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This Working Life

This Working Life

ABC Australia 248 Episodes Oct 12, 2026

This Working Life explores ways to improve your experience at work, challenging the status quo with expert advice, research, and practical hacks. Host Lisa Leong and guests delve into policy issues like hybrid workplaces, remote work, employee wellbeing, organizational culture, AI, surveillance, engagement, diversity, and inclusion. They also discuss work-life balance, organizational change, restructures, casualization, performance management, and career advice. The podcast focuses on the people side of work, including culture, individual experiences, and personal development.

Episodes

Workplace Physio: Protect Your Neck!
Workplace Physio: Protect Your Neck! Oct 12, 2026 0:25:15 How's your neck feeling? Tight? Falling forward? You aren't alone.  In the first edition of our occasional series Workplace Physio we look forward, with our heads held high, at the impact of 'tech neck'. Lisa steps on the wobbleboard and does her exercises to figure out what work is doing to our necks and how we can go about fixing it. Guest:Jennifer Callaghan, Specialist Musculo
Is AI killing entry level jobs?
Is AI killing entry level jobs? Oct 5, 2026 0:25:14 Is AI coming for your job?  Well, maybe not yet. But there are early warning signs that entry level jobs are getting squeezed and traditional career pathways are closing up. Research from Stanford Digital Labs in the US has shone a light on what actual impact artificial intelligence is having on employment, and it's not necessarily what the big tech bosses have been telling us! L
It's burnout season!
It's burnout season! Sep 28, 2026 0:25:15 Are you burnt out ... again?!  How does it keep coming round like clockwork?   We're entering burnout season, and author Karl Treacher agues in his new book Built to Burn that you burning out is a feature of the system, not a bug.  Are we facing an epidemic of burnout? What can we do about it? Lisa's picked up her hose and is running towards the burning building. GuestsKarl Treac
Wellness shortcuts do more harm than good
Wellness shortcuts do more harm than good Sep 21, 2026 0:25:15 Are you drowning in digital?  Are the company sponsored mental health tools helping you at all? They've become the norm as they're cheaper and easier to apply than traditional methods.  But research is showing that these applications and online tools aren't always cutting the mustard when it comes to improving our mental wellbeing at work; especially when they're applied as a cat
Simone Stolzoff wants you to be uncertain!
Simone Stolzoff wants you to be uncertain! Sep 14, 2026 0:25:15 It feels like we’re constantly being asked to know things, to be rock solid in our information.  But is this desire for control and certainty stopping us from making better decisions both at work, and about our working lives?  Journalist and author Simone Stolzoff has a lot of ideas about our brains and how we go to work! He’s  been circling the globe hunting out people who tryin
You're being measured!
You're being measured! Sep 7, 2026 0:25:15 Do you measure up?Digital and AI tools coupled with an increased desire for productivity means we’re being marked more closely than ever before. New research shows that when we know how we're being measured we stop prioritising the work that isn't measured, especially if we think the systems aren't transparent or fair. Lisa gets stuck into the modern map of "metricisation" to see
Fluorescent lights burning you out?
Fluorescent lights burning you out? Aug 31, 2026 0:25:15 How does your office make you feel? Are you an open plan convert or dying under the halogen lighting? We spend a lot of time in our workplaces and the way they’re designed can have a huge impact on our mental and physical wellbeing. Psychologists and architects are worried we've sleep walked into a world where the standard office design is actively burning workers out quick smart
What do you do in a crisis?
What do you do in a crisis? Aug 24, 2026 0:25:16 How do you react in a crisis? Are you fight, flight, fawn or flee? We all react differently to moments of panic and stress but one thing we all have in common is that they cause us to make rash and poor decisions. Are we stuck like this or can we re-train ourselves to respond to panic and act or lead with a clear head? Guest:Dr James Donald, Senior Lecturer in Work and Organisati
How to get hired in the AI age
How to get hired in the AI age Aug 17, 2026 0:25:15 Artificial intelligence use in the job hunt is happening so fast it's hard to keep track and applicants and employers are feeling harassed by the speed of the change.  Candidates find themselves trapped in a paradox where they need to write applications that make it through the screening while also standing out when an application eventually reaches a human decision maker. AI int
We're too tired to work!
We're too tired to work! Aug 10, 2026 0:25:16 Are you just too tired to work? Australians feel exhausted. Eighty two per cent of Australian knowledge workers reported being on the verge of burnout last year, and businesses are scrambling to catch up with the cost of mental fatigue. But sleepiness can be a killer too and a major shift is underway in how Australian industries treat tiredness in the workplace. It's not a new ph
Is Gina Rinehart right about cash bonuses?
Is Gina Rinehart right about cash bonuses? Aug 3, 2026 0:25:16 Australia’s richest person and long time supporter of Australian Swimming Gina Rinehart has been offering cash bonuses for Aussie swimmers at the Commonwealth games, $20,000 for a gold medal! It can be a nice to have after a huge challenge or a drawcard to make people work harder, but there can be a danger to motivating your team with extra dollars.So, Is Gina Rinehart right, do
The dangers of silence at work
The dangers of silence at work Jul 27, 2026 0:25:16 Speaking out at work is hard. It's even harder in a culture of silence. To take the decision to break the quiet is an act of bravery, ands it's one many of us are unwilling to risk. But the dangers of a culture of silence are many, and they impact employers and employees alike. While it can be a scary thing to do, research has found that people staying silent to protect their own

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