Work is undergoing a transformation. We're rethinking our careers and questioning when, where, and how we work. In Quartz's latest podcast we'll talk to companies and employees charting new ways forward in the workplace, setting new standards that make work better for everyone.
Cover art by Jo Minor
Ambition: When giving up is good for you
We all want to achieve great things. But in the wake of the pandemic, some of us have stopped to reconsider: What's the cost of all this collective desperation to succeed? From treating burnout to resisting oppressive systems, how can we get the things we want in life without sacrificing too much time, energy, and psychological well-being?
Logo by Jo Minor
03/11/2022 • 28 minutes, 20 secondes
The four day work week: When is less truly more?
A growing number of companies and countries are experimenting with reducing the number of working days per week from five to four. For many organizations and their employees, there can be clear benefits. But reducing the work week doesn’t affect everyone equally, and that means not everyone wins.
Logo by Jo Minor
27/10/2022 • 26 minutes, 10 secondes
Pay transparency: A double-edged sword
How would you feel if anyone who wanted could look up your salary on a public website? That's the case for the employees of some companies we spoke to for this episode on pay transparency. Making salaries totally transparent is one potential way to erase the persistent unfairness around pay gaps, like those around gender and race; Some countries are legislating, attempting to make it impossible to pay people unfairly. But can knowing too much about our colleagues' pay actually be damaging to our ultimate happiness?
Logo by Jo Minor
18/10/2022 • 26 minutes, 9 secondes
Feedback: Talk it out
Giving good, useful feedback is deceptively difficult. Managers aren’t trained to give it, and performance reviews are woefully inadequate, which often leaves employees stuck with feedback that is biased, incomplete, or even threatening. From embracing radical transparency to training managers in the metaverse, here’s how some companies are rethinking feedback by keeping in mind why employees need it in the first place.
Logo by Jo Minor
12/10/2022 • 26 minutes, 19 secondes
Office design: Working towards joy
After sitting empty for two years, offices are finally getting foot traffic again, which means they’re getting renovations to match. As architects redesign the office for the ways we now use them—for both in-person and hybrid meetings—they’re tossing out the old templates and finally being given room and resources to explore the fundamental question: What makes for a happy and productive work environment?
Episode art by Jo Minor
Transcript
05/10/2022 • 26 minutes, 21 secondes
Trailer: Work Reconsidered
We’re in the middle of a work revolution. The pandemic upended our work lives overnight, but we’re still seeing the true impact of that shift. Work reconsidered is Quartz’s newest podcast all about what’s changing about work from the people who are seeing it first hand. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.
Logo by Jo Minor