The conventional wisdom on crying at work is: Don't do it. Executive coaches advise clients to hold back tears in times of distress. But what about when there's no stopping the waterworks? It happens. Many of us have had emotionally overwhelming moments at the office, and you know what? It's totally acceptable. That's right. It's OK to—sometimes—cry at work. This week, Francesca and Rebecca tackle the taboo of tears in the office, arguing that crying at work, in moderation, is natural and can ev...
Mar 07, 2017•32 min
When Susan Fowler, a former engineer at Uber, told Human resources she was being sexually harassed, the company did nothing about it, she said. When she discovered other women had reported being harassed by the same manager, HR still did nothing. Last week, in a viral blog post, Fowler painted a picture of a toxic work environment where management ignores bad behavior and punishes people like Fowler. Her story is not unique to Uber, or the technology industry. This week on Game Plan, Francesca a...
Feb 28, 2017•27 min
Do you suffer from exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficiency at work? Does the idea of getting up and going into the office fill you with dread? You might be suffering from burnout. While we tend to throw around the term, it's a specific psychological state. People who work in high-stress, high-stakes professions, such as medicine, are the most at risk. Yet even we cube-dwellers can overextend ourselves and reach a breaking point. This week on Game Plan, Rebecca and Francesca seek advice on how to ...
Feb 22, 2017•31 min
The phrase “workplace safety” conjures images of factory floors or corny training videos that warn office workers against spilling hot coffee. But as work has begun to bleed into our personal and online lives, what it means to stay safe on the job has become murkier. On this week's Game Plan, Francesca and Becca talk to Lauren Duca, a freelance writer for outlets that include Teen Vogue. Duca's articles and TV appearances have made her a target of severe online harassment, so she must work while...
Feb 14, 2017•25 min
In an ideal world, hard work and good ideas would be enough to succeed. In reality, getting things done at work requires playing the game, navigating office politics and persuading people to buy into your vision. This week on Game Plan, Francesca and Rebecca get some tips and tricks from Derek Thompson. He's the author of "Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction," a book that explores the popularity of all sorts of things -- from politicians to art and music. He explains h...
Feb 07, 2017•29 min
People must take extended leaves of absences from work for many different reasons. The luckiest workers get paid for their time off, and have employers that make leaving and coming back as easy as possible. But for even the most privileged, reentering the workplace after a bunch of time off isn't entirely seamless. One of our own, Game Plan co-host Francesca Levy, knows the realities of coming back very well. She's just back from a months-long hiatus for her own maternity leave. For her, in some...
Jan 31, 2017•24 min
Most people wish they were more productive at work. To feed this never-ending desire for increased efficiency, an entire industry peddles so-called productivity hacks that promise quick fixes to snuff out procrastination and boost output. Unfortunately, most of this advice amounts to snake oil. This week on Game Plan, Sam and Rebecca take a novel path to solving their productivity problems: The subconscious. Gary Latham, an organizational psychologist at the University of Toronto, joins them to ...
Jan 24, 2017•25 min
Four years ago, Sheryl Sandberg started a national conversation about women in the workplace with her wildly popular manifesto, Lean In. In it, she urged women to "lean in" to their work lives in ways that don't come naturally: Speak up in meetings and ask for raises, for example. For many, this advice was refreshing, even radical. Unfortunately, a lot of it doesn't work, research has found. Sandberg herself has even walked back some of her claims, admitting it would be hard for a single mother ...
Jan 18, 2017•32 min
Every year we come back from the holidays and resolve to be our best workplace selves in the coming year. Some of us make specific New Year's resolutions, such as keeping a tidier desk. Others simply try to start the year off on their best foot. And then, about a month later, we slide right back into our old habits. Let's make this year different! On this week's Game Plan, Sam and Rebecca make their own workplace New Year's resolutions. To make sure they stick to them, they enlist the help of Gr...
Jan 10, 2017•33 min
New year, new workplace. That's our motto here at Game Plan. And with a new government administration, many workers' lives will likely change this coming year. But how exactly? Will Donald Trump follow through on his promise of a federal paid maternity leave law? And will automation continue to gut jobs or can we keep humans employed? This week, on the final episode of 2016, Sam and Rebecca talk about some of the biggest changes coming to a workplace near you in 2017. See you next year! See omny...
Dec 27, 2016•19 min
Are you a messy person who yearns for a cleaner desk? Or maybe you're a neat freak looking for ways to avoid contracting the disgusting germs of your less considerate co-workers. No matter your preferences, you probably have to sit near and around people with different cleanliness levels. It's not always pretty, but especially in open offices, it's reality. Jolie Kerr is here to help with your neuroses. Kerr is a cleaning expert and the host of the "Ask a Clean Person" podcast, and she joins thi...
Dec 20, 2016•26 min
In the modern office, workers dress in a wider variety of ways than ever. The phrase business casual means a lot more than Dockers and a button-down, and more and more workplaces allow for jeans, hoodies, fashion sneakers and other casual looks. The change in attitude to work wear has even led the New York Times fashion columnist to declare The End of the Office Dress Code. We'd like to respectfully disagree. The office dress code hasn't gone anywhere, it just looks different. This week on Game ...
Dec 13, 2016•31 min
"Automation anxiety" usually reflects expectations of an era in which robots will do all the work, leaving us lowly humans unemployed, broke and bored. For many, that reality isn't some not-so-distant future -- it's happening right now. Automation has already gutted manufacturing jobs in America and is threatening transportation, warehouse work and routine white-collar work, including aspects of finance, law and computer programming. This week, Sam and Rebecca talk about how robots are changing ...
Dec 06, 2016•25 min
For about a decade, failure has been cool. Facebook's motto "move fast, break things" became the mantra of the entire technology industry and a failed startup was a badge of honor for its success stories. This year, however, losing has taken on a whole new meaning, and for millions of voters, it has real consequences. For those of us not used to losing, or who ignore the small failures of our daily work lives, how do we deal with or learn from our lowest moments? Sam Weinman joins the show to ta...
Nov 29, 2016•28 min
Election season has been emotionally challenging for many of us. For the lucky, Thanksgiving will be a much-needed break from the relentless news cycle. For most, it will be a turkey-laden political minefield. Will wine make things better or worse? Unclear. Nevertheless, Game Plan is here to distract you. This week, Sam and Rebecca head to the movies, specifically, movies that tell some universal truths about life at work. "Office Space," of course, is widely considered the single greatest piece...
Nov 22, 2016•21 min
President-elect Donald Trump has been accused of sexual harassment and, during his campaign, used language that would be considered inappropriate in the workplace. Considering he's now the highest-profile example of leadership in our country, we got to thinking about the state of sexual harassment in the workplace. Many of us want to believe we live in a post-Mad Men era, in which most people know not to harass each other at work. As it turns out, in many ways we don't. Claire Suddath, a reporte...
Nov 15, 2016•27 min
Quitting a job is a delicate process. It's effectively a breakup. And much like ending a romantic relationship, there's no ideal way to do it. The person getting dumped (the employer) will feel hurt. But there are a few things that departing workers can do to soften the blow -- and hopefully not ruin the possibility of a future relationship. It's an issue that's especially relevant now, because Americans have been voluntarily leaving jobs at the highest rate since the 2008 recession, according t...
Nov 08, 2016•26 min
With less than one week until the election, Rebecca and Sam shamelessly turn their attention to the only thing anyone wants to talk about: the campaign. What does this political season have to do with life at work? Running for president, it turns out, is a lot like a super intense, hyper-scrutinized, multi-year job application process for the most important position in the world. Like any job search, it starts with networking (campaigning), ends with a job interview (debate), and is, in and of i...
Nov 03, 2016•21 min
Ah, meetings, that productivity suck we can't manage to escape. One survey estimates that they cost us an astonishing $37 billion in lost productivity. And yet they continue: Workers spend 15 percent of their time in meetings, another survey found. This week on Game Plan, Sam and Rebecca talk about their meeting pet peeves, from how hard it is to be heard as a woman to dealing with annoying characters and unnecessary showmanship. There must be a better way -- Chris White, formerly of Goldman Sac...
Oct 25, 2016•25 min
From the pesky, far too long, constantly updating terms of service agreements to our similarly verbose employment agreements, nobody reads the fine print. Want an example? A survey of 1,000 people in the U.K. found that more than 90 percent hadn't read their employment contracts. Yet the stuff we sign when we start a job can come back to bite us. Take the non-disclosure agreement, which has come up in multiple high-profile stories this year. One woman accusing Roger Ailes of sexual harassment ma...
Oct 18, 2016•23 min
For the person stuck in an unsatisfying career, changing course can seem almost impossible. We're told to follow our dreams, as if that will somehow lead to success and happiness. If only it were that easy. For most of us, following a "passion" is straight-up bad advice: Not everyone can succeed, or even earn a paycheck, as an artist, musician or basketball player. But many of us don't have a singular passion. In that case, how do we pivot out of an ill-fitting career? Where do we even start? Sa...
Oct 11, 2016•28 min
Keith Olbermann has a habit of abrupt exits from some pretty high-profile professional gigs. "He didn't burn bridges here, he napalmed them," Mike Soltys, an ESPN executive, said after the commentator left the network for the first time back in 1997. Even so, despite leaving on atrocious terms, Olbermann returned to ESPN not just once, but twice. That's what's so remarkable about his career: Olberman manages to get hired back by the very places he publicly pilloried. How does he do it? This week...
Oct 04, 2016•29 min
There are a series of practical reasons that losing a job hurts: It cuts you off from a source of income, it interrupts your work history, and then you have to go on a soul crushing job hunt. But, getting laid off also has an emotional sting that can color the rest of your career.\u0010\u0010This week Sam and Rebecca talk about why getting let go from a job often feels like a break-up, especially as the workplace becomes the center of our social lives. They're joined by Brittany Ashley, who this...
Sep 27, 2016•23 min
Listening to this show will not help you make a million dollars or retire early. We don't have 10 easy tricks for how to climb the corporate ladder. Instead, it will probably make you question your career aspirations. Doesn't that sound fun?\u0010\u0010This week, Sam and Rebecca get angsty and talk about what success means to them. Is it money? Fame? Happiness? To do some good in this world? It's a complicated question into which this week's guest, Chris Gethard gives us some insight. Gethard, a...
Sep 20, 2016•33 min
Job-hunting is a horrible process that no one much likes, except perhaps the headhunters. Applying for a job can feel as if you're sending a message in a bottle into a black hole. Even if your application makes its way to a human being, it might warrant just a five-second glimpse. The tiniest detail (or a spilled cup of coffee) can disqualify you entirely. The view from the other side isn't much better. Hiring managers say that many applications are garbage and employers are having a hard time f...
Sep 13, 2016•31 min
Friends and business don't mix: A Harvard Business School study found that pals make the most unstable founding teams. There's no better example than Facebook. Two college buddies start a website, and then, millions of dollars and users later, they hate each other and get entangled in a nasty lawsuit. Facebook ended up thriving, and we got an entertaining movie about the juicy drama, but a friendship was sacrificed. It doesn't have to be end that way. Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo were best frie...
Sep 06, 2016•27 min
There's a lot of talk about balancing kids and work, but what about the nine months before the baby comes? This week, Francesca and Rebecca talk about going on maternity leave. That's something Francesca has some expertise in because. . . She's pregnant! In her last episode before heading out on leave, Francesca talks about the career anxieties and excitement that she's had for the better part of a year, as she prepares to leave her job until December. She also admits something semi-scandalous: ...
Aug 30, 2016•28 min
Remember back when people would stay at a company long enough to get a gold watch, a time before entitled millennials decided they didn't feel like working at the same boring job for their entire career? Those were the good old days, right? Wrong. This week, Francesca and Rebecca challenge the conventional wisdom that America's favorite generation doesn't have its life on track. The demise of the traditional career path might have more to do with student debt and the changing corporate prioritie...
Aug 23, 2016•26 min
Just about everyone has fantasized about quitting a job in grand style -- telling off a boss, for example, or tearing up a work nemesis's cubicle. Mostly, we hold the urge in check because we don't want to offend people from whom we might need stuff in the future. This week, Francesca and Rebecca tell a tale of bridge-burning that took place close to home. At a previous job, Rebecca very publicly insulted someone who later became an important figure in her work life. Did it hurt her career? She ...
Aug 16, 2016•29 min
Don't know what Slack is? Then you probably don't work in an office. The communication tool is like e-mail, but better -- and it's taking over workplaces across America. In this week's episode, Francesca and Rebecca break down the enterprise software phenomenon: How it works, who uses it, and why people are so obsessed with it. Dayna Evans, a writer for New York magazine, who has written about her complicated relationship with Slack, joins them to also discuss some potential downsides of chattin...
Aug 09, 2016•27 min
