We work feverishly to make ourselves happy. So why are we so miserable? This manifesto helps us break free of our unhealthy devotion to efficiency and shows us how to reclaim our time and humanity. 'This book is so important and could truly save lives . . . With intelligence and compassion, Headlee presents realistic solutions for how we can reclaim our health and our humanity from a technological revolution that seems hell-bent on destroying both. I'm so grateful to have read this book. It delivers on its promise of a better life' - Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love Despite our constant search for new ways to 'hack' our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. We strive for the absolute best in every aspect of our lives, ignoring what we do well naturally. Why do we measure our time in terms of efficiency instead of meaning? Why can't we just take a break? In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside and start living instead of doing. The key lies in embracing what makes us human: our creativity, our social connections (Instagram doesn't count), our ability for reflective thought, and our capacity for joy. Celeste's strategies will allow you to regain control over your life and break your addiction to false efficiency, including: -Increase your time perception and determine how your hours are being spent. -Stop comparing yourself to others. -Invest in quality idle time. Take a hot bath and listen to music. -Spend face-to-face time with friends and family It's time to recover our leisure time and reverse the trend that's making us all sadder, sicker, and less productive.

It's time to acknowledge that not all working women are interested in climbing the corporate ladder or securing the corner office. Most want and need flexible, less life-consuming work to accommodate their real lives, and it's not weak, lacking ambition or letting down the sisterhood to pursue professional fulfillment and financial security through less lofty, or headline-making ways. Eye-opening and practical, Ambition Redefined is a welcome alternative to 'women's business books'. Sollmann calls it like it is: everyday women want and need flexible work that allows them to unapologetically pursue their own brand of ambition and success. She shows them how without sacrificing themselves, their careers or their families. Armed with practical insights and tools, readers will be empowered to go after opportunities beyond traditional definitions of work, career and success. They will learn why they should never leave the workforce, how to make a case for flexibility in a current full-time job, how to find flexible employers, industries and job functions and how to return to work after time away raising children or caring for elderly parents.

In our present state of disconnect and loss, Connected Capitalism offers us a deeper and more satisfying approach to both work and life. What should our post-COVID work world look like? In Connected Capitalism, David Weitzner shows us how to draw from the classic teachings of Judaism in order to positively transform our workplaces and our working lives. He outlines a philosophy that will empower the disenchanted to build a stable future in a world of crony capitalism, global pandemics, racial injustice, and social disconnect. Weitzner, a professor of management who chooses to look beyond management and mindfulness, envisions a workplace based on the ancient Jewish practices of mitzvah, creating a space for meaningful moments with other people, and chavrusa, co-creating and working on endeavors together. Combining these spiritual concepts with the voices of today's political strategists, business leaders, and artists, Connected Capitalism inspires us to approach our work with curiosity, engage with those who were once strangers, and tap into a hopeful and meaningful future.

Ever feel like you're so busy and stressed that you forget to breathe? Right now life has never seemed more overwhelming. The COVID pandemic, working from home and lockdowns have turned our working lives upside down, further blurring the line between work and home. We are taking less annual leave, working longer hours than ever and worried about redundancies. There are so many physical and emotional demands on us at the moment it makes it hard not to feel like we are all edging closer and closer to burnout. Dr Bill Mitchell is here to help - a psychologist with decades of experience specialising in helping the overwhelmed, overstressed and overscheduled rebalance their personal and professional lives. In Time to Breathe, Dr Bill brings you invaluable tried and tested, practical solutions from his clinical practice that will help you prioritise what is most important and ensure you stay in a happy, energised space - no matter what is going on around you. Find out how to build resilience in yourself and your family, and how to prevent the drift towards burnout and poor mental health that so many of us suffer from in our busy modern lives. Your family - and your boss - will thank you.

Presents timely, implementable, and easy practices for the modern workplace, and demonstrates how leaders can be mindful, listen deeply, and embrace tension to enable organizations, and people, to succeed in uncertain times. Leading is by no means an easy task. We expect our leaders to be steadfast but also flexible. We need leaders to show us the way, but also to deeply listen and recognize the expertise of those around them. In Mindfully Wise Leadership, Keren Tsuk, founder of consulting group Wisdom To Lead, seeks to revolutionize the process by which leaders manage their organizations and their people. Through her research in the field, Tsuk found that, with the application of mindfulness techniques, individuals can not only improve their effectiveness in the management of others but also in the management of their own needs, building better futures for everyone. It's for these reasons that leading organizations such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Aetna, and Apple have already implemented mindfulness programs, which have resulted in increased productivity, innovation, and employee engagement. Mindfully Wise Leadership offers precise tools for leaders to learn how to: Listen to their employees, their customers and the market in new ways Engage employees from a place of meaning, purpose, intrinsic motivation and connection Utilize a central tool called dialogue space that enables creative solutions to emerge Hold tensions and create a culture that enables a flow experience

When searching the top leadership books of today, words like war, laws, and power appear slightly aggressively across covers. And, it doesn't take long to notice that those books are predominantly written by white men. While that fact certainly does not invalidate the valuable lessons for leaders within those pages, aren't we certainly missing perspectives and contributions from leaders with additional challenges to overcome? Aren't we missing the full picture of what leadership in the 21st century looks like? Untapped Leadership examines strategies, capabilities, and contributions from leaders of color and marginalized backgrounds from all walks of life and career stages. Highlighting diverse stories and strategies, this groundbreaking book reveals a different kind of leadership, one that requires an advanced understanding of situational awareness, organizational dynamics, and sound decision-making. Far from being a book only for leaders of color, Untapped Leadership shows that the lessons grounded in BIPOC leadership are lessons for anyone and everyone looking to bring a more nuanced and contextual perspective towards navigating life and career - from readers beginning their leadership journeys to those fortunate to lead teams and organizations through complex and fast-changing environments. For the past two decades, author Dr. Jenny Vazquez-Newsum has designed and delivered leadership training for hundreds of diverse leaders, from established executives at large corporations to high school students beginning their leadership journeys. Untapped Leadership is the first step towards moving beyond behavioral or situational leadership models towards a more inclusive and impactful model of contextual leadership by expanding the discourse to include and value marginalized perspectives.

Flexible Work: Designing Our Healthier Future Lives examines flexible working through the lens of social science, in particular using psychological perspective to address not only what forms of flexible working there are and how they are evolving but also their prospect in the future of work. Bringing together views from thought-leaders and underpinned by research evidence, this book addresses two of the most fundamental business challenges for large and medium organisations - mental health and productivity - calling for the bridging of science and policy to design flexible working for our future healthier lives. Growing from these foundations, this book explains the latest landscape in flexible working, looking at employee psychological health and productivity, including showing up for work sick. Perspectives are provided from around the world on leadership, line management, 'over attachment' with technology, commuting, skill-based inequality and control over working time. Readers are offered insights into the relevance of flexible working for a diverse workforce - invisible disabilities, disabilities, older workers and blended families. Throughout, the book offers suggestions for shaping future policy, practice and research. Each chapter concludes with recommendations, making this essential reading for students, academics, human resource practitioners, policy-influencers, policymakers and professionals interested in flexible work.

Stuck in a job that’s boring you to tears? Slogging away at a business that’s never quite taken off? Still can’t decide what you’d rather do? It’s time to say ‘enough’.

The world has changed. It’s now possible for anyone to make a living from doing the things they love. The only problem is that no one has shown you how. Until now.

Based on life-changing ideas and tools proven with tens of thousands of people over the last decade, F**k Work Let’s Play is your blueprint to create a work-life full of fun, freedom and creativity; something more like play than work.

Packed full of stories from people who turned a passion into a living – or even a multi-million-pound business – you’ll discover 10 secrets to transform your working life, starting today.

There’s no need to suffer unfulfilling work a moment longer. Whether you want to start a business, create your ideal job, or change the world, F**k Work, Let’s Play is your guide to doing what you love and getting paid for it.

This is a short guide on sit-stand working in the office. It reviews the research on sitting and standing at work from the 1950s to present and provides guidance for specialists, therapists, practitioners, and managers. The book is illustrated with many photos and figures, provides guidance for active working at the end of every chapter, and is understandable to the layman as well as the specialist. With the increased emphasis on healthy lifestyles, coupled with the obesity and overweight epidemic, many are claiming that we should spend more time standing at work. Some have even claimed that sitting is the new smoking. Readers of the book will learn and understand what is behind these claims, what stacks-up, what doesn't, and be able to make informed decisions about whether to invest in new facilities, and what to invest. This book is of value to human factors specialists, physical therapists, chiropractors and occupational health practitioners, architects, and facilities managers. Features Explains the origins of sedentary office work Summarizes the health risks of sitting and standing and how to avoid them Reviews new research on active working and practical ways of developing active working habits in the office Discusses the obesogenic workplace, and how to avoid it Includes over 60 key points to help you decide how to be more active at work

Every customer-facing corporation has at least one call center. In the United States, call centers handle a billion calls per year. Call Center Operation gives you complete coverage of the critical issues involved in the design, implementation, organization, and management of a customer call center. Sharp provides information on advanced technology tools for workforce management, workshop examples for training call center staff, and an analysis of the significance of the call center to overall corporate customer relationship strategies.
A special feature of the book is its focus on call center case studies, describing a number of successful call center strategies and best practices, selected from various business sectors - financial, retail, healthcare, travel, technology, and others. These case studies provide useful guidelines based on successful corporate call centers that will guide you in establishing and maintaining the most effective call center operation for your enterprise.
-Presents key concepts and techniques, including a formal development process, in a real-world context
-Provides extensive management guidelines
-Stresses the importance of staff selection and training

Strategy is becoming more 'open' - more transparent and more inclusive. Opening Strategy tells the story of how corporate strategists and strategy consultants have worked since the middle of the last century to open up the strategy process. First strategic planning, then strategic management, and now 'open strategy' have all brought more people into the strategy process and provided more strategic information, for the benefit of both business and society at large. Informed by interviews with corporate strategists and consultants at leading firms such as General Electric and McKinsey & Co, and drawing on the historical archives of strategy's pioneers, this book provides vivid insights into the trials and tribulations of practice change in the strategy profession. Above all, it stresses the hard work of the little recognized and sometimes eccentric individuals who have been leaders in practice change. By building on a wide range of illustrations, covering both successes and failures, the book draws out general lessons for practice innovation in strategy. Those studying the topic will be able to set standard strategy techniques in historical and social context and develop new areas for investigation, while practising executives and consultants should gain a sense of how to innovate in strategy - and how not to.

After the local newspaper where she worked as a reporter closed, Emily Guendelsberger took a pre-Christmas job at an Amazon fulfillment center outside Louisville, Kentucky. There, the vending machines were stocked with painkillers, and the staff turnover was dizzying. In the new year, she travelled to North Carolina to work at a call center, a place where even bathroom breaks were timed to the second. And finally, Guendelsberger was hired at a San Francisco McDonald's, narrowly escaping revenge-seeking customers who pelted her with condiments.Across three jobs, and in three different parts of the country, Guendelsberger directly took part in the revolution changing the U.S. workplace. ON THE CLOCK takes us behind the scenes of the fastest-growing segment of the American workforce to understand the future of work in America - and its present. Until robots pack boxes, resolve billing issues, and make fast food, human beings supervised by AI will continue to get the job done. Guendelsberger shows us how workers went from being the most expensive element of production to the cheapest - and how low wage jobs have been remade to serve the ideals of efficiency, at the cost of humanity.ON THE CLOCK explores the lengths that half of Americans will go to in order to make a living, offering not only a better understanding of the modern workplace, but also surprising solutions to make work more humane for millions of Americans.

Thinkers50 Top 10 Best New Management Books for 2022 Why do some people break through and make an impact while others get stuck going through the motions? In every organization there are Impact Players-those indispensable colleagues who can be counted on in critical situations and who consistently receive high-profile assignments and new opportunities. Whether they are on center stage or behind the scenes, managers know who these top players are, understand their worth, and want more of them on their team. While their impact is obvious, it's not always clear what actually makes these professionals different from their peers. In Impact Players, New York Times bestselling author and researcher Liz Wiseman reveals the secrets of these stellar professionals who play the game at a higher level. Drawing on insights from leaders at top companies, Wiseman explains what the most influential players are doing differently, how small and seemingly insignificant differences in how we think and act can make an enormous impact, and why-with a little coaching-this mindset is available to everyone who wants to contribute at their highest level. Based on a study of 170 top contributors, Wiseman identifies the mindsets that prevent otherwise smart, capable people from contributing to their full potential and the five practices that differentiate Impact Players: While others do their job, Impact Players figure out the real job to be done. While others wait for direction, Impact Players step up and lead. While others escalate problems, Impact Players move things across the finish line. While others attempt to minimize change, Impact Players are learning and adapting to change. While others add to the load, the Impact Players make heavy demands feel lighter. Wiseman makes clear that these practices-and the right mindset-can help any employee contribute at their fullest and shows leaders how they can raise the level of play for everyone on the team. Impact Players is your playbook for the new workplace.

There are 60 million health care workers globally and most of this workforce consists of nurses, as they are key providers of primary health care. Historically, the global nurse occupation has been predominately female and segregated along gendered, racialised and classed hierarchies. In the last decade, new actors have emerged in the management of health care human resources, specifically from the corporate sector, which has created new interactions, networks, and organisational practices. This book urgently calls for the reconceptualisation in the theoretical framing of the globalised nurse occupation from International Human Resource Management (IHRM) to Transnational Human Resource Management (THRM). Specifically, the book draws on critical human resource management literature and transnational feminist theories to frame the strategies and practices used to manage nurses across geographical sites of knowledge production and power, which centralise on how and by whom nurses are managed. In its current managerial form, the author argues that the nurses are constructed and produced as resources to be packaged for clients in public and private organisations.

'If you feel like a hostage of your to-do list, and struggle to find time for what matters most, this book will be a big help.' DANIEL H. PINK,#1 New York Times bestselling author of When and Drive The week just started and already you're playing catch-up. At the end of another busy day, your to-do list is longer than it was this morning. Enter GRIP: the book for everyone who has too much to do. This fresh, no-nonsense guide brings clarity and direction to even the most hectic workweek. Using tools you know - like your calendar, to-do list, and email - GRIP walks you through working smarter, thinking bigger, and clearing the way for what matters most. And GRIP's pick-and-choose structure makes it easy to dive in and start applying what you like straightaway. So you can reclaim your time and start chasing your wildest dreams. Today. 'Packed with immediately actionable insights and smart frameworks to put you in the driver's seat' JULIE ZHOU, former VP Design at Facebook and author of The Making of a Manager 'In a time when we all face so many demands, expectations and uncertainties, GRIP will help you take back control of your week and your life' TONY CRABBE, bestselling author of Busy: How to Thrive in a World of Too Much

Homework; work that is categorised as informal employment, performed in the home, mainly for subcontractors and mostly undertaken by women. The inequities and injustices inherent in homework conditions maintain women's weak bargaining position, preventing them from making any improvements to their lives via their work. The best way to tackle these issues is not to abolish, but to bring equality and justice to homework. This book contributes a gender justice framework to analyse and confront the issues and problems of homework. The authors propose four justice dimensions - recognition, representation, rights and redistribution - to examine and analyse homework. This framework also takes into account the structures and processes of capitalism and the patriarchy, and the relations of domination that are widely held to be the major factors that determine homework injustice. The authors discuss strategies and approaches that have worked for homeworkers, highlighting why they worked and the features that were beneficial for them. Homeworking Women will be of interest to individuals and organisations working with or for the collective benefit of homeworkers, academics and students interested in feminism, labour regulation, informal work, supply chains and social and political justice.

Is your organization strategically prepared for the digital and distributed workplace? Technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence already impact how people work and engage with organizations. A dispersed workforce, greater transparency, social change, generational shift and value chain disruptions are driving new behaviors and expectations from the workplace. Together, these trends are shaping a new era of distributed and digitally enabled network of workers where the work comes to workers instead of the workers going to work. In Humans at Work, employee and workplace experience experts Anna Tavis and Stela Lupushor advocate for the adoption of human-centric practices as a critical and necessary part of adapting work and workplaces to the future of work. Outlining the four factors (digitization of work, distributed workplaces, organizational redesign and changing workforce) driving the dramatic changes in the workplace, each chapter provides examples of how innovative companies are building workplace infrastructure and reshaping norms, serving new markets and adopting new technologies. Filled with examples from both start-ups and established companies, Humans at Work is the workplace leader's guide to building a workplace that creates market value by making work more human.

This title was first published in 2002. Call centres are a type of service work that stand at the interface between corporations and consumers. They exemplify more general tendencies present within service work. They also have a particular public image - being associated in the public mind with low skilled and regimented work. This volume presents contributions from British and German management academics and industrial sociologists based on primary research on call centres in both countries. The contributions cover the genesis and development of call centres as a new form of organization, or indeed a new industry; the rationalization and control strategies of organizations that establish call centres; and the nature of service work and service interactions. The findings of this volume challenge the common public image of call centres and finds that call centre employment is in fact very diverse. So, for example, skilled advising and consulting services are often performed over the phone. Along with the sometimes skilled nature of call centre work, work organization and working conditions vary as well. The text also seeks to contrast the British and German experience of call centre work and employment. In Germany clerical work has traditionally been embedded in the specific traditions of co-operative industrial relations that define the German model. Call centres present a strategic challenge to this model, and the expansion of call centres has been at the forefront of changes aimed at making employment more flexible in Germany. This work offers a choice of country cases, which permit a comparison of service employment within both a liberal capitalist and a socially embedded economy.

Collective bargaining between employers and trade unions has profoundly changed working conditions in companies around the globe. But why do we start work at the age of 10, 16, 18 or 24? Why do we work 6, 8, 10 or more hours a day? These questions are becoming increasingly pertinent as working norms are fractured and fragmented by country. This book brings an entirely new perspective to our understanding of changes in working time. In both the UK and the US, effective legal or collectively-bargained regulation of working time has been limited over the last 20 years, to the extent that its disappearance is seen as almost unproblematic. Here author Jens Thoemmes sheds light on this transition and its economic implications with a fully evidenced sociological account, based particularly on original research into cases of working time standards in France and Germany. This book addresses the whole process of working time regulation over the last twenty years, evaluating the activities of trade unions, employers, and the State. While theories of industrial relations have already addressed the issue of markets in the context of collective bargaining, this book draws connections between time and markets, places these transitions in their historical contexts, and illustrates the importance of this movement crossing borders and cultures.

DK brings you a practical guide summarising the skills and secrets you need to manage yourself and others with ease and confidence. Introducing DK'S Essential Managers series - a one-stop guide full of top tips to boost productivity, performance and passion within a business environment. Achieving excellence as a manager requires a broad skillset, and The Essential Manager's Management Handbook provides easy-to-follow and engaging advice on the six key areas. Nurture your confidence with managing people, leadership, achieving high performance, effective communication, presenting, and negotiating. Jam-packed with interactive tools needed to thrive in a business environment, from setting goals to solving problems, delivering a speech to developing yourself, this business management book incorporates key quotes, bright visuals and breakdowns by subject, making it accessible and easy-to-use. Enveloped in a slim and sleek design, The Essential Manager's Management Handbook encompasses: -Step-by-step instructions adopting a 'how-to' approach across a broad range of themes -Highly effective 'ask yourself' questions to encourage self-reflection and self-growth. -Includes essential guidance on management-specific issues around remote-/hybrid-working -Brings together content from individual titles in the Essential Managers series in a larger "manual" format Your time is precious, so why waste it? With power to every page, discover top tips on how to make bold business decisions; chair meetings; manage teams and more. Invest in this must-have management book and you will be well on your way to boosting your business. With expert insights from management professionals and step-by-step instructions on dealing with challenges and gaining valuable management skills for life, this book provides all the tools you need to soar into success, no matter what your business goals may be! At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why not dive deeper into our Essential Managers series? A total of 10 titles, this curated collection of business books will help you hone your power and maximise your potential as an effective manager. Learn how to develop your leadership skills with Essential Managers - Leadership or improve upon your people skills with Essential Managers - Managing People. Tailored to your business goals, discover the DK book that's right for you! Why settle for mediocre management when you can be unbeatable in your business!

The increasing globalization, the battle for talents, and global trends are changing the work patterns in organisations around the globe. Enterprises are working across country and cultural borders alongside complex supply and demand networks. Global incidents such as the financial crisis in 2008 and the recent COVID-19 pandemic have forced global organizations to find innovative ways to continue to connect globally and maintain a competitive advantage. Therefore, innovative enterprises have established global and virtual organisations including members of the value chain on supply and demand side. This book outlines these new work and leadership styles, and agile organisations, which are necessary to work virtually and globally. It provides case studies and experiences from different global organizations in different industries and sectors with a focus on value-adding processes and services.

Organizations are implementing virtual teams using web technologies as a cost-effective measure for training and project development. In Working at a Distance, Cassandra Smith provides a detailed, comprehensible virtual team business model for managers, professionals, teachers or students involved globally with such initiatives. The author argues that guidance for members of such teams is generally lacking. They are left to figure out their places on the team and face a host of other issues, the impact of which can be ameliorated with a virtual team business model that anyone working at a distance can follow. Cassandra Smith has taught courses online and facilitated virtual teams. The model she has created based on that experience maximizes the benefit to be gained from individual members' skills, personality styles, and the strengths of each active participant. It will enable teams to set up viable working plans and work cohesively at a distance. The model also provides for conflict management in virtual environments. Built on research and practical experience, the empirical data and subject experts' views captured by the author and the model offered here will help all stakeholders of businesses or educational institutions where managers, employees and clients; or teachers and students are working at a distance to achieve desired outcomes.

This book provides insight into the potential for the market to protect and improve labour standards and working conditions in global apparel supply chains. It examines the possibilities and limitations of market approaches to securing social compliance in global manufacturing industries. It does so by tracing the historic origins of social labelling both in trade union and consumer constituencies, considering industry and consumer perspectives on the benefits and drawbacks of social labelling, comparing efforts to develop and implement labelling initiatives in various countries, and locating social labelling within contemporary debates and controversies about the implications of globalization for workers worldwide. Scholars and students of globalisation, development, corporate social responsibility, human geography, labour and industrial relations, business ethics, consumer behaviour and fashion will find its contents of relevance. CSR practitioners in the clothing and other industries will also find this useful in developing policy with respect to supply chain assurance.

Work hours has become a 'hot topic'. This volume examines the effects of work hours on individual, family and organizational health. It considers why some people work long hours and the potential costs and benefits of this investment. Some work long hours out of necessity, others willingly. Interestingly, most people, however, want to work fewer hours than they now do. One's motives for working long hours (the why) and one's attitudes and behaviours while working (the how) emerge as critical factors in the link between work hours and well-being.Contributions from experts from six countries address workaholism, the distinction between passion and addiction to work, 'loving one's job', the role of technology as an enabler of long work hours, consequences of fatigue from over-work, strategies for short-term recovery from long hours, and initiatives for enriching one's quality of life. Coming to grips with work hours requires difficult choices by individuals, families, organizations and society at large. This collection will be of value to managers and professionals concerned about people, and academics, students, researchers and policy makers interested in ways work can be meaningful, decent rather than debilitating.