabel at [email protected]

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Graduate jobseekers navigate AI effect on gender equality

Superfluous people vs AI: what the jobs revolution might look like

Quiet hiring: why managers are recruiting from their own ranks

Tech and generational changes increase urgency of upskilling

FT subscriber? Sign up to get Isabel’s free Working It newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday: ft.com/newsletters

Presented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve probably all had one: a boss whose traits include a grandiose sense of self-importance, a need for excessive admiration, a lack of empathy and a sense of entitlement. They’re all traits of a narcissist. Psychologist Dr Ramani Durvasula, an expert in the subject, tells host Isabel Berwick, the FT’s work and careers editor, why so many narcissists end up in positions of leadership, and how to handle them. Plus, psychotherapist Naomi Shragai, author of 'The Man Who Mistook His Job For His Life', explains why some narcissistic traits are essential to getting ahead at work.

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CEO narcissism https://www.ft.com/content/1cebaf40-7362-487c-bd33-d52e2265a5a8

How to handle a narcissist in the workplace https://www.ft.com/content/eab55621-5a6e-4176-bcb9-c451417db328

Lustful leaders: the good, the bad, and the narcissistic https://www.ft.com/content/387bdfbe-b5a2-46e6-8a63-f3a41c2e7f68

FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. 

We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter 

Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!

Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Andrew Hill on why being a manager matters more than ever https://www.ft.com/content/dd340c7b-48e3-459c-84af-bfb704d37665

How demands on team leaders are intensifying https://www.ft.com/content/a1740fb3-bd69-4c8d-a322-8b59332de568

Forget the ‘toxic boss’ - meet the toxic underlings https://www.ft.com/content/a9c0c114-fb8a-4829-bfc0-2f52a2bbef9f

FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. 

We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter 

Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!

Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fans of business and work podcasts won’t need any introduction to Steven Bartlett (Diary of a CEO), Bruce Daisley (Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat), Jenna Kutcher (The Goal Digger Podcast) and Emma Gannon (Ctrl Alt Delete). All of them host successful podcasts about our working lives. Working It host Isabel Berwick hears about what they see as the big workplace issues for the next year, touching on everything from hybrid work and hyperconnectivity to the metaverse.

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For articles about the future of work, check out the following feed: https://www.ft.com/future-of-work

FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. 

We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter 

Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!

Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve all come across them in the workplace: the tyrannical boss, the person who puts you down in order to build themselves up, the passive aggressive co-worker. Taylor Nicole Rogers, the FT’s US labour and equality correspondent, stands in for Working It host Isabel Berwick, to source tips on managing difficult colleagues. She hears from author and podcaster Amy Gallo, an expert in conflict, communication, and workplace dynamics, and speaks to the FT’s US investment reporter Madison Darbyshire.

Want more?

You can’t hide from the jerks at work: https://www.ft.com/content/dd9d39f8-2861-4c99-809e-6a198dd7c4ee

How to deal with an abusive work situation: https://www.ft.com/content/5b5d3ff9-9a11-4f9c-a440-d41cc90ad452

How do I navigate a toxic office environment? https://www.ft.com/content/e7309f02-c595-11e9-ae6e-a26d1d0455f4

FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. 

We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter 

Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!

Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Regular listeners might be forgiven for thinking employees are mostly overwhelmed and overworked. But is the world actually full of people looking artfully busy? Employees who may be slipping under the radar in big organisations? Host Isabel Berwick speaks to David Bolchover, author of ‘The Living Dead: Switched Off, Zoned Out – The Shocking Truth About Office Life’, who spent several years employed at a large organisation doing nothing. And she hears from Leo Lewis, the FT’s Asia business editor based in Tokyo, about a backlash in Japan against the phenomenon of the hatarakanai ojisan, the old geezer (or, less commonly, his female equivalent) who manages to get away with doing no work. 



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The rise and rise of Japan’s unsackable slacker https://www.ft.com/content/4012c8f4-cb16-4bf5-ac25-a88c1aae8a51

The threat of boredom at work https://www.ft.com/content/bccf5464-0996-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b

FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. 

We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter 

Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!

Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Isabel Berwick investigates claims that microdosing improves performance at work. It’s well known that in Silicon Valley some executives have taken to ingesting very small amounts of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, in the belief that it increases concentration and productivity. But there are also soft-touch versions, known as nootropics or ‘smart drugs’, which include legal mushroom varieties and are said to have similar effects. Isabel and her team try them out at Shroom Town Cafe, a pop-up in central London, and she speaks to Jakobien van der Weijden, co-founder of the Microdosing Institute in the Netherlands. 

Want more?

How safe is your psychedelic trip? https://www.ft.com/content/c5cc0077-3966-4c65-9320-d0a0860740af

The secret to making your brain work better: https://www.ft.com/content/08078211-638b-4326-ac2e-92ae2cdf65c9

How Silicon Valley rediscovered LSD: https://www.ft.com/content/0a5a4404-7c8e-11e7-ab01-a13271d1ee9c

FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. You can sign up for the newsletter with one click, here

We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter 

Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!

Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Quiet quitting’ is the summer’s hottest workplace trend. It’s spurred thousands of social media posts on TikTok and elsewhere. But what is it exactly? And what if your staff are doing it? FT features writer Emma Jacobs and columnist Pilita Clark join Working It host Isabel Berwick to discuss. Is ‘quiet quitting’ simply a triumph of alliteration over information or does it tell us something useful about workplace attitudes that have come out of the pandemic?

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Why 'quiet quitting' is nonsense:

https://www.ft.com/content/a09a2ade-4d14-47c2-9cca-599b3c25a33f

A tongue-in-cheek FT guide to ‘quiet quitting’:

https://www.ft.com/content/c5cddb3a-dcf8-4ef8-a1c2-ed866c214d2b

Has work become a four-letter word?

https://www.ft.com/content/93435e72-d05b-4061-b6ff-05b9cbd76f0a

Interviewing amid economic uncertainty:

https://www.ft.com/content/682b3062-8c78-4962-ac23-6fafe2af16f2

FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. One-click sign-up at www.ft.com/newsletters

We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter

Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!

Presented by Taylor Nicole Rogers. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.