this working life

In the last 20 years, the way we’re employed has evolved almost as quickly as our mobile phones. For a lot of us that means our work has become a lot less secure than it once was. We explore why that is, the impact on us and what we can do about it.

Like it or not, your employer has the right to track and measure just about everything you do in your work day. But should they, is it helpful or does it simply kill motivation? In the second episode of our series on Big Brother at work, we examine how surveillance is changing the way we work and we ask what ever happened to trust?

Assistant Professor of marketing from UC San Diego, Dr Liz Lyons says that tracking employees at work can have varying end results - not all of them good. She shares some of the best examples of boosting productivity in the workplace through tracking and emphasises the importance measuring the right things.

On the other side of the fence is Professor Paul Zak, a 'neuroeconomist' who says that the secret to helping workers reach their potential, doesn't lie in tracking worker through tech, but can be found in our ability to build trust.

If you're certain tracking employees is the way to go though, Dr Joeri Mol, who's an expert in organizational studies from Melbourne University has a warning about the change that can occur in organisations when people simply know they're being watched.

This technology which allows bosses to track what workers are up to whenever and wherever they are has developed rapidly over the last few years and the market has only increased thanks to the pandemic causing a rise in those of us who work from home. So what does this mean for the future? Jathan Sadowski from the Emerging Technologies Research Lab has a warning and a few suggestions for how we could even the scales and get this tech working for the employees.

Producer: Edwina Stott

Supervising producer: Maria Tickle

Uber's story is a cautionary tale in what NOT to do when creating corporate culture in a startup, according Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber. It's the book Lisa's fellow work book nerd Catherine Robson chose as best bedtime page turner. Written by award-winning New York Times technology reporter Mike Isaac, the book chronicles the rise and the catastrophic fall of the corporate giant based on hundreds of interviews with current and former Uber employees.

Producer Maria Tickle

Lunching with 100 strangers helped Kaley Chu find her voice.

Kaley works in finance and as a business development manager, dealing with people was a big part of her job. But Kaley was afraid of talking to new people and it was hampering her career. So she decided to attack it head on.

She launched a personal experiment, to ring strangers and invite them out to lunch. 100 lunches with 100 strangers in one year.

Over lunch, we explore what drove her to embark on the 100 lunches, how it transformed all aspects of her life and work - and what she learnt along the way. (Her book is 100 Lunches With Strangers.)

We then dive deeper into the power of networking and chat with careers coach Leah Lambart (founder of Relaunch me) and executive recruitment specialist Sinead Hourigan (Queensland director Robert Walters) to find out what are the big changes to networking - does it still involve boozy cocktail parties and business cards?

Japanese philosopher holds the keys to a happy work life. Or does he?

In the inaugural This Working Life Book Club we dissect a book that's a blockbusting best-seller in Asia, The Courage To Be Disliked by Japanese philosopher Ichiro Kishimi and writer Fumitake Koga.

Billed as a self-help book, it is a Socratic dialogue between a philosopher and a lost, rather angry young man. In it they explore the ideas of the 19th and 20th century Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in attempt to help the young man find direction in life. Philosopher Patrick Stokes and entrepreneur Catherine Robson help Lisa Leong sort the guff from the gems and hear how Adler's principles can help us perform better at work.

Cryotherapy, sleep apps and binaural beats, are just some or the more than 20 hacks Lisa Leong uses to perform her best at work. Are they useful or a complete waste of time and or money?

We recruited three scientists to run the research filter over these hacks.

DR SHONA HALSON is a leading exercise recovery scientist who has been part of three Olympic campaigns, she sorts the fact from fiction when it comes to cryotherapy.

DR SIOBHAN BANKS, neuroscientist and sleep researcher from the University of South Australia, reviews wearable sleep apps and developmental neuroscientist from Monash University DR HANNAH KIRK debunks binaural beats for increasing focus.

Lisa's fellow biohackers for high performance at work include DIANNE MCGRATH (Mars One astronaut candidate) and entrepreneur and non-executive director CATHERINE ROBSON.