WhyWork Podcast

Season 04 Episode 02: Sara speaks about a WooFA (WFA) experience while walking her dog mid-work break when a bulldog muscled its way up a drive and launched into an attack on her dog. The boys, Alan and Trajce, discuss employer liabilities, and Sara reminds the boys that businesses like Joanna Clough’s, “ The Dog Safe Workplace ”, were established to help address and train businesses for these ins...

Season 04 Episode 01: “I’m a GIF gal and you are Emoji men,” says Sara. “Is it the eggplant emoji?” she teases. Trajce rolls his eyes and, in his exasperation, argues that it takes 3 seconds for the conversation to devolve among our trio. “I wouldn’t know,” he says, “it is just a nightshade fruit to me.” Trajce limits his hieroglyphics lexicon of an emoji library to four: the smiley face, the capp...

WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: Bonus: Sara expounds on the expansive idea of design to energise at work versus design that focuses solely on fatigue management. She encourages organisations and decision makers to shift their narrow focus on the industrial management of shift work to a broad perspective on what motivates a workforce and what drains a workforce (what to prop, and what to mitigate) when addr...

Season 04 faux pas, goofin' around, misdirections, and giggles. Listen to the backdrop of the recordings, a medley of the mix-ups and more of the conversation mash. We're getting ready for Season 04, are you? Share the podcast with your friends, add your 5-star rating to our show on your streaming service - 2024, we're ready to roll.

WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: "There is an element of risk because that is what people of chasing," Alan reflects when considering the way that the courts are confronted by applying conventional law to the design of sport and recreation when it crosses over to the workplace. "We do it for the thrill of it," agrees Sara. A BONUS to the Season 03 Episode 06: Cha-cha-cha thrill rides.

WhyWork Season 04: Here we go again. Sex is a primal driver and we dig around and bring it all to the surface. Sara primes the boys and jolts them into recalling the blitz of conversations in the season recordings. This is a patchwork of our background chats so listeners will hear us debate and antognise each other, as mates, while we reflect on the purpose of the podcast, the fabulous subscriber...

Season 04 will release in the New Year and, boy, is it chokkas mate, full of fun, with many contributions spurned by the request of the WhyWork dedicated subscribers. We are loving this debate on work design and case law examination - join us, share the podcast with your friends, and submit your 5-star rating on the podcast streaming service when you listen to our show - it all helps! We are grate...

BONUS: "Do you have a fire extinguisher and fire blanket at home?" Sara asks. "I do indeed!" exclaims Trajce, while he elaborates on his family's home fire drills. Alan remarks that it all can seem incredulous, yet makes sense if we are in a working landscape of distributed work and the safety provisions must be adhered in any space, any place, any time. This 'WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot' complements Se...

BONUS: WhyNOT care for our nurses when they constitute the caring profession to support our communities? "We must evaluate the needs of our frontline workers," urges Trajce. This is a bonus track to complement Season 03 Episode 04: Nurses - the heartbeat of healthcare.

BONUS: WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: "Our primal urges matter," Trajce agitates. Sex happens, and it happens among those in a working relationship. "We must expect the unexpected," Alan warns. We are reminded about these power relations in Season 3 Episode 09: A pervasive culture of masculinity .

In this WhyNOT kernel of wisdom, Alan reminds us that no matter our level of agreement with our colleagues, showing a little respect maintains the harmony and provides a more supportive workplace in which people can tolerate diverse ideas. Season 03 Episode 01: Do not carve another man's turkey, Season 02 Episode 09: Quid pro quo , and Season 02 Episode 10: Name and Shame , describe the circumstan...

Season 03 Episode 12: "To PPE or not to PPE?" asks Sara. No matter the philosophy driving work practice, a business is always tested at the pointy end of the law when the boundaries of work, health, and safety are pushed. The team debate the mandates for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Sara and Alan argue the logic of context and circumstance driving the consideration. Trajce assum...

Season 03 Episode 11: WARNING: This episode discusses a fatality. The team lament the phenomenon of media reporting in an article about the public strain caused by grocery delivery delays. The cause of the delays was a fatality in a national grocer's distribution and warehouse centre. "It's not about the Brussels sprouts," says Alan. Trajce is infuriated, "What about the fatality?" he asks, "I've...

Season 03 Episode 10: WARNING: content on the influence of sex and culture on workplace boundaries is discussed in this episode. "We're back to sexual boundaries!" Sara exclaims. "We never left," Trajce concedes. Trajce presents the influence of Foucault's post modernistic views on our understanding of the 'Triad of Influence: Power, Knowledge, and Truth' ."The mix of knowledge and power creates a...

Season 03 Episode 09: "Men can be challenged by their role expectations in society," Alan reasons. Sara asks the boys to define 'precarious manhood.' She presents the idea of a pervasive culture of masculinity, in sport, at work, and in relationships. "The idea of 'bigger, better, and rougher' can be aspirational," Trajce presents. Sara argues that there are oodles of research studies showing that...

Season 03 Episode 08: The boys query the symbolism of the size of the truck. "The bigger the truck, the smaller the..." muses Sara. "Supersize me! Raptor, Ram," Trajce rolls the names across his tongue with a guttural snarl. A truck and its accessories are one's identity, a sign of masculinity, and status for some owners. "The history of the Ute (a utility vehicle) is a symbol of Australia," remin...

Season 03 Episode 07: WARNING: Fatalities are discussed in this episode."I didn't really read the article, I just looked at the pictures," admits Trajce. Alan and Sara burst into fits of laughter while Sara admits that she reads the comics before the news. Sara recounts a tale of tennis players who recall the play-by-play points of their matches, even those played 20 years ago. She asks, "How do y...

Season 03 Episode 06: WARNING: Fatalities are discussed in this episode. Trajce regales the story of the octopus ride at the amusement park: its carriage uncoupled from the main support arm and slid down side show alley. "Are you serious?" asks Sara, "That is out of a movie.""A guilty plea, mea culpa," says Trajce. "You know what was missing?" he asks, "human factors were not factored (into the ri...

Season 03 Episode 05: WARNING - fatalities are discussed. Alan explains the current court case concerning the Whakaari / White Island volcano and discusses thrill-based recreational activities that can subject tourists to catastrophic events. "The island was smouldering like a magic dragon," Sara elaborates. "I've been there!" exclaims Trajce. Trajce recounts his motivation to visit Whakaari by ch...

Season 03 Episode 04: We ask: "Who is at the heartbeat of your organisation?" In healthcare, that is often the nurse. Alan, Trajce, and Sara review complaints that were made by nursing staff to the regulator when hospital management announced their fitout of a nurses' station that would remove a counter barrier. "It must be more than just a counter to stir such emotion," says Sara, though she remi...

Season 03 Episode 03 Reflects on early, childhood career interests and extends the Season 02 discussions on getting along with our colleagues. "Work is work." says Trajce, "but within that work construct... we must essentially get along." Alan contends that respect must be upheld in social relations at work, whether you like someone or not! (Very diplomatic, Alan). Sara considers whether an open p...

Warning: This episode refers to vicarious trauma and suicide in the workplace. Season 03 Episode 02 reflects on vicarious trauma in the workplace. Alan recaps on mental health first aid programming and the boundaries around that service scope requiring effective referrals to qualified and trained healthcare professionals. When the crew consider their work from home ideals, Sara dreams of her backy...

“The stripper keeps coming back, straight out of the bottle,” says Alan. "You do not carve another man's turkey," is the meme entertained by Sara, as she reflects on a work party gone wrong. There were no boundaries and no planning, and the staff was teaming with Maslow's hierarchy of primal needs: hunger! "Does the prawn want to be peeled?" asks Trajce. Alan, Sara, and Trajce discuss the skills o...

Let's reflect on Season 02: Sports field and work from anywhere, Season 02 Episode 03, 'What is life really like in sport and s-e-... Okay, just sport' , and Season 02 Episode 04, 'The safey of sport without losing the spirit of sport',

WhyNOT - This Wisdom Shot begs operational managers to contextualise work strategies and ensure that they are not hazard hunting - identifying psychosocial hazards without understanding the vulnerable population and the context of work. This extends Season 02 Episode 13: An upstanding citizen with salmon in his pocket.