WhyWork Podcast
The WhyWork Podcast is an organisational strategy session and legal dissection of workplace events that are laced with humour. Your bloggers, Alan, Trajce, and Sara, explore the contemporary and uncomfortable realities of work and the boundaries that are tested. Alan and Trajce dismantle case law and Sara pushes all to consider how to redesign the world of work so that business objectives are realised and that people thrive. Good stories are told. The WhyWork team throws shade on some of the stories and the people involved as they consider defensible and remarkable work design strategy. When you listen to the WhyWork Podcast, you realise that no skeleton in the workplace closet is too sacred to unearth. It’s like listening to the water cooler gossip but then shit gets real, and it all becomes serious – fast. This is a must-listen for executive and emerging managers, work design strategists, human factors specialists and ergonomists, work health safety and law specialists, organisational scientists, occupational health academics, and anyone humoured by office and workplace antics! Get ready to exclaim, “She said WHAT...?” and “He DIDN’T! OMG!”. Laugh along with us while you learn lots.
Episodes
Season 08 Episode 13: Re-release Episode: Kozorov and the Need for Purpose
WARNING: This episode refers to traumas involving children - we advise listener discretion.
We re-release S01 E13 in the wake of growing concerns about psychosocial risk management in the workplace. This case is about vicarious trauma - the long-term psychological distress that can arise among workers arising from secondary exposures to traumatic events. In th...
Season 08 Episode 12: Jumping Castles Part Two
WARNING: This episode includes discussion about fatal events impacting children and families – we advise listener discretion.
The WhyWork Podcast Team, Alan, Trajce, and Sara, discuss the complexities of a prosecutorial strategy when fatal events occur at a school: children who die as a result of a windstorm and out-of-control, airborne jumping castle. Those involved in the work design i...
Season 08 Episode 11: Toolbox Talk: Acknowledgement of Country
WARNING: This episode addresses cultural sensitivity issues in the workplace – we advise listener discretion.
Trajce challenges his podcast team, Alan, and Sara, with a claim about cultural sensitivities. He shares a tale about a street sweeper’s unfair dismissal by a local government city council after he raised his concerns about the Acknowledgement of Country before a ...
Season 08 Episode 10: Darth Vader and the handshake of death
Alan, Trajce, and Sara start this episode in discussion about the social etiquette of handshakes. Alan advocates for the politeness of the handshake in business negotiations, and Trajce explains his handshake aversions, and the origins of a handshake.
In this reverie, Trajce reflects on his support band, warming up big names in the 1980’s, like The Village People and Kim Wi...
Season 08 Bonus: WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: Creating joyful paths
This wisdom shot challenges workplaces to think about creating joyful paths in their workplace, versus hoping someone falls into a path of joy. It's about using service design combined with human factors approaches to construct manageable and meaningful work while managing psychosocial risks.
Season 08 Episode 09: Psychosocial Hazard Salad
In this episode, the team discusses the challenges in the contemporary workplace of managing the complexity of psychosocial risks that can cause mental health disorders among workers – disorders like anxiety, stress, low mood, and depression. Sara laments the literature and assessment approaches that reveal the “What?” without explaining the “SO What?” and “NOW What?” Alan loves that l...
Season 08 Episode 08: Levellin’ Up: Health Screening vs Human Rights
“It is my human right to grab a meat pie from the local pie cart,” Trajce defends his actions. “Everyone is stressed, so what is your stress level?” enquires Alan, in his effort to empathise and disarm a respondent. “What’s your level, not your age, but your level?” asks Sara, “We’re levelling up – that’s empowering!”
Season 08 Episode 07: Danger, Design, and Digital Realities
WARNING: This episode discusses injuries caused by recreational fixed plan – we advise listener discretion.
“How do you design better work when the risks are invisible, intangible, or hard to map?" asks Trajce. In this forward-thinking episode, the WhyWork crew explores how Shared Virtual Presence (SVP) is transforming the way organisations approach risk, work design, and co...
Season 08 Episode 06: Rootin’ Tootin’ Wild Theme Park Rides: When Fun turns Fatal
WARNING: This episode discusses a serious injury to a child – we advise listener discretion.
“Theme parks are workplaces where serious harm could eventuate,” bemoans Trajce.
In this gripping episode, the WhyWork crew dive into the devastating case of a child who suffered a traumatic scalping injury while on a Wile E. Coyote-themed amusement ride
Alan walk...
Season 08 Episode 05: Is it a crime? The syrupy sweetness of criminal recovery, comebacks, and swearing in the workplace
WARNING: This episode discusses human rights breaches - we advise listener discretion.
Does a criminal record mean a life sentence of unemployment? This episode dives into how past convictions keep people locked out of work. Alan reflects, “Inclusive hiring isn’t charity. It’s good business sense. We should not def...
Season 08 Episode 04: Nipple Tweaks & Bottom Taps: The border between play and predatory assault
WARNING: This episode includes discussion on sexual harassment - we advise listener discretion.
Ever wondered when ‘just joking’ becomes sexual harassment? In this eye-opening episode, we unpack real stories of workplace encounters that cross the line—like unwanted bottom taps or nipple tweaks (Are these ever really okay?!) . Alan, Tr...
Season 08 Episode 03: Too much to carry: The case that alters the landscape of mining prosecutions
WARNING: In this episode, the podcasters discuss extreme mental health duress - we advise listener discretion.
Noone died. But two workers were emotionally broken by the weight of their jobs – this time, the system noticed.
In this episode of WhyWork, we explore a landmark $1.2M enforceable undertaking in mining. Not for a collision, Not...
Season 08 Trailer 06: Profiling workers: Who is most at risk? Season 08 probes these contemporary work design strategies - from construction workers bitten by a spider while they visit the loo to healthcare professionals prone to work stressors and cardiovascular events.
Season 08 Episode 02: Christmas Day Code Blue: A Tassie healthcare system wake-up call
WARNING: This episode describes a fatality – we urge listening discretion.
In this episode, the WhyWork team debate the issues surrounding a senior hospital doctor who, for years, carried the weight of a health system on his back. His widow’s lawyer claimed he worked seven days a week and was on call 24/7. He shielded his staff from the bureaucracy...
Season 08 Bonus: WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: Work, rest, and play
Should employees be permitted to disconnect from their workplace during their 'downtime'? Alan discusses The Fair Work Ammendment Right to Disconnect Bill 2023 which makes it legislatively clear that the provisions in work health safety laws intend to support workers. Alan contends that workers need to recharge and replenish versus always being 'ON' at work. "... Work, res...
Season 08 Episode 01: Flora, Fauna, and the ‘Port-a-Loo’: Beware the arachnids
In this season opener of WhyWork Podcast, we forgo the spreadsheets and the performance statistics – we go straight to storytelling. A toilet. A spider. And a young worker’s unforgettable encounter with risk realities interrupting his routines – when faced with an arachnoid phenom, it was up close and highly personal. “Not once, but TWICE!” exclaims Trajc...
Season 08 Trailer 05: 'Feasibility and foreseeability of becoming a croc sandwich for a day' toys with the season's examination of exposure to wild critters during both work and tourist play. Coming soon.
Season 08 Trailer 04: 'Stress, and more stress,' warns Trajce, "Ai-O, Ai-O, It's off to work we go..." Get ready to listen to Season 08 releases coming soon...
Season 08 WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: Botty Botch Botox - Trajce is excited by Botox at work as his incentive to get back to the office. Sara is dismayed, and Alan is humoured (we recommend that you use your own discretion in this debate!).
Season 08 Trailer 03 Teases stories about healthcare, male-on-male workmate attention, Darth Vader, mining prosecutions, and so much more. "It's extraordinary!" exclaims Alan. "Watch this audio space," invites Trajce.
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