Working It

Is it time to be open about pay?

Chances are, not even your best friend knows how much you earn at work. In this episode, Isabel tries to work out what we are worried about - surely salary secrecy only helps our bosses? She talks to Joel Gascoigne, chief executive of social media business Buffer, which publishes its employees’ salaries on its website - including that of Joel himself [$290k]. He thinks radical transparency helps with all sorts of potentially difficult issues at work. Isabel also talks to Brooke Masters, the FT’s chief business commentator and an expert on CEO pay. Brooke thinks there are often good reasons for secrecy: when companies are forced to be open about top leaders’ pay, CEOs can compare themselves to people leading other organisations and demand even higher salaries. Isabel and Brooke also talk about how the rest of us can negotiate a pay rise. To do that, it may help to know what your colleagues are paid ... 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. Mentioned in the podcast: 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 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

November 23, 2021

19 min

What working from home companies can teach the rest of us

Almost two years into the pandemic, we’ve become used to hybrid working but it’s often hit and miss in terms of how well it works. In this episode, Isabel talks to Sacha Labourey, co-founder and chief strategy officer of all-remote tech company CloudBees, about what keeps his staff engaged and happy. One tip for managers is that overcommunicating with your team is the key to making things better when you are often - or always - apart. Isabel also speaks to the FT’s New York correspondent Joshua Chaffin about the return to the office in NYC. The insider view? Turns out it is lonely at the top for CEOs holed up in their corner offices while the employees stay at home. We would 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. Mentioned in the podcast: Find out more about CloudBees and its ‘distributed work’ https://www.cloudbees.com/careers Joshua’s story on lonely CEOs in New York https://www.ft.com/content/4743268e-e903-4822-acba-c22495367bbf Joshua’s article on why commuters won’t be lured back to offices https://www.ft.com/content/d17d6e2b-c29b-4505-81f4-b3a416f55ca2 And… What went wrong at all-remote company Basecamp https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/05/banning-political-discussions-at-work-isnt-that-simple-experts-say.html 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

November 16, 2021

15 min

The radical unlimited vacation experiment

Trusting your staff to take as much time off as they need to rest and avoid burnout sounds like the ultimate post-pandemic workplace reset, but what would it be like in reality?In this episode, Isabel talks to Amy Cowpe of Charlie HR, a human resources software company based in the UK, about its radical unlimited vacation experiment. What happens when you give people the freedom to make their own choices? The experiment (spoiler alert) didn’t work - but not for the reasons you might expect. Even so, some big-name companies, including Netflix, have long had a ‘no vacation’ policy. How do they make it work? Isabel also talks about the history of paid holidays - her own grandmother had just one day off a month as a live-in maid for a rich English family in the 1930s (yes, it was a bit like Downton Abbey). We would love to hear from you: email us at workingit@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter or email her direct at isabel.berwick@ft.com Mentioned in the podcast: Charlie HR’s blog about its unlimited vacation experiment: https://www.charliehr.com/blog/we-tried-unlimited-holiday-heres-everything-that-went-wrong/ Pilita Clark in the FT on why unlimited time off means more time at work: https://www.ft.com/content/ca935b70-bf14-11e7-9836-b25f8adaa111 Psychoanalyst Josh Cohen’s long read in FT Magazine on how to avoid burnout (feat. Herbert Freudenberger’s work that coined the term ‘burnout’ in 1974): https://www.ft.com/content/ea0ea4cc-0320-11e9-9d01-cd4d49afbbe3 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

November 9, 2021

14 min

Staff perks - the good, the bad and the out there

Puppy party anyone? That’s what one employer is offering its staff to lure them back into work. Perks have always been a part of employment packages but, during the pandemic, employers have become a lot more imaginative in a bid to keep their people engaged remotely - and then get them back in the office. What is the point of these perks, do they work - and what do managers need to know to offer staff what they really want? Isabel talks to Alicia Ries, director of communications for Emea at Steelcase, a US-based furniture company that brought in a welcome programme including barbecues and its own bagpipe band when its employees returned to work. Alicia discusses what really motivates staff and how employers can help them thrive. We also speak to FT management editor Andrew Hill about the weirdest workplace incentives and what the research says will really keep us engaged at work. We would love to hear from you - email us at workingit@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter or email her direct at isabel.berwick@ft.com Mentioned in the podcast and further reading: Andrew Hill’s article on back to work perks, including Steelcase What are the most in demand new perks? Charlotte Middlehurst’s FT article: https://www.ft.com/content/6f34b761-aa03-42e7-b5f2-0b128102e33b Frederick Herzberg’s research into what really motivates employees [tl;dr - make the job more interesting] from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2003/01/one-more-time-how-do-you-motivate-employees 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

November 2, 2021

13 min

Can wellness apps fix us and beat staff burnout?

The wellness industry is a trillion-dollar business, and the pandemic has turbo-charged it. One of the biggest trends has been the rise in employers buying their staff access to meditation and fitness apps. But does this ‘quick fix’ approach work? And are there better ways to boost wellbeing ? Isabel talks to Lorna Borenstein, chief executive of Grokker, a corporate wellness app about the reasons why she set up the platform and how clients and her own staff use it. It’s all part of a culture of taking care of employees - a topic Lorna has explored more deeply in her book It’s Personal, offering advice to other managers on how to help staff feel better [tl;dr: talk less, listen more]. We also speak to FT colleague Emma Jacobs, about the corporate care culture. She is a little more skeptical. We would love to hear from you - email us at workingit@ft.com. You can also follow @isabelberwick on Twitter and Instagram or reach out via email: isabel.berwick@ft.com. Thanks. Mentioned in the podcast and other interesting reading: Emma Jacobs’ prophetic pre-pandemic guide to workplace wellness by app: https://www.ft.com/content/d1d58aae-437c-11ea-abea-0c7a29cd66fe FT series, Burnout: https://www.ft.com/burnout Deloitte report [2020] on employee mental health showing £5 benefit for every £1 spent https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/consulting/articles/mental-health-and-employers-refreshing-the-case-for-investment.html Video: Emma Jacobs on how to detox from your smartphone: https://www-ft-com.newman.richmond.edu/video/b4115321-b915-3a42-9814-ad0be4c0e7f5?playlist-name=section-0b83bc44-4a55-4958-882e-73ba6b2b0aa6&playlist-offset=206 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

October 27, 2021

17 min

Trailer: Introducing Working It from the Financial Times

Welcome to Working It, the new show from the Financial Times. Every Wednesday, from October 27, join host Isabel Berwick for expert analysis and watercooler chat about ahead-of-the-curve workplace trends, the big ideas shaping work today - and the old habits we need to leave behind. Whether you’re the boss, the deputy or on your way up, we’re shaking up the way the world works. This is the podcast about doing work differently. We hope you’ll enjoy it and we’d really like to make it as interesting and useful to you as possible, so please do let us know what you think or like or don’t. Email us at workingit@ft.com. Follow @isabelberwick on Twitter and Instagram or reach out via email: isabel.berwick@ft.com 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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

October 26, 2021

2 min

About the podcast Working It

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