Podcast Working It by Financial Times Episodes

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	Title	Pub. Date	Duration
	What managers get wrong about Gen Z	27 Aug 2024	00:18:39
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… Want more? Free links: 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.
	Why working on holiday could make you worse at your job	20 Aug 2024	00:17:55
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. Want more? Free links: ‘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.
	Can an ‘AI interviewer’ hire better than a human?	18 Jun 2024	00:16:01
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 isabel.berwick@ft.com Want more? Free links: 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.
	So, your boss is a narcissist…	25 Oct 2022	00:20:45
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. Want more? 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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.
	Why we love to hate the middle manager	18 Oct 2022	00:17:01
The Harvard Business Review once published a damning report about middle managers, saying that the very title “evokes mediocrity”. Was that fair? And what does it take to be a good middle manager? Host Isabel Berwick, the FT’s work and careers editor, discusses with Andrew Hill, the FT’s senior business writer and former management editor. Want more? 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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.
	The Future of Work: Trends and predictions	11 Oct 2022	00:18:04
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. Want more? 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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.
	How to deal with toxic colleagues	04 Oct 2022	00:21:03
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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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.
	Office slackers: the truth about doing nothing at work	27 Sep 2022	00:20:00
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. Want more? 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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.
	High at work: why so many people are microdosing	20 Sep 2022	00:12:43
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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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.
	A sceptic’s guide to ‘quiet quitting’	13 Sep 2022	00:17:13
‘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? Want more? 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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.
	Best of Working It: ‘Flight shame’ and the return of business travel	06 Sep 2022	00:16:50
Given the climate crisis, can we still justify those quick jaunts to sit in airless conference rooms and sip bad cocktails with strangers? Isabel Berwick, Working It host and the FT’s Work and Careers editor, talks to Evan Konwiser, executive vice-president of product and strategy at American Express Global Business Travel. He paints a picture of how he sees business travel making a comeback, but FT columnist Pilita Clark wonders if companies have become used to doing without it during the pandemic. Want to read more? Pilita Clark on the future of business travel: https://www.ft.com/content/75d096e5-a429-496b-a62d-f8f6b9b2fb35 More on the Swedish ‘flygskam’ or flight shaming: https://www.ft.com/content/5c635430-1dbc-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4 Emma Jacobs on the rise of ‘bleisure’: https://www.ft.com/content/8003a384-bc22-4ae9-b1c1-2c5452136cbe EY sends new recruits on a trip to Disney: https://www.ft.com/content/da797e20-85fe-4beb-a054-c611aebfdfd9 American Express business travel report outlining its view that business travel will become the centre ‘of the new company culture’: https://explorer.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com/Why-Business-Travel-Is-the-Center-of-The-New-Company-Culture.html Salesforce’s ‘trailblazer ranch’ for staff meetings in California: https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/introducing-trailblazer-ranch/ We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? 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 and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. 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.
	How trade unions got their mojo back	30 Aug 2022	00:19:18
Taylor Nicole Rogers, the FT’s US labour and equality correspondent, stands in for regular host Isabel Berwick in this episode to ask what the resurgence of trade union activity in both the US and UK is doing to the relationship between employer and employee. We hear from Mick Lynch, general secretary of the UK’s National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, and Taylor speaks to Dave Lee, the FT’s San Francisco correspondent, about attempts by US workers to form a union at Amazon and elsewhere, and the risks they face. Want more? FT editorial on the resurgence of unionism: https://www.ft.com/content/70df32e8-7eec-472c-b0da-6eee7659b5bb And https://www.ft.com/content/29005123-c397-4464-9970-81a5460e007d For latest FT reporting on trade unions: https://www.ft.com/stream/61b3414d-9e45-4962-a2d1-134453f5af02 For more on unionisation attempts at Amazon: https://www.ft.com/content/80f77552-5b73-4e08-bcdb-bc1ab60f6630 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter and follow Taylor Nicole Rogers @TaylorNRogers Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review! Presented by Taylor Nicole Rogers. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan and 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.
	Managing introverts in your team: quiet voices in a loud world	23 Aug 2022	00:16:30
Host Isabel Berwick describes herself as an extrovert but she has introverts in her team. So what should she bear in mind to ensure they perform at their best? Isabel gets advice from self-described ambitious, anxious introvert Morra Aarons-Mele, who hosts The Anxious Achiever podcast and is the author of an eponymous upcoming book, and hears from colleague Kesewa Hennessy, the FT’s head of audience diversity, who describes herself as an introvert. Want more? How working from home plays to the strengths of introverts: https://www.ft.com/content/f8ceffe7-cc89-4d95-975e-6142924a33b8 Why it’s OK to be quiet at meetings: https://www.ft.com/content/6d5942a2-a13a-49ea-a833-a6d5ce780ae3 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and 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.
	AI and Work: Can I send a chatbot to that meeting?	11 Jun 2024	00:19:50
There’s been a lot of talk about artificial intelligence in the workplace – but not much in the way of specifics. Isabel Berwick wants to change that. In this episode, she speaks to Iliana Oris Valiente, managing director and Innovation lead at Accenture Canada. Iliana has a ‘digital twin’ who attends meetings in her stead. But will it catch on? Later, Isabel speaks to the FT’s AI editor, Madhumita Murgia, to find out how far off digital twins (or even digital assistants) are. Want to get in touch? Write to Isabel at isabel.berwick@ft.com Want more? Free links: The race for an AI-powered personal assistant Can AI make brainstorming less mind-numbing? Artificial intelligence: A virtual assistant for life 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 and Tamara Komornick, 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.
	Best of Working It: Is it time to be open about pay?	16 Aug 2022	00:17:55
In this repeat of one of Working It’s most popular episodes, host Isabel Berwick tries to work out why people are so secretive about their pay. She talks to Joel Gascoigne, chief executive of social media business Buffer, which publishes its employees’ salaries on its website, and she speaks to Brooke Masters, the FT’s chief business commentator and an expert on CEO pay. 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. Want more? See how much everyone is paid at Buffer https://buffer.com/salaries Brooke Masters’ column on CEO pay in the pandemic https://www.ft.com/content/0676c6f6-1ad2-490d-b8cf-d3bccdb76182 Want to get a pay rise? Here’s how to ask for one https://www.ft.com/content/967db31f-f49b-4039-a295-23db588d2a1c Listen to Claer Barrett’s MoneyClinic podcast on getting a pay rise https://link.chtbl.com/K3vLw7lV National Bureau of Economic Research - the wider effects of pay transparency https://www.nber.org/papers/w28903 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. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
	How to break up with your employer	09 Aug 2022	00:15:47
With the quit rate in the US higher than it was before the Covid 19 pandemic, host Isabel Berwick looks at the do’s and don’ts of leaving an employer. Listeners and FT readers share their experiences, and communications expert Erica Dhawan explains why a ‘good exit’ matters, as well as recalling that time when, as an employer herself, she got it wrong. For more on the state of the US jobs market: https://www.ft.com/us-labour-market 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and 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.
	How big a pay rise do you need right now?	02 Aug 2022	00:29:01
Host Isabel Berwick talks to FT workplace experts Delphine Strauss, FT economics correspondent, and Emma Jacobs, FT features writer and Working It regular, about the cost of living crisis. Delphine explains why double-digit pay deals to match inflation are likely to be resisted by bosses - and how that is likely to lead to more industrial action in some sectors. The trio discuss the sorts of new support and perks that organisations are putting in place to help staff deal with rising costs, and question whether the great return to the office is going to be stalled by the high price of commuting. As winter approaches, many will face an unenviable trade off: freezing in our homes or paying large sums in rail fares or gas to travel to a warmer workplace. Want more? Cost of living crisis: employers step in to help - Dephine and Emma’s long read https://www.ft.com/content/e6bd22e1-088f-492d-802a-1a7aecdc7fe7 Have we had enough of the ‘nanny’ employer? https://www.ft.com/content/0506901f-d2a9-45bb-8a79-5ceb202e1675 Who really deserves a pay rise in the cost of living crisis? https://www.ft.com/content/38378af9-6f55-4bde-8c04-d13ee35cac07 ‘I earn £10.71 an hour. Here’s what the cost of living crisis has been like’ https://www.ft.com/content/af633a2e-3e46-4eaa-9173-167b87dc8c3e 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and 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.
	The great return to office standoff: bosses vs staff	26 Jul 2022	00:23:00
An epic post-pandemic workplace culture clash is hotting up this summer, pitting bosses who want everyone back in the office against workers who have embraced autonomy and flexibility. Even if leaders won’t say so publicly, many of them want to see workers at their desks. Host Isabel Berwick talks to organisational behaviour expert Professor Anita Woolley about the reasons why CEOs won’t let go of control - and why staff are always likely to resist their demands. Then the FT’s chief UK business correspondent, Dan Thomas, tells Isabel about the current state of office occupancy, and the secret frustrations of business leaders with staff who refuse to undertake (increasingly expensive) commutes. The pair discuss whether looming recessions and economic woes might give business leaders the upper hand. Want more? Office returns stall as UK workers cling to flexible working - Dan Thomas and Ella Hollowood https://www.ft.com/content/5ed49b8a-6c69-418c-9a26-7f43a99b1d1f Why CEOs are so WTF about working from home - Gilliant Tett opinion column https://www.ft.com/content/8a3f1fa7-8c0c-4068-b0d9-f12c84f0b8d6 Stanford professor Nick Bloom’s WFH Research - lots of useful data here https://wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WFHResearch_updates_June2022.pdf …and why asking for five days a week in the office means fewer workers comply https://twitter.com/I_Am_NickBloom/status/1534535041702711296/photo/1 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and 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.
	Sport’s leadership lessons: Machismo or real skills?	19 Jul 2022	00:19:03
Host Isabel Berwick is on a quest to find out whether she - a middle-aged journalist who can just about manage a 5 kilometre run - can improve her performance and productivity by thinking like a sports star, and asks whether there’s an element of machismo in drawing leadership lessons from the sports world. Isabel speaks to Jeremy Snape, a former England cricketer and founder of Sporting Edge, a consultancy that teaches leaders to get ahead using an athlete’s mindset. And she talks to her ex-boss, the FT’s former editor Lionel Barber, about how sports managers inspired his leadership. Want more? Simon Kuper on the meritocracy of elite football https://www.ft.com/content/4638ad2d-6609-4406-8fa3-f0c6055ef0ec Why leading a business is not like leading a sports team https://www.ft.com/content/d08bca4c-1bbe-11e3-94a3-00144feab7de?shareType=nongift When sports leadership teaching goes wrong https://www.ft.com/content/3b107a4a-40fa-11ea-bdb5-169ba7be433d Lunch with the FT: Lionel Barber and Andrew Strauss https://www.ft.com/content/9c8064e8-cfe0-11de-a36d-00144feabdc0 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and 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.
	Friendship in the workplace: It’s lonely at the top	12 Jul 2022	00:15:08
Many of us see our work colleagues just as much, if not more, than friends and family – or at least, that was the case before March 2020 and the Covid lockdowns that followed. So how crucial are these workplace friendships in luring employees back to the office after several years of working from home? And is there an inevitable trade-off between climbing the corporate ladder and keeping up your workplace friendships? Host Isabel Berwick discusses these questions and more with Lynda Gratton, professor of Management Practice in Organisational Behaviour at the London Business School, and Sarah Gordon, chief executive of the Impact Investing institute in London and formerly business editor at the Financial Times, where she was one of Isabel’s good workplace friends! Want more? What do friends bring to the workplace? https://www.ft.com/content/f13bca30-45ea-11e2-b780-00144feabdc0 When your best workplace friend leaves: https://www.ft.com/content/62b2db86-60e7-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599e 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. 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.
	Is hybrid work a trap for women?	05 Jul 2022	00:20:40
Is there something about hybrid work that inherently disadvantages women? According to Deloitte’s 2022 Women at Work survey, almost 60 per cent of women who work in hybrid environments say they have been excluded from important meetings and almost half say they do not have enough exposure to leaders, putting them at a disadvantage when it comes to career progression. Host Isabel Berwick is joined by the FT’s employment columnist Sarah O’Connor and US labour and equality correspondent Taylor Nicole Rogers to discuss what might be going wrong for women working in hybrid roles — and how it could be fixed. FT subscriber? Check out the Working It newsletter: One-click sign-up at www.ft.com/newsletters Want more? It’s time to admit that hybrid is not working https://www.ft.com/content/d0df2f1b-2f83-4188-b236-83ca3f0313df The UK ‘back to the office budget’ does not add up for women https://www.ft.com/content/143c2613-3e3a-48bb-8e2c-c7d479860f0f The ‘no’ club - Emma Jacobs on how to refuse non-promotable tasks https://www.ft.com/content/03117e7a-3c85-4af4-8c31-f34428af32c4 Is the underwired bra over? https://www.ft.com/content/2b0b614a-ef83-4991-aabf-1dee87cb1da7 We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? 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 — and do leave us a review! Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan and 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.
	Imposter syndrome: Turning self-doubt into a positive	28 Jun 2022	00:26:15
If you often feel underqualified and full of self-doubt at work, you may be suffering from imposter syndrome. But as host Isabel Berwick finds out in this episode, in some cases that may actually improve your performance. Isabel speaks to Sian Beilock, president of Columbia University’s Barnard College, a cognitive scientist who studies how people perform under stress, and Viv Groskop, author, comedian and host of the podcast 'How to Own the Room'. Sian unpicks the psychological aspects of imposter syndrome while Viv gives us advice on how to manage it and even make it work in your favour. Want more? Sian Beilock on how to banish self-doubt at work https://www.ft.com/content/d154b5a0-287a-11e9-9222-7024d72222bc … and on overcoming the ‘spotlight effect’ https://www.ft.com/content/5f5001aa-bde2-11e9-9381-78bab8a70848 Viv Groskop talks to the FT on how to overcome fear of public speaking https://www.ft.com/content/ffb7b300-0441-11e9-99df-6183d3002ee1 Viv’s website https://vivgroskop.com/ 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. 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.
	Regrets? We’ve all had a few but they can help your career	21 Jun 2022	00:18:07
We all have plenty of regrets in both our personal lives and at work, but is there a way to reframe our past to show us the path to a better future? Daniel Pink, bestselling author of The Power of Regret, thinks that there is and he talks to Andrew Hill, the FT’s senior business writer, about the ways in which we can think differently about our workplace regrets. Then Andrew and Working It host Isabel Berwick discuss the takeaways for managers. Turns out we can all encourage our teams to be a bit bolder and minimise their regrets. Want more? Andrew Hill interviews Daniel Pink about The Power of Regret https://www.ft.com/content/df661f84-9c77-4c01-b8fe-1b8508867313 Daniel Pink’s website https://www.danpink.com/ A good Harvard Business Review article on making peace with your regrets https://hbr.org/2021/06/its-time-to-make-peace-with-your-regrets 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. 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.
	How the pandemic has changed what we wear to work	14 Jun 2022	00:15:40
Many of us got used to dressing in athleisure and comfort clothing while we were working from home during the pandemic, and it would seem we’re loath to shed that habit as we head back into the office. In this episode, host Isabel Berwick tries to disentangle the new workplace dress codes with the help of two experts: Adam Galinsky, a Columbia University business school professor, and Robert Armstrong, FT style columnist and author of the FT’s popular Unhedged newsletter. Galinsky has researched what sorts of clothes help us work – and feel – at our best, and the results may surprise you. Armstrong wants us to think differently about the idea of comfort, and wonders whether the tie is dead. Want more? Robert Armstrong on the end of the tie https://www.ft.com/content/db8ac87f-0765-456b-994f-f66f8a140585 Why is Jeff Bezos such a terrible dresser? https://www.ft.com/content/a6ce9a0b-d09a-4881-a712-4151465b3b78 Is the underwired bra over ? https://www.ft.com/content/2b0b614a-ef83-4991-aabf-1dee87cb1da7 Professor Adam Galinsky’s workwear research https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amd.2021.0081 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. 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.
	Introducing Untold: Power for Sale	05 Jun 2024	00:02:25
Introducing Power for Sale, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. In Untold: Power for Sale, host Valentina Pop and a team of FT correspondents from all over Europe investigate what happened in the Qatargate scandal, where EU lawmakers were accused of accepting payments from Qatar to whitewash its image. Subscribe and listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
	Has hybrid working made it harder to take time off sick?	07 Jun 2022	00:16:47
This week, host Isabel Berwick is joined by Emma Jacobs, author of one of the Financial Times’s most read features on the workplace this year: “The end of sick days: has WFH made it harder to take time off?” Along with fellow Working It regular Brooke Masters, the FT’s US investment and industries editor, they discuss why we are taking fewer sick days than ever, with more of us choosing to work through sickness. Is it a practice managers should ever encourage? They also consider readers’ and listeners’ perspectives on sick leave – has WFH, and the prospect of missing a long commute, made us more likely to call in sick? And is the growing honesty in workplaces around mental health and wellbeing changing the way we think about our need to take time off work for rest and recovery? Want more? Emma Jacobs’ hit FT article on sick leave https://www.ft.com/content/bc9e39ce-8762-4e70-8aa2-2e33b23b80fe Results of a big FT reader survey on attitudes to work and return to the office, including sick leave https://www.ft.com/content/b5b9af97-3193-4dd6-bcb8-894ba7846e0e FT columnist Sarah O’Connor explores punitive sick leave rules https://www.ft.com/content/8a5bccb5-ba86-4a0c-9777-d1283945106d US retailers under pressure to disclose sick leave policies https://www.ft.com/content/b190494e-fa0c-4b52-9f18-cf838e15ab72 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 workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. 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 Renée Kaplan and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. 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.
	Why do so many working-class people feel alienated at work?	31 May 2022	00:19:32
Most of us cannot move for diversity, equity and inclusion strategies in our workplaces, but one thing is often missing: class. When you come from an economically disadvantaged background colleagues often can’t tell, yet the workplace can feel like a hostile environment. How can managers and companies help their colleagues and employees to thrive and advance, especially when many people may not want to be open about their backgrounds at work? This episode of Working It starts with Sophie, a young entrant to the TV industry, a sector once rife with nepotism and unpaid internships. She got her break via Creative Access, a UK non-profit that supports young people into internships and jobs in the creative industries. Host Isabel Berwick also hears from Annette King, who started out as a "working-class girl from Swindon" and is now UK chief executive of advertising group Publicis. What does her experience tell us? Finally, Isabel talks to Naomi Rovnick, FT markets reporter, about her route into journalism from a non-traditional background, why "masking" socio-economic background is so common as a way to fit in with what Naomi calls "skiing and wine" chat, and why collecting better data will help us break the class ceiling. Want more? Lex assesses class diversity among UK professions, including efforts by the BBC to change things https://www.ft.com/content/8ceff340-f679-49e4-a781-d7a1e4357aea The FT's Emma Jacobs explores efforts to boost class diversity in acting https://www.ft.com/content/bd4736aa-6d6d-11e8-852d-d8b934ff5ffa FT columnist Simon Kuper on how Oxford university shaped the UK’s ruling elite https://www.ft.com/content/2fa1e436-a5c7-43b1-9e5a-b1e1b43b8c3a Useful employer toolkit on socio-economic diversity and inclusion, from the UK Social Mobility Commission https://socialmobilityworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/SMC-Employers-Toolkit_WEB_updated_July2021.pdf Advisory firm KPMG is publishing socio-economic pay gap data for its staff, based on parental occupation https://home.kpmg/uk/en/home/media/press-releases/2021/09/kpmg-publishes-firmwide-socio-economic-background-pay-gaps.html 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 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! Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
	Welcome to your office in the metaverse	24 May 2022	00:20:17
Big tech companies such as Meta, which owns Facebook, are throwing billions of dollars into developing their version of the metaverse – virtual spaces where we are all represented by 3D avatars or holographic versions of ourselves. It’s a vision that includes offices in the metaverse, and companies including consultancy Accenture are already using VR headsets and virtual worlds to onboard and train new staff. Working It host Isabel Berwick talks to Lynn Wu, a Wharton Business School professor and an expert on emerging technologies, and Dave Lee, the FT’s San Francisco-based tech correspondent, to find out more about the workplace metaverse. What kinds of ethical questions are raised when working in a world beyond national and corporate borders? What rights will employees have? Want more? What are our employment rights in the metaverse? https://www.ft.com/content/9463ed05-c847-425d-9051-482bd3a1e4b1 What do tech companies hope will be the wider potential of the metaverse? https://www.ft.com/content/c47eb9fe-2606-4b7c-8527-53d993e84039 A look inside Accenture’s “virtual campus” called Nth Floor gives a good idea about how a workplace metaverse will function https://www.accenture.com/us-en/about/going-beyond-extended-reality FT Alphaville takes a sideways glance at what the metaverse hype really means https://www.ft.com/content/40f545c1-178e-43ef-8bac-6010c7781a77 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 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 and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. 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.
	Behind the Money is back!	19 May 2022	00:01:21
Behind the Money is back with all-new episodes! From hostile takeovers to C-suite intrigue, Behind the Money takes you inside the business and financial stories of the moment with reporting from Financial Times journalists around the world. The podcast returns May 25. You can follow the show now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
	How to ask for a pay rise – and when to give one	17 May 2022	00:20:12
This week on Working It, we’ve joined forces with Claer Barrett, host of Money Clinic. Back in November, Money Clinic aired one of its most popular episodes: “How to ask for a pay rise – and get one!” Working It host Isabel Berwick was an expert on that show, and she’s invited Claer to talk about salaries again – now with added urgency, because rising inflation is pushing up the cost of living. We hear again from Max, the Money Clinic listener who featured on the November episode. Max followed the expert advice he was given and asked for a pay rise, and he tells us what happened next. Plus, what can managers do to help their teams asking for higher pay, especially if there is no budget for it? This episode will help you gather the tools and tips you need – and also tell you what not to do. Want more? Listen again to the advice from Claer, Isabel and Jonathan Black, the FT’s “Dear Jonathan” careers agony uncle, on the Money Clinic podcast from November https://www.ft.com/content/04b1176f-b6c8-4488-971b-9ded3358a324 Two FT features by a behavioural economist on how to craft a case for a pay rise and how to use storytelling to make your argument https://www.ft.com/content/09ce507b-914a-4988-9a56-cf5181e1678d https://www.ft.com/content/967db31f-f49b-4039-a295-23db588d2a1c How to ask for a raise: HBR tips and video https://hbr.org/2021/11/christine-vs-work-how-to-ask-for-a-raise 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 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 and Manuela Saragosa. Assistant producer is Persis Love. 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.
	‘Flight shame’ and the return of business travel	11 May 2022	00:16:22
US business travel is back to about 50 per cent of its 2019 levels. But post-pandemic and amid the climate crisis, can we justify those quick jaunts to sit in airless conference rooms and sip bad cocktails with strangers? In this episode, Isabel Berwick, Working It host and the FT’s Work and Careers editor, talks to Evan Konwiser, executive vice-president of product and strategy at American Express Global Business Travel. As an advocate for business travel, Evan thinks the future is going to be about making meetings unusual or special. Meanwhile, FT columnist Pilita Clark questions whether we should really be encouraging our staff to get on planes given the climate crisis. Both Evan and Pilita look at near-future trends: the new practice of blending business travel with leisure time – or ‘bleisure’ as some call it – and why your employer may even be booking your vacation. Want to read more? Pilita Clark on the post-pandemic future of business travel https://www.ft.com/content/75d096e5-a429-496b-a62d-f8f6b9b2fb35 More on the Swedish ‘flygskam’ or flight shaming https://www.ft.com/content/5c635430-1dbc-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4 Emma Jacobs on the rise of ‘bleisure’ https://www.ft.com/content/8003a384-bc22-4ae9-b1c1-2c5452136cbe EY sends new recruits on a trip to Disney https://www.ft.com/content/da797e20-85fe-4beb-a054-c611aebfdfd9 American Express business travel report outlining its view that business travel will become the centre ‘of the new company culture’ https://explorer.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com/Why-Business-Travel-Is-the-Center-of-The-New-Company-Culture.html Salesforce’s ‘trailblazer ranch’ for staff meetings in California https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/introducing-trailblazer-ranch/ FT subscriber? Sign up for the new weekly Working It newsletter. We’ll 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 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 and Manuela Saragosa. 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.
	Help! How can I make the office more enticing for my staff?	03 May 2022	00:18:18
Most of us enjoyed a lot more time outside in nature during the pandemic so could bringing nature into the office help lure workers back to their desks? In this episode, Isabel Berwick, Working It host and the FT’s Work and Careers editor, talks to architect Rick Cook about his ‘biophilic’ buildings. Rick creates buildings that don’t just look good, but stimulate us to smell, feel and touch the world around us, bringing beehives, greenery and even praying mantis into employees’ lives. Isabel also speaks to the FT’s New York correspondent and Working It regular, Josh Chaffin, about the cutting edge of US office design. There are hospitality groups contracted to make offices look and feel like cool private members’ clubs as well as ice-cream carts and new quiet spaces for introverts. Will it tempt back employees reluctant to give up working from home? What can managers do to make their offices even a little bit more alluring and healthy? Want to read more? Josh Chaffin on Rick Cook’s ‘biophilic’ architecture https://www.ft.com/content/e032feee-6d3d-4773-b8b6-c0744bdadb49 How New York’s offices are getting a post pandemic shake up https://www.ft.com/content/0fc60c68-7e8f-492d-ae4c-f66272793212 Pilita Clark on why commuting to an office is still offputting https://www.ft.com/content/8d7e40da-0cf3-453e-9eb3-40036d4e2582 Hot desking in offices is coming back https://www.ft.com/content/06f5e384-e278-4c30-8215-085512c6820d How companies are luring staff back with restaurant-quality free food https://www.ft.com/content/218e50fb-9bff-4589-bff2-7975ea354456 HBR on the power of getting away from your desk for a walk https://hbr.org/2021/02/dont-underestimate-the-power-of-a-walk FT subscriber? Sign up for the new weekly Working It newsletter. We’ll 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 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 and Manuela Saragosa. 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.
	Upskilling: Why it makes sense to retrain staff	26 Apr 2022	00:18:52
The term ‘upskilling’ is suddenly everywhere. We might once have called it training and development, but the meaning is the same: organisations are spending vast sums to give their existing staff new tools to succeed at work - and, increasingly, to support their personal development. In this week’s episode, Isabel explores how training, or upskilling, has evolved as a way to retain staff in the post-pandemic workplace. She speaks to FT columnist and Working It regular Emma Jacobs about which aspects of upskilling are worth the time and investment, and also to Dan Bullock and Raul Sanchez, training and communications experts at New York University. Dan also works at the UN as a trainer, and both of them are convinced that teaching staff new language and communication skills is the key to a post-pandemic skills refocus - and better global understanding. Could upskilling staff actually help end the Great Resignation? Want to read more? What is needed to bridge the skills gap? Andrew Hill on the World Economic Forum’s research https://www.ft.com/content/c82a4096-f4fc-424e-bc74-6df52055640d More investment in older workers will pay off - Camilla Cavendish on the short-sighted approach of employers who favour younger staff https://www.ft.com/content/1a72ed42-6d96-4ed5-9528-fb4810b0dbd6 Emma Jacobs on using ‘‘stay’ interviews as a way to find out the training staff want https://www.ft.com/content/57556b65-f8c8-41f1-9f07-c6c470777229 How the Japanese company Rakuten made English its global language https://www.ft.com/content/2fdd6626-ba3b-11e7-8c12-5661783e5589 Dan Bullock and Raul Sanchez’s work on training staff to communicate globally https://www.globallycommunicate.com/the-team FT subscriber? Sign up for the new weekly Working It newsletter. We’ll 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 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 and Manuela Saragosa. 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.
	The Great Resignation: How to stop your staff from quitting	19 Apr 2022	00:20:37
In the second of our ‘Most Read’ episodes on our changing relationship with work, we focus on The Great Resignation — one of the biggest workplace shifts of the pandemic. It’s a topic that deeply interests FT readers — and Isabel kicks off the episode by discussing readers’ thoughts with FT columnists and Working It regulars, Pilita Clark and Emma Jacobs. Together, they then talk through some of the latest thinking on what leads people to leave workplaces. Triggers include burnout (particularly among middle managers), wanting to maintain autonomy gained during the pandemic and better pay on offer elsewhere. Emma and Pilita talk about what employers and managers can do to retain staff, including innovative ‘stay’ interviews to find out what motivates team members and what their ambitions are. Want to read more? Pilita Clark on the man who predicted The Great Resignation https://www.ft.com/content/3e561d41-0267-4d40-9c30-01e62fa9c10f Pilita Clark on ‘the grey resignation’ of older workers https://www.ft.com/content/f4b64153-b7da-46d6-b882-415907bb77f1 How to run ‘stay’ interviews by Emma Jacobs https://www.ft.com/content/57556b65-f8c8-41f1-9f07-c6c470777229 Is this the end of work as we know it? Working It previous episodehttps://www.ft.com/content/0fc0cf76-d733-4f4c-85fd-51bdc023c63f FT subscriber? Sign up for the new weekly Working It newsletter. We’ll 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 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 and Manuela Saragosa. 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.
	Breaking the silence on disability in the workplace	12 Apr 2022	00:14:10
We’ve heard a lot about diversity and inclusion in workplaces, but one group is often left behind: people with disabilities, visible and invisible. Given that millions of people were allowed to work flexibly during the pandemic, how can we extend that mindset shift to make permanent improvements for staff with disabilities? In this episode Isabel Berwick talks to campaigner Caroline Casey, founder of the Valuable 500, an alliance of 500 global chief executives who are committed to disability inclusion. Caroline points out that the silence at the top of companies sets the tone for everything that happens - since CEOs aren’t coming out as having lived experiences of disability, that allows inertia further down in their organisations. For an account of how it feels to be a neurodiverse employee, and the benefits that this difference brings to a team - Isabel talks to Naomi Rovnick, an FT markets reporter who was recently diagnosed with dyspraxia. Caroline and Naomi offer some practical next steps for managers and leaders in any organisation: it’s time to be open about disability. Want to read more? How employers ‘ghosted’ one young journalist with a declared disability by Isabelle Jani-Friend https://www.ft.com/content/e91c8785-8517-4f1a-b471-c80e80d6d8e2 The hidden workplace skills of those with dyspraxia by Sarah Laitner https://www.ft.com/content/b4255c98-ca7a-11e5-a8ef-ea66e967dd44 FT special report on modern workplaces and disability https://www.ft.com/reports/modern-workplace-disability Caroline Casey’s Valuable 500 survey on disability and inclusion reporting among FTSE 100 companies, run in partnership with British media group Tortoise https://www.tortoisemedia.com/disability100-report/ FT subscriber? Sign up for the new weekly Working It newsletter. We’ll 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 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 and Manuela Saragosa. 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.
	Best of: How Scandinavia cracked the productivity puzzle	04 Jun 2024	00:18:11
The UK has a well-reported productivity problem, with mediocre managers, poor communication and chronic underinvestment all hampering growth. What can Britain glean from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, all of which have more productive economies? And what lessons can be learned from Japan, the only major developed economy that is less productive than the UK? Host Isabel Berwick speaks to FT senior business writer Andrew Hill to find out what ails Britain. Later, she chats to Leo Lewis, the FT’s Asia business editor, and Richard Milne, Nordic and Baltic bureau chief, to learn how the UK could perform better (or worse…) This is a repeat of an episode published at the end of October, 2023. Want more? Free links: Why productivity is so weak at UK companies The UK is doing a shoddy job of keeping up with the neighbours Sweden is navigating an international identity crisis Lessons from Japan: High-income countries have common problems FT subscriber? Sign up to get Isabel’s 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
	Is this the end of work as we know it?	05 Apr 2022	00:29:11
In the first of a two-part series on the end of work as we know it, Isabel talks to two of the FT’s experts on employment and work trends - Sarah O’Connor in London and Taylor Nicole Rogers in New York. As record numbers of people quit their jobs, refuse to return to offices, or simply put a brake on their time-sucking ‘greedy jobs’ like corporate law and investment banking, this post-pandemic moment marks a profound shift in our relationship with work. Have we really left the 9-5 behind to renegotiate how we feel about work and our employers? Taylor talks about the stunning success of the Reddit antiwork forums, and other ways in which workers are reclaiming their time and identities, while Sarah points out that there really are millions of people who have left our workforces. This is a topic FT readers can’t get enough of - and Isabel will be chewing over some of their spiciest comments. Listen out for the next episode in the series focusing specifically on The Great Resignation Want to read more? Taylor Nicole Rogers on the anti-work movement https://www.ft.com/content/1270ee18-3ee0-4939-98a8-c4f40940e644 Sarah O’Connor interviews economist Claudia Goldin about the ‘greedy jobs’ phenomenon https://www.ft.com/content/92be2a2d-aee3-48c5-922b-84eea37072f8 Pilita Clark talks to the man who coined the phrase ‘The Great Resignation’ https://www.ft.com/content/3e561d41-0267-4d40-9c30-01e62fa9c10f Sarah O’Connor on quitting your job https://www.ft.com/content/ad9f2346-19ef-4695-b6c9-c0983176eb23 More background on China’s ‘lying flat’ movement https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/the-lying-flat-movement-standing-in-the-way-of-chinas-innovation-drive/ FT subscriber? Sign up for the new weekly Working It newsletter. We’ll 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 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 and Manuela Saragosa. 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.
	Are dogs the key to workplace happiness?	29 Mar 2022	00:18:31
This week we delve into perhaps the workplace's most divisive issue: should you bring your dog to the office? Isabel (a cat person) talks to Lindsay Bumps (dog person), from Ben & Jerry’s ‘K9 culture committee’. The ice-cream maker has had dogs in its offices since the 1970s, so it knows how to get the balance right for everyone: the animals, their owners and even the 10 to 20 per cent of the population who are allergic to dogs. What can Ben & Jerry's teach the managers who are just starting to allow pandemic pooches in the workplace? Then, Isabel talks to Henry Mance, the FT’s chief feature writer and author of How to Love Animals: In a Human-Shaped World. Henry has written for the FT about the boom in office dogs — and he thinks there are many benefits to having pets in our workplaces. Can he win round Isabel and her fellow office-dog sceptics? Want to read more? Henry Mance on dogs in the office https://www.ft.com/content/b25d8001-3ca5-4927-a990-7027acc6e4cc We love animals — why do we treat them so badly? Henry Mance in the FT https://www.ft.com/content/fdc7ae21-bd59-4887-8417-7905d57b67ba Some cute photos of Ben & Jerry’s K9-5ers https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/our-k9-5ers We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? 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.
	Does office romance actually make you a better worker?	22 Mar 2022	00:20:48
Michele Romanow and Andrew D’Souza are the co-founders of Clearco, a $2bn lender to ecommerce start-ups - and they shared a romance before sharing assets. They’ve now split up as a couple, and in this episode, they go public with what happened - and why they think they still make a good team. Then Isabel talks to FT colleague and Working It regular Emma Jacobs about the different ways organisations try to police office relationships, and why that is never going to succeed in stopping people from falling in love or having a messy break-up. Want to read more? Emma Jacobs on workplace handbooks - a new twist on the old rules of the office https://www.ft.com/content/b69d4fb7-9b6b-4507-bb0e-ac9a02de37ba The rise of office romances - the stats https://www.shrm.org/about-shrm/press-room/press-releases/pages/new-shrm-survey-the-rise-of-workplace-romance.aspx Successful co-founders who are couples https://sifted.eu/articles/married-cofounders/ ClearCo’s Michele Romanow and Andrew D’Souza https://clear.co/en-uk/about-us/ We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? 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.
	How influential are influencers at work?	15 Mar 2022	00:15:31
A new generation of young professionals are becoming online stars in their own right through their social media channels. But what happens when personal brands meet the old-fashioned big corporate workplace? In this week’s episode of Working It, Isabel talks to Eve Cornwell, an English ‘lawfluencer’ who has been online for the past five years, blogging about her journey to becoming a young lawyer - before reinventing herself in the tech sector. Eve believes that ‘lawfluencers’ like her, are helping to build a more diverse pipeline of applicants by making a career in the law seem accessible to all. She also posts videos about her personal life - and challenges. But the line between our personal and work selves can become ‘blurred’. And working alongside very successful young stars can be difficult for less famous colleagues. Isabel discusses the fast-evolving dilemmas around influencers at work with FT graduate trainee Akila Quinio. She’s Gen Z - but doesn’t have a big social media presence. Are we all going to have to have personal brands in future? Want to read more? The ‘lawfluencers’ who blog about their lives at top law firms, by Akila Quinio https://www.ft.com/content/94f50e66-7c6b-48d3-a277-4d4fa7f00662 Eve Cornwell’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/EveCornwellChannel Emma Jacobs on the employees who take to TikTok https://www.ft.com/content/c7f8fb0e-8f1a-4829-b818-cb9fe90352fa FT editorial on the perils of using staff as influencers https://www.ft.com/content/2a72dc23-0926-4c84-b026-a139b0a56d7e We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? 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.
	Why menopause is such a hot topic at work	08 Mar 2022	00:17:09
In a tight global labour market, older women are having a moment. Employers are offering more leadership and promotion opportunities, as well as practical policies to help manage the hormonal upheavals that hit half the population in their forties and fifties. In this episode Isabel talks to Navene Alim and Landy Slattery from the UK’s Channel 4 television network, who pioneered the workplace menopause policy in the UK several years ago. They talk about how it has benefited everyone in their workplace - and the silence and misdiagnosis that until very recently often accompanied women’s symptoms of brain fog, sleeplessness and anxiety. Many big companies are putting together policies to support and promote older women - the fastest-growing segment of the workforce. But, as Isabel discusses with Working It regular and FT columnist Brooke Masters, there are downsides to being open about our health status. Sexism and ageism are still rife - might there be a cost to sharing too much? Want to read more? Channel 4’s pioneering menopause policy is free for other organisations to download and adapt https://assets-corporate.channel4.com/_flysystem/s3/2020-10/Channel%204%20Menopause%20Policy%202020.pdf An FT feature on the stigma around menopause fading in workplaces https://www.ft.com/content/311504fa-04a2-11ea-a958-5e9b7282cbd1 Almost 1mn women have left the UK workforce because of menopause symptoms https://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/almost-a-million-women-have-left-the-workplace-due-to-menopausal-symptoms/135691 FT columnist Elizabeth Uviebinene on femtech investment https://www.ft.com/content/5ed48a73-a75c-44d7-924d-b65eec28c64f Companies supporting older women into leadership https://www.ft.com/content/162a607c-4072-4706-91fd-5a7fb252be91 We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? 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.
	Is paternity leave the key to workplace equality?	02 Mar 2022	00:17:47
It’s traditionally been mothers who have had to take time off work to look after children. But in the past two years, the pandemic has accelerated a huge shift towards many more fathers wanting to play an active role in family life. In this episode of Working It, we look at the fast-moving changes in workplace parental leave trends - and what that means for mothers, fathers - and the co-workers who pick up the slack. Isabel talks to Matt Schneider, co-founder of the US-based City Dads Group, about why paternity leave matters - and the barriers that still stand in men’s way. Are we really still hard-wired to think about men as breadwinners and women as caregivers? Then she discusses why paternity leave matters more than ever in the current hot labour market, with FT management editor and Working It regular Andrew Hill. If the older, male, leaders in organisations take a dim view of younger colleagues taking paternity leave, do they risk losing them to other companies with a more forward-thinking culture? And we find out that equality for men in this area might just be the key to women’s advancement - and even help to close the gender pay gap. Want to read more? Join a City Dads Group in the US https://citydadsgroup.com/ The FT’s Emma Jacobs on family leave policies as the key to staff retention https://www.ft.com/content/b14b4e7a-e87d-4aee-a267-8100661e4b57 France doubles paternity leave https://www.ft.com/content/36efc7ea-9deb-489a-ac82-97138b7b34f5 McKinsey survey on paternity leave and why it matters https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/a-fresh-look-at-paternity-leave-why-the-benefits-extend-beyond-the-personal 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.
	Why does my boss write such rude emails?	22 Feb 2022	00:15:28
The last two years have made us all experts in digital communications at work - or so we think. In fact, many of us are unwittingly upsetting colleagues, or even jinxing our own careers, by not practising good email etiquette and Zoom hygiene. In this episode Isabel talks to Erica Dhawan, who really is an expert on digital communication, about the common pitfalls and generational differences [be careful how you use those ‘thumbs up’ emojis, everyone]. We relive some of the best/worst digital fails of the pandemic, including the Netflix staff sacked for dissing colleagues on a public Slack channel and the infamous case of the Texas attorney stuck in the Zoom kitten filter. Erica shares some of the strangest things she has to do as a workplace communication consultant - including teaching Gen Z staff how to get over their fear of voicemail and landlines. Isabel and Erica discuss practical things we can do to improve the way we talk to colleagues online. Including a definitive ruling on the vexed subject of whether or not it is rude to put a period on the end of texts, emails and DMs… Want to read more? Pilita Clark on email etiquette https://www.ft.com/content/3bb151b5-e785-4305-a1f0-6eb71a9dd327 Tim Harford on making email work for you https://www.ft.com/content/e32ea720-be03-4264-95a2-21696e530e84 Erica Dhawan’s website https://ericadhawan.com/ Erica’s advice in Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2021/05/did-you-get-my-slack-email-text 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.
	Are companies walking their diversity talk?	15 Feb 2022	00:18:28
After the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the worldwide social justice protests that followed, businesses acted swiftly to pledge change for their BAME workers. Nearly everyone wanted to post a black square on their corporate Instagram feed - but what real action has been taken? And is there anything you can do to speed up change in your own workplace? In this episode Isabel talks to Taylor Nicole Rogers, the FT’s US labour and equality correspondent, and Working It regular, to get a snapshot of where corporate America stands on diversity, equity and inclusion. She talks about her own workplace experience as a Black woman - and the toll of ‘code switching’ - changing the way you talk, act or dress - to fit in with white corporate culture. Plus, Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, a huge human capital management company, on what US payroll and employment data can tell us about progress on diversity at work. Want to read more? Taylor Nicole Rogers on why Black American workers need economic reform https://www.ft.com/content/377a163d-fdbf-4f11-bb4a-e26465f8c2aa Pilita Clark on why minority staff want to spend more time working from home https://www.ft.com/content/0049bea8-2d5a-42f4-9ac6-cc79402a7bb9 The evolution of the chief diversity officer - and the problems of embedding diversity right across workplaces, by Emma Jacobs https://www.ft.com/content/6eac296d-acf6-4b41-9349-dc9723212914 ADP’s Nela Richardson on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nela-richardson-59813613/ Employers shift focus from education to skills - featuring LinkedIn’s programmes https://www.ft.com/content/4e610474-9c93-4e47-a042-915d2222cc4b 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.
	Get ready for the four-day working week	08 Feb 2022	00:17:11
Who wouldn’t want to have a regular paid day off to go surfing, take a long walk - or to care for family members? During the pandemic a growing number of companies have been experimenting with four-day weeks and in this episode Isabel talks to Andrew Barnes, founder of 4 Day Week Global, a non-profit organisation that helps companies switch to a more flexible working week. Andrew first brought in four-day working weeks at his own company in New Zealand, and found productivity and staff happiness rocketed. Isabel also talks to the FT’s Emma Jacobs, who has written about the benefits - and drawbacks–of four-day working. There are many reasons why corporate leaders don’t like the idea - not least because some of them confuse presenteeism with productivity. But are these objections valid? Or could a shortened working week on full pay even be a way for bosses to hold on to staff - and halt the Great Resignation? Want to read more? Pilita Clark’s FT column ‘Get ready for the four-day working week’ https://www.ft.com/content/c5d83853-682e-4076-81c1-813b246309f8 Emma Jacobs’ feature on shorter working weeks during the pandemic https://www.ft.com/content/2973bdb4-aef7-4766-b4a5-3f83dd0d667f Emma’s interview with Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, an expert on shorter working weeks https://www.ft.com/content/7bb06122-57d0-11ea-abe5-8e03987b7b20 Andrew Barnes’ organisation 4 Day Week Global has lots of resources https://www.4dayweek.com/ 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.
	The reality of whistleblowing at work	01 Feb 2022	00:18:53
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-cc62a39d57a0 The corruption of cronyism in workplaces - and a whistleblower's experience of calling it out https://www.ft.com/content/98fdcde8-eba1-45b3-98a6-eceb5269e07c Andrew Hill on the business lessons learned from Enron, 20 years after its collapse https://www.ft.com/content/4676e3e2-bdaa-4c78-8011-49508279c9ea 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.
	Is ‘personality’ a good enough reason to hire someone?	28 May 2024	00:17:25
TikTok and Instagram are awash with videos about so-called personality hires – young, fun-loving employees whose main contribution to work seems to be… well, ‘vibes’. These videos are tongue-in-cheek, but they raise interesting questions about the role our personalities play at work: how big a factor should personality be in hiring decisions? Can we put a value on being a good colleague? And can being known for your bubbly personality give the impression you don’t know what you’re doing? To find out Isabel speaks to NYU professor Tessa West, who explains why understanding status is crucial to success at work. Isabel also speaks to Bella Rose Mortel, a social media strategist and self-proclaimed personality hire, who explains that charisma alone is no substitute for competence. Want more? Free links: Psychological tests can help firms hire better — but accuracy is not guaranteed Competent jerks have a shelf life in the office No passion please, we are British Is Myers-Briggs up to the job? 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.
	Is it time to put an end to working from home?	25 Jan 2022	00:29:33
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-b236-83ca3f0313df Pilita Clark - ‘If You Thought Hybrid Working was Hard, Wait Until 2022’ https://www.ft.com/content/006e0751-21ee-4ab0-8bd2-0b954c7132df 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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
	Help, my team have all got side hustles!	18 Jan 2022	00:12:36
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-rogers The banker turned bamboo socks seller https://www.ft.com/content/5f0e6c76-7cda-4b62-bb2f-36fd4771efaa Financial influencer Ken Okoroafor on how his side hustle TheHumblePenny.com became a big business https://www.ft.com/content/27eff0d1-e2d0-4e41-afaf-c2aadf437873 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.
	From Gen X to Gen Z: bridging the workplace generation gap	11 Jan 2022	00:15:30
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-a44cb1bebb0f The return of the corporate handbook, helping to create workplace culture for everyone. By Emma Jacobs https://www.ft.com/content/b69d4fb7-9b6b-4507-bb0e-ac9a02de37ba Why 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-right What 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.

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