Behavioural science Guest: Adrian Camilleri Association Professor of Marketing University of Technology Sydney Business School Adrian Camilleri is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School. He uses experimental and survey research methods to understand, explain, and predict the cognitive processes underlying judgment and...
Is it time to include pet perks in more compensation packages? With talent acquisition a hot topic, everything is on the table now and perhaps that should include bringing your dog to the office, or at least having some of his health expenses covered by...
Can AI help people become better chess players - and if it can, what does that mean for the future of work? To talk about that, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Henning Piezunka the co-author of a study on that topic which reached...
Workers have lives outside of the workplace, and in many cases that means being caregivers to family members who are elderly or disabled or ill. The strain of that can impact their work, and it can impact the organizations they work for as well. To...
Artificial Intelligence is here to stay and as well as changing and eliminating jobs it is creating new roles. On this episode, Linda Nazareth is joined by Cliff Jurkiewicz, Vice President of Global Strategy at Phenom to talk about why it is time for companies...
Remote work keeps evolving: organizations have been changing the rules around it, workers have been shifting their demands on employers, and the pieces keep shifting. To talk about the new trends in remote work, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Jelena Djordjevic, Vice President...
Flexible work goes in and out of fashion, with always loving it and organizations being somewhat more skeptical. To talk about the state of flexible work, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Cali Williams Yost, CEO and Founder of Flex+Strategy Group. They talk about...
Gen Z is a unique generation, perhaps more likely to be dealing with stress and anxiety - or perhaps just more likely to talk about it. On this episode, Dr. Sarah Adler CEO/Founder of Wave Life, Inc. joins Linda Nazareth to talk about how organizations...
What can an anthropologist tell us about the future of work? A lot as it happens, since they know a lot about societies and cultures, which means that their observations about the workplace can help us understand how things are evolving and what might come next....
Workers want more than money when they accept a job and typical looking for things like a manageable commute and a good team to work with as well. Increasingly, they are also interested in working for mission-oriented companies, wanting to work for organizations that are...
Organizations talk about the need to have diverse organizations and they may be sincere about that, but actually making that happen can be difficult to do. Designing the right programs is not easy and getting people on board can be even harder. To talk about...
How does an organization get ready for the future and build a workforce that is ready for it when technology is changing so quickly? To talk about that, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by David Morgenstern, President of Accenture Canada. They talk about...
Workers want a certain amount of autonomy at work, but leaders have always been wary about providing it. Finding the right balance is now more important than ever, and also more difficult than ever given that many workers are now working remotely. To talk about...
Anxiety is everywhere, including in the workplace - but can it be used in a positive way? Better yet, are there ways that leaders and organizations can create an environment where anxiety is reduced if not eliminated? To talk about that Linda Nazareth is joined...
If you have a job and you have kids, you know that one impacts the other. Logistics is part of it, but there is more as well. Our work impacts our life outside work, and our families, perhaps more than we think. To discuss the...
Getting worker communication right is difficult, but it is at the crux of running an effective organization and the technology that is supposed to help sometimes seems to make things worse. To talk about effective ways to use technology to improve communication, Linda Nazareth is...
If we are going to work effectively and have any kind of balance we need to set boundaries, but how we can we do that? In a world where work demands seem to constantly be rising, saying 'no' to anything sometimes seems impossible. To talk...
Should organizations force workers to take vacations? With workers increasing reporting that they are suffering from burnout, it might help if people took time off even if they are forced to do so. To talk about the issues around that, Linda Nazareth is joined on...
We know that partnerships and teams matter to all organizations but movies are a little different. When you get a team together to make a movie, you are bringing together a lot of creative people and as well a lot of people with competing priorities....
Just about everyone - even if they work independently or remotely - has to collaborate with other people on occasion. Not everyone likes to do that and not everyone does it well, but when collaboration fails there are real business costs. To talk about how...
Had a great morning speaking to the Purposeful Intent conference in Toronto about the future of work. So much to discuss given that we really are at a pivotal moment in economic history. ...
The workplace is in a state of flux, and that includes the physical workplace. It used to be the place we went to because that is where we could work – that was where the computers were and we had to sit in board rooms...
Is it time to deconstruct jobs and how do we do that? On this episode Linda Nazareth is joined by Ravin Jesuthasan, co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Work Without Jobs How to Reboot Your Organization’s Work Operating System. They talk about why it may be...
This year has been a tough one for a lot of organizations. They have needed workers, sometimes needed them desperately, and it has not been easy to find them and they have been continuously losing them as we go through this thing called the Great...
What do concerns about ESG mean for the future of work? The pandemic aside though, we have a building awareness of what is going on in terms of environmental change in general, and a building awareness of ESG Investing. ESG-of course being the acronym for Environmental, Social,...
Is there a way to turn the Great Resignation into the Great Retention? For the past year we have heard a lot about the Great Resignation, the rush of people who are quitting jobs because they are not happy where they are, often for reasons...
This is a special episode of work and the future sponsored by Microsoft, and it is on a special topic as well, the subject of disabilities in the workforce. More specifically it is about the disclosure of disabilities because there are far more people dealing...
Is leadership training going to the wrong people? Typically organizations give leadership training it either to very senior people or those who they have identified by conventional metrics as future senior people, but maybe that is not the best way to do things. On this...
Toxic workplaces are everywhere and are frequently cited as one of the main reasons why people quit their jobs. What kind of culture allows toxic workplaces to flourish? And if you are a manager, what can you do to turn things around? To talk about...
How do art and the world of work go together? If you are an artist, is that a conflict with working in a conventional environment? And if you are running an organization, is it good or bad to have artistic people working for you? The knee jerk...
What do space missions and remote work have in common? A lot as it turns out, which means that there is a lot that remote workers and those who manage them can learn from looking at what it takes for astronauts to operate effectively when...
Virtual meetings bring people together but as they do they also shift power dynamics as compared to live meetings. Who will be the winners and losers in this virtual world? As we virtually bring people into our homes, how are we changing our work lives?...
If some of your workforce is 'visible' in an office and some are 'invisible' at home, how can you ensure that everyone is treated fairly? There are many considerations for managers, particularly since hybrid work may disproportionately affect some groups of people, whether they are...
How do you bring together workers from different organization with different corporate cultures? Combining organizations may make sense from a business point of view, but when you do it you are often bringing together many disparate parts. Doing it effectively means crafting a communications strategy...
If you watch any kind of high level sports, you have to marvel at how much training it takes to get to an elite level as well as the training it takes to perform on game day. Doing things under pressure is not the same...
It is the fourth quarter of 2021 and we are still in a state of flux in the work world.. Companies are struggling with whether to bring everyone back to the office, there are labour shortages all over, and just what normal looks like in...
With the pandemic not behind us yet, how can organizations be agile and willing to change up how we do things, maybe several times more before we get to the end of this? And how can workers come together to get things done effectively as...
Can you turn departing employees into loyal alumni? When a worker leaves, most companies bid them well, perhaps doing a hasty exit interview on the way out. That, however, may be a short-sighted way to do things. Today's guests are Dr. Alison Dachner of John...
Sooner or later we will be going back to offices and work space, but we will be doing it with a different mindset. Partly that is around how safety how do we set things up so we don’t spread the next virus, but there are...
Frito-Lays workers have recently settled a strike (over appalling work conditions) but that is not the end of the discussion on the best way to get snacks into bowls. Right now the answer is apparently to grind out shifts from human beings, but the next...
How do you create a corporate culture where workers have a voice, and if you are a worker how do you decide to speak up? Employees are the ones on the front lines, the ones who know what is going on in a organization and...
Is data-driven hiring the future, and if it is should we be happy or a little bit scared? With the economy heating upm we are seeing a surge in hiring, or at least a surge in companies trying to hire. As they look for the...
Is crisis mode our new normal in the work force? As the pandemic took hold in early 2020, it became clear that it was a case of “all hands on deck,” as everyone needed to step up to deal with a disruption the likes of...
Australia is held up as an example to those of us in North America and elsewhere in the world. They did not completely escape the pandemic, but they came pretty close and for the most part, they are back at work in offices, if they...
Over the past year we have leaned heavily on technology, but it has kind of been a love-hate relationship. We love technology it because it is cool that we can work from home, but we also get frustrated when it does not work, and we...
Our major economic problem right now is the pandemic and its offshoots, but that does not mean the economic issues we had before the pandemic have gone away. One of those issues is technology, or rather the speed of technological change and what that means...
Remote work used to be looked at with suspicion, but after nearly a year of trial by fire, everyone knows it is great - right? Actually, not right. Despite having tried it out for months, many managers still view remote work as very much second...
Guest: Bretton (Brett) Putter is an expert in company culture development who is consulted by companies and leaders worldwide to help design, develop and build high-performing cultures. Company culture can be a fairly murky concept. Roughly defined as 'how we do things' it should be reflection...
Last column of the year for the Globe and Mail- what should we expect from the post-pandemiic labour market? Read more here ...
The gig economy’ sometimes gets a bad rap – people hear it and they think of ride-share drivers who really want to be full time. In fact though the gig economy is a much more nuanced place, one that encompasses different kinds of gig workers,...
We are getting close to a vaccine for Covid-19 and a return to something approaching normal in the workforce. But will normal look like for companies? And how should companies plan for the post-pandemic future of work? Our guest today is Cathryn Barnard a Partner...
We are re-imagining everything else, so maybe we need to imagine the office as well. The physical office we are familiar with has its roots in designs first imagined a hundred years ago, with a bit of a Dilbert-style reboot thrown in during the 1950s....
Six months into the pandemic and with more months to come, most workers are coping but not without difficulty. Whether it is stress about being home and isolated, or stress about going back to work and possibly getting sick, a lot of people are under...
It may have been a bit of a struggle to make it work, but the pandemic has forced many companies to keep their teams intact even when they are not under the same roof. As workers have de-camped to far-flung places, perhaps permanently, we are...
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is in full swing and according to the World Economic Forum, the transformation it imposes on us will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. For business to weather this revolution and come out on the right side of it will...
What does a Navy fighter pilot have in common with leading during the pandemic? A lot, at least according to our guest today. Communicating wel, reinforcing core values, remembering to listen- these are all things that leaders in the navy are trained to do, and...
Freelance work something of a controversial workforce trend. To some, it is the dreaded gig economy, those who are forced to work on contracts or driving ride shares because they cannot find that holy grail, the full-time job. To others though, it represents freedom, the ability to...
Many sectors have been impacted by the pandemic, but none more completely than the travel sector. One week is was functioning at full capacity, and then the next the lights had completely gone out, or so it seems. When they go back on, they will...
As the labor market goes through an evolution that started long before the pandemic, our communities are being transformed as well. In many cases that means good things, as when successful companies hire and prosperity increases. Other times there are less-positive spin-offs, with some people...
All of a sudden, front line workers are being treated as the heroes of this pandemic and that is only fair. Bus drivers, grocery workers, cleaners, meat plant employees – all of these people jobs that need doing and they put themselves at risk in...
Was so great to speak to Manitoba Tech's Disrupted Future conference last week..I spoke about the future of work, which is scary and challenging but something we need to come to terms with now. There is lots to be optimistic about, and I think people...
Maybe we will have a recession, maybe we won't, and anyway by all means use a different word if you prefer.'Slowdown', 'Soft Patch', 'Downturn', any of them will do, and any might describe where the economy will be by next year. If we do hit...
Did a shift in corporate culture have anything to do with the issues with the Boeing 737 Max, the (now grounded) plane that was involved in two accidents in recent months? Maybe we will never know the truth of that accusation (which comes from a...
When I speak to employer groups about the future of work, they are often keen to know what they should do to both attract and hold on to workers. In tight markets, that often means attract anyone, anyone at all, they are not fussy. Still,...
A big misunderstanding? Uber and Lyft drivers are protesting across ten U.S. cities this week, as well as in the U.K., South America and Australia, saying that the companies are treating them unfairly. The companies say that they are a great deal for the drivers,...
The 'nine-nine-six culture' (working nine to nine, six days a week) is something close to the norm for Chinese tech workers who are supposed to embrace it with no complaints. Now, some are pushing back on it, and employers are not thrilled (and are not...
Automation is cool in so many ways and it is going to do great things for business. It is even going to create amazing new jobs that we cannot even get our minds around yet. But here's the thing: they may not be jobs for...
Is there a better way to see the future of work than to follow the drama that is Uber? The ride-hailing service burst on to the scene in San Francisco just about six years ago and nothing has been the same ever since. From how...
Walmart buying Modcloth? ‘Say it’s not so’ went the lament from Millennials and other assorted cool people earlier this year. After all, Modcloth is a cutting-edge, online retailer that offers funky clothes for those who consider themselves the opposite of everything the world’s biggest retailer...
Demographics drives a lot of things including Mergers and Acquisitions (M & A) activity. That is a lesson we are now learning from Japan, where there are apparently too few heirs to take over large companies as their boomer-aged Chief Executives head for retirement. This piece...
Collaboration, sharing ideas, boosting creativity, creating bonds – all of these are reasons that are typically given for having open plan workspaces. Sit next to your colleagues in an open plan office or cubicle, goes the reasoning, and productivity will rise. Not so, says new...
Robots, joined by Gig Workers, are now making Twinkies, and they are doing such a good job that their parent company is going public. That’s a powerful statement about today’s manufacturing and economy, never mind our nutritional preferences. Twinkies, those flaky, cream-filled snack cakes that are...
You might not have noticed it, what with one economic crisis and stock market meltdown after another grabbing your attention, but the last few decades have actually been great ones for investors. Thanks to a perfect storm of factors, investment returns for the period from...
Like it or not, the sharing economy is everywhere. I’ll go as far as saying it will be one of the big economic stories of 2016, although its influence will extend far longer than that. It’s a different way to do business, and it works...
New study says it is better to avoid toxic employees tha...
What do you think of when someone says ‘HR?’. For a lot of people, the ‘Human Resources’ department of their company is the group that makes them fill out a lot of forms, takes a bunch of surveys, and handles the admin of filling positions....
Is Mickey Mouse a snob? According to this article from the blog Theme Park Insider (reprinted by Quartz), while once Disney (NYSE: DIS) was all about welcoming the middle class into its parks, these days you have to be rich to party with the well-heeled...
‘Employee Engagement’ – you may want to brush that off as just another HR buzzword, but the truth is that unless your employees are engaged its doubtful you are getting the most from them. If you’re an employee you can confirm that actually: the less...
Etsy (ETSY) and I go way back. My first purchase from the online crafts marketplace was a set of personalized aprons to give as a gift that I bought back in 2010. Since then I’ve purchased baby blankets, Christmas ornaments, a ton of custom invitations,...
If you were a brand new graduate from a top tier university, you had a degree that made you a hot item and you could work anywhere at all, where would you choose? Say it came down to Wall Street or Silicon Valley – both...
There are so many facets of the shuttle-bus-to-Silicon-Valley story that fascinate me. The fact that people are willing to commute a fair distance to be able to live in San Francisco while working for tech companies 60 miles away has big implications, and not just...
Former Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries (yes, I said ‘former’, he stepped down today) said some pretty dumb and offensive things about who he wanted his clientele to be. If the company’s numbers were good nobody might have cared, but in this retail environment he rightly...
Do you go to the mall? I used to, quite a bit actually. In the 70s, 80s, 90s, even the 00s – the mall was the place to buy stuff, and I liked stuff as much as any child and young woman in North America....
Everybody has their favorite so called-called ‘bellwether’ company, the one that tells you where the economy is going if you scan its fortunes. A lot of people like Federal Express, since tracking shipments tells you a lot about the level of activity. Another favorite is...
Advertising, television, media – they sound like cool places to work right? What with Mad Men like a giant commercial for the glamorous industry of advertising, I imagine more people than ever are lusting after careers writing copy and crafting campaigns. Maybe though, their better...
Is being a ‘solopreneur’ – someone who basically runs their own shop –a good thing or a bad thing for the economy? We had better figure it out, because apparently the number of them (us actually, I am one as well) are increasing a phenomenal...
If Ikea says it’s a trend, it must be a trend. The giant furniture retailer known for its affordable products as well as its make-a-day-of-it-and-eat-the-meatballs approach to shopping, is thinking of changing strategy. Noting that tight budgets mean people do not want to shell out...
Can’t you just hear executives around the world gnashing their teeth? Now that Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has an approved a ‘take as much vacation as you want’ policy, there is going to be pressure for other companies to offer them as well. Question...
I had no complaints, really, the last time I called a plumber. The nice lady on the phone (Lorraine) was efficient, she gave me a four hour window and sent out a cheerful plumber (Brent). He fixed the pipes under my sink then gave me...
‘Work is Not a Place’ is one of my favorite catch-phrases these days. I use it to talk about how people can work anywhere, why telecommuting makes sense, why commercial construction may be affected by a trend towards working away from offices. I believe it...
‘Come here, we will give you a great deal on real estate!’ ‘No, come here and you’ll get a tax break!’ ‘No, come here instead and we have a grab bag of subsidies so awesome it will be like you are operating for free!’That’s what...
Of course I like Whole Foods. How can you not? It is like going to a carnival, almost. The cheeses are beautifully displayed with generous samples offered, the prepared food aisles are filled with yummy products you never knew you wanted, the flowers are always...
Coca Cola's results (NYSE: KO) disappointed...