Season 08 Trailer 02: Secret handshakes

Criminal work, health, and safety law convictions, children injured on theme rides, and secret handshakes - do you have one? Tune in, more coming on these topics in Season 08.

Season 08 Bonus: WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: To sink or to SWMS?!

The Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) debate is hot and Trajce summarises his research while giving it to us straight: SWMS or no, they have made little difference in organisations, and with or without one, fatalities may still arise in organisations. Listen to Season 06 E12: It's going SWM'ingly to learn more about this finding!

Season 08 Trailer 01: Faux Paus and Flummoxes: life is like a maze, listen to the WhyWork Podcasters recording mishaps as they prepare to release Season 08 - we're back!

Season 07 Episode 11: From ‘Command & Control’ to ‘Customer Service’ – Beyond ‘hazard salad’ in psychosocial risk management.

The team revel in debate about the new Queensland state and Commonwealth government literature on psychosocial risk management. Sara is relieved to see updates to regulations on psychosocial risks (Work Health and Safety [Psychosocial Risks] Amendment Regulation 2022) because of their focus on work design. Trajce explains aspects of The Commonwealth Code of Practice: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work (Dec 2023) which includes “intrusive surveillance” as a psychosocial hazard, requiring employer risk management and interventions. The team reference Season 01 Episode 05: Kozorov and The Need for Purpose – an episode devoted to discussions on vicarious trauma in the workplace.

Much to Alan’s amusement, Sara reveals her anthem song, “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” by the Spin Doctors, while lamenting common central office approaches to operate like ‘command and control centres.’ “That might work in times of conscription,” she says, “but it fails to incorporate service design to recognise employees as internal customers to the work experience.” She references Dart Lindsey in his view of “Work as a Product,” an idea populated in his recent Harvard Business Review publication.

Season 07 Episode 10: That old chestnut –Pets & work from home

Pets at home or in the office are a ‘thing’ in modern workplaces. Alan explains, “Some organisations host ‘dog for the day’ events.” Trajce shares his faith-based workplace perk, a ‘Blessing of the animals,’ whether the animal is a police horse, a guinea pig, a dog, or cat. In response, Sara dreams of being blessed which prompts the boys to imagine Sara in all kinds of ‘furry’ dress-up costume scenes. In response to Sara’s protests, Alan concedes, “Sara is just a party animal.”

Trajce describes a Work Cover claim involving a female worker in her home, her puppy, a bunny, and a segregation fence which caused her to trip and sustain an injury. “Outta sight, outta mind,” Sara says as she refers to company policy on safe environments for home-based work. Trajce flashes back to Season 01 Episode 03: Pets & Airfryers, with discussions on the ol’ Bluey and the Bees.

Alan teases Sara again with her explanations of her post-surgical work ethics, “How Spartan of you,” he remarks cattily. He also teases her about snakes in her bedroom, a result of a feisty kitty delivering gifts from his hunting jaunts.

In a final story, Sara recalls stunts that make an advertising impact, like the launch of Lululemon in Australia. The team use this opportunity to try to wrangle some free gifts (anyone listening from Lululemon? If so, drop us a line!)

Season 07 Episode 09: Gilmore versus Blue Care: A hankering for sex

WARNING: This episode includes discussion on a workplace sexual assault – we advise listener discretion.

Alan introduces the case, Gilmore versus Blue Care, a community home care provider. In this case, a personal carer submitted her claim against her employer because of her report of sexual assault when providing daily living support to older men living in a group home. These men each had various forms of mental health disorders and daily living support needs, necessitating their care provision. However, Alan paints the scenario of collective vulnerability when a female worker is left to work solo in a home with men. He extends the discussion on sexuality and sexual drives, at any age.

“We are the only workplace podcast to descend into conversations on sex,” remarks Trajce. “We do more than descend – we embrace this,” says Sara. She continues, “I’ve got an itch, a hankering for sex.” Trajce jests, “When I am hankering, I yearn for a marshmallow or a burger.” “Some people hanker for very different things, Trajce,” Sara educates. Alan jibes, “You’re safe with Trajce as long as you offer an all-you-can-eat buffet!” and advises “If you’re an employer, imagining that no one seeks sex in your workplace or your care facility, you’re misled.”

Season 07 Episode 08: Bollywood & The Digital Footprint

This episode starts with Sara reflecting on the nature of her spirit animal and the symbols of her brand identity: a mix of frivolity and banditry. For more on spirit animals, tune in to S02 E14: Spirit Animals.

Trajce introduces a case on an injured worker who submitted a claim against her employer, a national grocery chain. The claim arose from her experience of heel pain. However, the employer discovered that the injured worker enjoyed dancing and maintained this activity throughout her claim period. In fact, she danced "with great gusto," Bollywood style, “Putting her back into it,” said Alan. When the employee tested the limits of her claims compensation, the grocery chain funded a private investigator to monitor the injured worker. The investigator discovered her social media dance profiles replete with videos of her dancing escapades. “Instagram had a seat at the legal table,” Trajce deliberates. “The digital footprint,” agrees Sara.

The team talk about organisational decision making. Sara elaborates on these ideas with a detailed, simple and common case example to apply multi-criteria decision making.

Season 07 Episode 07: AI Ethics: A Beautifully Shambolic Disaster

WARNING: This episode includes discussion on a workplace fatality – we advise listener discretion.

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is off its tree!” protests Trajce. “This stuff is dangerous. Its hallucinogenic – a beautifully shambolic disaster. Society must put the rails on it.” “Are you going to try to reign in Sara?” asks Alan, “Impossible!” he follows.

Trajce explains his experiencing on using AI to research case law. Tested three times, the AI spit out a different version of events. He warns against the implications to legal practitioners on relying on such inconsistent data and poor research. In contrast, the team reflect on the benefits of closed-domain decision-support systems that are vetted and validated by domain experts, like they’ve learned through Sara’s association with Livemind AI, Lachlan Phillips.

The case in question, poorly tested by AI, is one from the rail industry. It involves the dismissal of a long-standing employee who tested positive for a banned substance upon his return to work from his leave. The rabble rousing team, Alan, Trajce, and Sara, can’t help but descend into Cheech and Chong and other such movie references. “Say ‘hello’ to my little friend,” mimics Trajce from Al Pacino Scarface movie nostalgia. The crew turn this upside down on their debate and wagers on the case outcome – listen in for more!