Working It

When companies lay off thousands of workers at a time, how much do they think about those left behind? Sudden job cuts can sever the bond of trust between employers and their remaining workers. Host Isabel Berwick asks Sandra Sucher from Harvard Business School whether that trust can be repaired, and the FT’s management editor Anjli Raval talks about research into the effects of mass lay-offs. Plus, careers expert Jonathan Black gives tips on how to make sure you are ready to face the job market. Want more?The shock of mass lay-offs is only the beginning for companiesTech workforces: how low can they go?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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow Isabel on LinkedInSubscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Produced by Manuela Saragosa and Audrey Tinline. The sound engineer is Breen Turner.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lay-offs in some sectors of the US economy have reached levels not seen since the height of the pandemic. Tech and banking sectors have been hit hard and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is bringing more uncertainty. But if headcount has to be cut, how should managers decide who to lay off ? Host Isabel Berwick hears from the FT’s US Financial Editor Brooke Masters on how companies are managing job cuts, and from Andy Milton, founder of the London Tech Network, who tells her about the effect of widespread lay-offs on tech workers in London. Want more?Who to fire: how the biggest companies plan mass lay-offshttps://www.ft.com/content/cb8b5a61-e0fc-4254-9e77-e80e14296718How not to fire peoplehttps://www.ft.com/content/a19b4a08-3fcb-480f-aaa0-1f2ab607447eFT 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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow Isabel on LinkedInSubscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Produced by Manuela Saragosa and Audrey Tinline. The sound engineer is Breen Turner. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's shareholder pressure not to allow directors to take on too many board seats at once, something that’s been called ‘overboarding’. Non-executive directors can now find themselves voted off a board by investors if they believe a director is spreading themselves too thinly to do a good job. So how many board positions is too many? Host Isabel Berwick hears from the FT’s management editor Anjli Raval and corporate governance expert Patricia Lenkov in the US, while the FT’s careers expert Jonathan Black has advice on what’s required to be a good board member. Want more?‘Overboarding’: why it has become a hot issue for companieshttps://www.ft.com/content/c1aeaa21-1361-492d-a63d-d14d7c1a481dHow do I become a non-executive director?https://www.ft.com/content/642cc2e5-c04c-4075-9978-03eb6eb44fcaFT 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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow Isabel on LinkedInSubscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Produced by Manuela Saragosa and Audrey Tinline. The sound engineer is Breen Turner.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Experts say more and more countries are inching towards greater pay transparency as a tool to address unfairness and inequity, such as the gender pay gap. Host Isabel Berwick hears from the FT’s Nordic correspondent Richard Milne about Norway’s experience of radical pay transparency and discusses the pros and cons of ending salary secrecy with the FT’s US labour and equality correspondent, Taylor Nicole Rogers, and Professor Tomasz Obloj from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.We'd love to hear from you. Please help us by filling in our listener survey at ft.com/workingitsurvey. It takes around 10 minutes to complete and you’ll be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort Earbuds.Want more?How salary secrecy is being challenged https://www.ft.com/content/907e041b-975b-4c74-b734-2373d36e09bdGet ready for salaries to become more public https://www.ft.com/content/009c6492-796f-4bf5-971b-de49bc662f23FT 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/newslettersPresented by Isabel Berwick. Produced by Persis Love. Executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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! We'd love to hear from you. Please help us by filling in our listener survey at ft.com/workingitsurvey It will take you around 10 minutes to complete and you will be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort Earbuds.Want more?What do friends bring to the workplace? https://www.ft.com/content/f13bca30-45ea-11e2-b780-00144feabdc0When your best workplace friend leaves:https://www.ft.com/content/62b2db86-60e7-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599eFT 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/newslettersEmail the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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-6142924a33b8Why 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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Please help us by filling in our listener survey at www.ft.com/workingitsurvey It will take you around 10 minutes to complete and you will be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort Earbuds! Your personal information will be processed in accordance with the FT's privacy policy. If you have any queries about the survey please let us know at [email protected] 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.

There are a lot of stereotypes about millennials - meaning anyone born between 1981 and 1996 - but perhaps the biggest one is that they have an overwhelming sense of entitlement. Host Isabel Berwick unpicks some of the tropes with Emily Bowen and Shelley Johnson, workplace experts and hosts of the popular Australian podcast My Millennial Career, while the FT’s US labour and equality correspondent, Taylor Nicole Rogers, explains what distinguishes millennials from younger generations starting out on their careers.Want more?Millennials are shattering the oldest rule in politics https://www.ft.com/content/c361e372-769e-45cd-a063-f5c0a7767cf4What Musk misses about how this generation works https://www.ft.com/content/2ecc2819-d54c-4539-9c9d-e849cfe618baFT 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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Please help us by filling in our listener survey at www.ft.com/workingitsurvey It will take you around 10 minutes to complete and you will be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort Earbuds! Your personal information will be processed in accordance with the FT's privacy policy. If you have any queries about the survey please let us know at [email protected] can also email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow Isabel on LinkedInSubscribe 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.

Research shows more than half of women in the UK are thinking of leaving their job, or have left their job, because of a lack of workplace flexibility. Host Isabel Berwick speaks to Janine Chamberlin, UK country manager at the social platform LinkedIn, and to Sarah O’Connor, the FT’s employment columnist, about the enduring workplace stigma around pregnancy and return from maternity leave and asks if anything has changed given more people are working remotely amid the Covid-19 pandemic.Want more?Family-friendly leave policies are key to staff retention: https://www.ft.com/content/b14b4e7a-e87d-4aee-a267-8100661e4b57FT 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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow Isabel on LinkedInSubscribe 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 NovelRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you move on from professional failure, from missing out on the job you coveted or messing up in your role? Host Isabel Berwick hears from Farrah Storr, head of writer partnerships for Substack UK and previously the editor of the UK edition of Elle, Cosmopolitan and Women's Health, about what went on behind the scenes in her very successful career, while Brooke Masters, the FT's US financial editor and associate editor, argues that blaming your boss is not the answer.Want more?What the ‘CV of failures’ really reveals about career setbacks: https://www.ft.com/content/86ea48da-1dc5-11e6-b286-cddde55ca122Farrah’s Substack post about her professional failures: https://bit.ly/3W3dc7cFT 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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow Isabel on LinkedInSubscribe 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.

2022 was the year of hybrid and flexible working, side hustles and talent wars, but will any of these trends stick in 2023? Host Isabel Berwick looks at what’s in store for the workplace in the year ahead with FT colleagues Taylor Nicole Rogers, the US labour and employment correspondent, and Sophia Smith, Working It newsletter editor.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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow Isabel on LinkedInSubscribe 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 do so many workplaces spend so much money to put on a Christmas party? And how do you face your colleagues if you think you may have embarrassed yourself at one? Host Isabel Berwick sources advice from Jo Hemmings, a behavioural psychologist, while Jo Ellison, editor of the FT’s luxury lifestyle magazine HTSI, argues the case for making the most of the office Christmas party. Plus, Timothy Dowling, a screenwriter on the Hollywood film 'Office Christmas Party', tells Isabel why the subject is ripe for comedy. Want more?The office grinch may have a point - it’s not fun if it’s forced: https://www.ft.com/content/59de98b0-17ae-44ec-b91c-4ffdf8761214The work Christmas party is dead. Hooray! https://www.ft.com/content/468d0e2b-0607-4703-8f55-2d09d59fb578FT 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'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Financial Times Business Book of the Year prize was set up in 2005 with the simple mission of finding and rewarding each year’s most “compelling and enjoyable” read. Earlier this month, the £30,000 award went to Chris Miller’s Chip Wars, a book that reads like a thriller about the battle for dominance in the semiconductor industry. Host Isabel Berwick is joined by Andrew Hill, the FT’s senior business writer, and Frederick Studemann, the FT’s literary editor, to talk about how entries are judged and why business books continue to top bestseller lists.Want more?For background, longlists and shortlists of the award, see: https://www.ft.com/bookawardFT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by NovelRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It has been billed as the biggest overhaul of the working week since the carmaker Henry Ford introduced the five day week in his factories almost a century ago. A number of UK companies have signed up to trial a four-day week, with no loss in pay for employees. In the last of this four-part series about the trial, host Isabel Berwick speaks to the FT’s Emma Jacobs who tracked four companies taking part. Will they stick to the new shorter working hours or go back to a five-day week?FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A host of UK companies have been taking part in a six-month trial aimed at overhauling the traditional five-day working week. They’ve structured their businesses to work on a four-day week instead, with no loss in pay for employees. In the third episode of this four-part series about the trial, host Isabel Berwick hears from the FT’s Emma Jacobs who has been speaking to consultants and academics advising the companies involved, as well as the people behind the global four-day week campaign. What’s required to make it work?FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s billed as the biggest overhaul of the working week since the carmaker Henry Ford introduced the five-day week in his factories, almost a century ago. A number of UK companies have signed up to trial a four-day week, with no loss in pay for employees. In the second episode of this four-part series about the trial, host Isabel Berwick hears from the FT’s Emma Jacobs who’s been speaking to employees involved, reporting on their concerns about maintaining productivity and time management.FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A host of UK companies have been taking part in a 6-month trial aimed at overhauling the traditional five-day working week. They’ve structured their businesses to work on a four day week instead, with no loss in pay for employees. The trail is being coordinated by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the UK think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University. In this first episode of a four-part series about the trial, host Isabel Berwick speaks to the FT’s Emma Jacobs about the four businesses - Yo Telecoms, Stellar Asset Management, fish and chip shop Platten's and games developer Hutch - who signed up to take part. Why did they sign up, how are they adapting their work flow and what are their aims and concerns as they kick off their experiment?FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A recent survey in the US found that four in 10 employees had left a job because they felt their values were stigmatised, but how does that sit with a growing number of companies and chief executives making public commitments to diversity and inclusion? Host Isabel Berwick hears from Octavius Black, CEO and co-founder of Mind Gym, which uses behavioural science techniques to improve culture and performance for companies and their staff. And she asks Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, FT's US business editor, whether workplaces are really becoming more divided and polarised.Want more?Politics in the workplace: how should we deal with opposing views?: https://www.ft.com/content/0864d0cb-bab0-4571-9e25-9b6f0ca041efWhen should business take a stand? https://www.ft.com/content/5ceffa36-899a-4457-919f-b70902162f64Why Silicon Valley is split on keeping social activism out of the workplace: https://www.ft.com/content/ba0ac9a7-e33e-4e77-a583-3c900e698ab0FT 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)? Which topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HR has an image problem. For some managers, the phrase “human resources” has become synonymous with the idea of needless corporate policies that get in the way of growth. From the employee's perspective, there is often doubt on whether HR is there to protect them - or the company. Host Isabel Berwick speaks with Jamie Fiore Higgins, an author and executive coach who spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs, about her experience of HR at the investment bank. Isabel also speaks to Georgina Shaw, a people partner at Lush, a company without a conventional HR department, and discusses HR’s role in the corporate structure with Andrew Hill, the FT’s senior business writer.FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Businesses are competing to attract the people they consider the most skilled workers, but if hiring challenges can be described as a war, then the past two years have been one long battle. Host Isabel Berwick hears from Tyler Cowen, an economist and co-author of a new book called ‘Talent’, about how to spot and retain the skilled recruits, and from FT management editor, Anjli Raval, about how skills shortages are affecting recruitment practices.Want more?Talent wars: why businesses have to battle to hire the best https://www.ft.com/content/e79e1497-1eb3-4ca1-bd1f-b12679e24576The global war for talent https://www.ft.com/content/61cc947c-c44c-4340-897a-8bd947227c05FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tens of millions of people worldwide are believed to be suffering from long Covid, experiencing symptoms lasting for more than four weeks after they had Covid-19. Host Isabel Berwick speaks to Jana Javornik, associate professor of employment relations at the University of Leeds, about how she’s juggling her workload with long Covid symptoms, and Sarah Neville, the FT’s global health editor, explains why workplaces have been reluctant to address the issue.Want more?The growing evidence that Covid-19 is leaving people sicker https://www.ft.com/content/26e0731f-15c4-4f5a-b2dc-fd8591a02aecNumber of Britons with long Covid reaches new high https://www.ft.com/content/e62008ff-bebf-4f9f-bc3a-9bb54991fc30Long Covid defies understanding as sufferers despair https://www.ft.com/content/ff63cd68-7281-4340-b1b6-5db3d891eaffFT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A workplace without bosses sounds... idyllic. In this episode, Isabel explores the topic of flat hierarchies with Alexis Gonzales-Black, an expert in organisational design. A few years ago, Alexis helped Zappos, the Amazon-owned online shoe business, to bring in ‘Holacracy’. The experiment wasn’t a total success, as we hear, but Alexis talks about how leaders can step back and make the most of employees’ skills and expertise. But what about other ways that companies knock down workplace hierarchies? Isabel chats to Andrew Hill, the FT’s management editor, about a consultancy that abolished job titles (cue: confusion all round) and US company WL Gore (makers of Gore-Tex), where leaders are appointed through acquiring skills and followers - not just because someone higher up gives them a job. Plus, the dark side of boss-less workplaces. Do they give toxic colleagues a free pass to behave even more badly? We love to hear from you: email us at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter or Instagram.Mentioned in the podcast: Alexis Gonzales-Black on Zappos’ experiment with Holacracy: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/insights-holacracy-interview-alexis-gonzales-black-usha-gubbala/More on what happened to Tony Hsieh, Zappos’ late CEO https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-death-of-zappos-tony-hsieh-a-spiral-of-alcohol-drugs-and-extreme-behavior-11607264719FT article by Alicia Clegg -’ Boss-less business is No Workers’ Paradise’ https://www.ft.com/content/34a86220-d639-11e9-8d46-8def889b4137Andrew Hill on innovative management ideas https://www.ft.com/content/f14b3205-f140-4e74-8743-04b881b63134Presented 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.

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-d52e2265a5a8How to handle a narcissist in the workplace https://www.ft.com/content/eab55621-5a6e-4176-bcb9-c451417db328Lustful leaders: the good, the bad, and the narcissistic https://www.ft.com/content/387bdfbe-b5a2-46e6-8a63-f3a41c2e7f68FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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-bfb704d37665How demands on team leaders are intensifying https://www.ft.com/content/a1740fb3-bd69-4c8d-a322-8b59332de568Forget the ‘toxic boss’ - meet the toxic underlings https://www.ft.com/content/a9c0c114-fb8a-4829-bfc0-2f52a2bbef9fFT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fans of business and work podcasts won’t need any introduction to Steven Bartlett (Diary of a CEO), Bruce Daisley (Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat), Jenna Kutcher (The Goal Digger Podcast) and Emma Gannon (Ctrl Alt Delete). All of them host successful podcasts about our working lives. Working It host Isabel Berwick hears about what they see as the big workplace issues for the next year, touching on everything from hybrid work and hyperconnectivity to the metaverse.Want more?For articles about the future of work, check out the following feed: https://www.ft.com/future-of-workFT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve all come across them in the workplace: the tyrannical boss, the person who puts you down in order to build themselves up, the passive aggressive co-worker. Taylor Nicole Rogers, the FT’s US labour and equality correspondent, stands in for Working It host Isabel Berwick, to source tips on managing difficult colleagues. She hears from author and podcaster Amy Gallo, an expert in conflict, communication, and workplace dynamics, and speaks to the FT’s US investment reporter Madison Darbyshire.Want more?You can’t hide from the jerks at work: https://www.ft.com/content/dd9d39f8-2861-4c99-809e-6a198dd7c4eeHow to deal with an abusive work situation: https://www.ft.com/content/5b5d3ff9-9a11-4f9c-a440-d41cc90ad452How do I navigate a toxic office environment? https://www.ft.com/content/e7309f02-c595-11e9-ae6e-a26d1d0455f4FT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Regular listeners might be forgiven for thinking employees are mostly overwhelmed and overworked. But is the world actually full of people looking artfully busy? Employees who may be slipping under the radar in big organisations? Host Isabel Berwick speaks to David Bolchover, author of ‘The Living Dead: Switched Off, Zoned Out – The Shocking Truth About Office Life’, who spent several years employed at a large organisation doing nothing. And she hears from Leo Lewis, the FT’s Asia business editor based in Tokyo, about a backlash in Japan against the phenomenon of the hatarakanai ojisan, the old geezer (or, less commonly, his female equivalent) who manages to get away with doing no work.  Want more?The rise and rise of Japan’s unsackable slacker https://www.ft.com/content/4012c8f4-cb16-4bf5-ac25-a88c1aae8a51The threat of boredom at work https://www.ft.com/content/bccf5464-0996-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771bFT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click, here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what’s coming next. We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Isabel Berwick investigates claims that microdosing improves performance at work. It’s well known that in Silicon Valley some executives have taken to ingesting very small amounts of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, in the belief that it increases concentration and productivity. But there are also soft-touch versions, known as nootropics or ‘smart drugs’, which include legal mushroom varieties and are said to have similar effects. Isabel and her team try them out at Shroom Town Cafe, a pop-up in central London, and she speaks to Jakobien van der Weijden, co-founder of the Microdosing Institute in the Netherlands. Want more?How safe is your psychedelic trip? https://www.ft.com/content/c5cc0077-3966-4c65-9320-d0a0860740afThe secret to making your brain work better: https://www.ft.com/content/08078211-638b-4326-ac2e-92ae2cdf65c9How Silicon Valley rediscovered LSD: https://www.ft.com/content/0a5a4404-7c8e-11e7-ab01-a13271d1ee9cFT 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, hereWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Manuela Saragosa. Produced by Novel.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Quiet quitting’ is the summer’s hottest workplace trend. It’s spurred thousands of social media posts on TikTok and elsewhere. But what is it exactly? And what if your staff are doing it? FT features writer Emma Jacobs and columnist Pilita Clark join Working It host Isabel Berwick to discuss. Is ‘quiet quitting’ simply a triumph of alliteration over information or does it tell us something useful about workplace attitudes that have come out of the pandemic?Want more?Why 'quiet quitting' is nonsense:https://www.ft.com/content/a09a2ade-4d14-47c2-9cca-599b3c25a33fA tongue-in-cheek FT guide to ‘quiet quitting’:https://www.ft.com/content/c5cddb3a-dcf8-4ef8-a1c2-ed866c214d2bHas work become a four-letter word?https://www.ft.com/content/93435e72-d05b-4061-b6ff-05b9cbd76f0aInterviewing amid economic uncertainty:https://www.ft.com/content/682b3062-8c78-4962-ac23-6fafe2af16f2FT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on TwitterSubscribe 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.

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-f8f6b9b2fb35More on the Swedish ‘flygskam’ or flight shaming:  https://www.ft.com/content/5c635430-1dbc-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4Emma Jacobs on the rise of ‘bleisure’:  https://www.ft.com/content/8003a384-bc22-4ae9-b1c1-2c5452136cbeEY 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 [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. 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.

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-6eee7659b5bbAnd https://www.ft.com/content/29005123-c397-4464-9970-81a5460e007dFor latest FT reporting on trade unions:https://www.ft.com/stream/61b3414d-9e45-4962-a2d1-134453f5af02For more on unionisation attempts at Amazon:https://www.ft.com/content/80f77552-5b73-4e08-bcdb-bc1ab60f6630FT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter and follow Taylor Nicole Rogers @TaylorNRogersSubscribe 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.

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-6142924a33b8Why it’s OK to be quiet at meetings: https://www.ft.com/content/6d5942a2-a13a-49ea-a833-a6d5ce780ae3FT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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 [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter or Instagram. Want more?See how much everyone is paid at Bufferhttps://buffer.com/salariesBrooke 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 onehttps://www.ft.com/content/967db31f-f49b-4039-a295-23db588d2a1c Listen to Claer Barrett’s MoneyClinic podcast on getting a pay risehttps://link.chtbl.com/K3vLw7lV National Bureau of Economic Research - the wider effects of pay transparencyhttps://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.

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-marketFT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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 readhttps://www.ft.com/content/e6bd22e1-088f-492d-802a-1a7aecdc7fe7Have we had enough of the ‘nanny’ employer? https://www.ft.com/content/0506901f-d2a9-45bb-8a79-5ceb202e1675Who 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-9173-167b87dc8c3eFT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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 Hollowoodhttps://www.ft.com/content/5ed49b8a-6c69-418c-9a26-7f43a99b1d1fWhy CEOs are so WTF about working from home - Gilliant Tett opinion columnhttps://www.ft.com/content/8a3f1fa7-8c0c-4068-b0d9-f12c84f0b8d6Stanford professor Nick Bloom’s WFH Research - lots of useful data herehttps://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 complyhttps://twitter.com/I_Am_NickBloom/status/1534535041702711296/photo/1FT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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-f0c6055ef0ecWhy leading a business is not like leading a sports team https://www.ft.com/content/d08bca4c-1bbe-11e3-94a3-00144feab7de?shareType=nongiftWhen sports leadership teaching goes wrong https://www.ft.com/content/3b107a4a-40fa-11ea-bdb5-169ba7be433dLunch with the FT: Lionel Barber and Andrew Strausshttps://www.ft.com/content/9c8064e8-cfe0-11de-a36d-00144feabdc0FT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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-b780-00144feabdc0When your best workplace friend leaves:https://www.ft.com/content/62b2db86-60e7-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599eFT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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 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/newslettersWant more?It’s time to admit that hybrid is not workinghttps://www.ft.com/content/d0df2f1b-2f83-4188-b236-83ca3f0313dfThe UK ‘back to the office budget’ does not add up for womenhttps://www.ft.com/content/143c2613-3e3a-48bb-8e2c-c7d479860f0fThe ‘no’ club - Emma Jacobs on how to refuse non-promotable taskshttps://www.ft.com/content/03117e7a-3c85-4af4-8c31-f34428af32c4Is the underwired bra over? https://www.ft.com/content/2b0b614a-ef83-4991-aabf-1dee87cb1da7We love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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-bde2-11e9-9381-78bab8a70848Viv Groskop talks to the FT on how to overcome fear of public speakinghttps://www.ft.com/content/ffb7b300-0441-11e9-99df-6183d3002ee1Viv’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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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 regretshttps://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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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 policieshttps://www.ft.com/content/b190494e-fa0c-4b52-9f18-cf838e15ab72FT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from 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.

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 thingshttps://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-d8b934ff5ffaFT columnist Simon Kuper on how Oxford university shaped the UK’s ruling elite https://www.ft.com/content/2fa1e436-a5c7-43b1-9e5a-b1e1b43b8c3aUseful 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.pdfAdvisory 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.htmlFT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — please listen, rate and subscribe!Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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-9051-482bd3a1e4b1What 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-realityFT Alphaville takes a sideways glance at what the metaverse hype really meanshttps://www.ft.com/content/40f545c1-178e-43ef-8bac-6010c7781a77FT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — 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 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.

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-9ded3358a324Two FT features by a behavioural economist on how to craft a case for a pay rise and how to use storytelling to make your argumenthttps://www.ft.com/content/09ce507b-914a-4988-9a56-cf5181e1678dhttps://www.ft.com/content/967db31f-f49b-4039-a295-23db588d2a1cHow to ask for a raise: HBR tips and videohttps://hbr.org/2021/11/christine-vs-work-how-to-ask-for-a-raiseFT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — 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.

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-f8f6b9b2fb35More on the Swedish ‘flygskam’ or flight shaming https://www.ft.com/content/5c635430-1dbc-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4Emma Jacobs on the rise of ‘bleisure’ https://www.ft.com/content/8003a384-bc22-4ae9-b1c1-2c5452136cbeEY sends new recruits on a trip to Disneyhttps://www.ft.com/content/da797e20-85fe-4beb-a054-c611aebfdfd9American 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.htmlSalesforce’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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — 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.

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-c0744bdadb49How New York’s offices are getting a post pandemic shake up https://www.ft.com/content/0fc60c68-7e8f-492d-ae4c-f66272793212Pilita Clark on why commuting to an office is still offputting https://www.ft.com/content/8d7e40da-0cf3-453e-9eb3-40036d4e2582Hot desking in offices is coming backhttps://www.ft.com/content/06f5e384-e278-4c30-8215-085512c6820dHow companies are luring staff back with restaurant-quality free foodhttps://www.ft.com/content/218e50fb-9bff-4589-bff2-7975ea354456HBR 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — 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 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-bc74-6df52055640dMore 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-fb4810b0dbd6Emma Jacobs on using ‘‘stay’ interviews as a way to find out the training staff want https://www.ft.com/content/57556b65-f8c8-41f1-9f07-c6c470777229How the Japanese company Rakuten made English its global language https://www.ft.com/content/2fdd6626-ba3b-11e7-8c12-5661783e5589Dan Bullock and Raul Sanchez’s work on training staff to communicate globally https://www.globallycommunicate.com/the-teamFT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — 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.

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/3e561d41-0267-4d40-9c30-01e62fa9c10fPilita Clark on ‘the grey resignation’ of older workers https://www.ft.com/content/f4b64153-b7da-46d6-b882-415907bb77f1How to run ‘stay’ interviews by Emma Jacobs  https://www.ft.com/content/57556b65-f8c8-41f1-9f07-c6c470777229Is this the end of work as we know it? Working It previous episodehttps://www.ft.com/content/0fc0cf76-d733-4f4c-85fd-51bdc023c63fFT 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/newslettersWe love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at [email protected] or Isabel directly at [email protected]. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter Subscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — 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.