028. Sarah Jaffe. Hustle Culture. Exploitative Bosses.

Journalist Sarah Jaffe’s work focuses on the politics of power, especially within the workplace, and her writing has appeared everywhere from the New York Times and the Atlantic to the Guardian and many, many more.

Most recently she’s written a deeply compelling new book called Work Won’t Love You Back, which seeks to examine what Sarah calls the ‘labour-of-love myth’ – the idea that certain work isn’t really work, and should be done out of love or vocational passion, and how that myth is then used to exploit workers, allowing work to encroach on almost every part of our lives.

We discuss everything from the fetishisation of busyness and hustle culture, to the impact of a year spent working from home, and how the pandemic is likely to change workplace structures in years to come. Plus, Sarah has some fascinating thoughts on the gig economy and self-employment, the role that personal brands play in creative careers, and how unionising might just be our way out of many of the workplace ills we discuss in this episode.

Find Sarah on Twitter and Instagram (@sarahljaffe)

Buy Sarah’s book Work Won’t Love You Back out now

Get tickets for my FANE digital event A Night In With Otegha Uwagba on 7 July

Pre-order my forthcoming book We Need To Talk About Money (4th Estate) via Amazon or Waterstones.

Produced by Chris Sharp and Naomi Mantin.