Advertise on podcast: Work Check

Ever been to a cringey Zoom social hour at work, playing online trivia or doing awkward icebreakers with your colleagues? Sometimes virtual socializing at work is great…and sometimes it feels like a waste of time. But in workplaces where IRL hangs aren’t possible, should we really skip socializing altogether? For our first ever live show, recorded at Atlassian's Team '23 conference in Vegas, debaters Deb Lao and Marshall Walker Lee took to the stage to debate this thorny topic. Deb defended virtual socializing, citing the benefits of a workplace BFF and the value of dedicating work time to culture building. Marshall countered, making the case that so many of these Zoom hangs are so poorly executed, they should be canceled so more organic team bonding can flourish.

Does your calendar look like a game of Tetris, meetings on top of meetings from Monday to Friday? Or do you cringe when someone pops a meeting invite into the middle of your deep work afternoon? Now, how would you feel if you had a whole day of your schedule totally cleared? Today’s episode explores the promises and problems with implementing a No Meeting Day for your team. Debater Rani Shah is a superfan of the practice and has been doing No Meeting Days for years. She’s supported by Dr. Vijay Pereira, who shares his research on how No Meeting Days can boost autonomy and decrease feelings of micromanagement. New debater Deb Lao joins to argue against the practice, supported by meeting expert Mamie Kanfer Stewart who pitches some alternative ways to solve your meeting woes.

Are your work chats filled with emojis? Or are they all text, all-the-time? In this episode, we debate if emojis belong in workplace communication at all. Debater Maren Hotvedt points out the problems with emoji, including cringe-worthy misinterpretations and accessibility challenges. She’s joined by accessibility researcher and assistant professor at Rochester Institute of Technology Dr. Garreth Tigwell, and qualitative user experience researcher Esha Shandilya. Emoji super-fan Shannon Winter advocates in favor of emojis as a culture builder and tool to express identity, with support from Tomoko Yokoi, entrepreneur and researcher on digital innovation at International Institute for Management Development and ETH Zurich.

Maybe you call it a daily stand up. Maybe it’s a huddle, or even a status meeting. But has your team stopped to ask if these daily meetings are really working for them? Today’s episode digs into the benefits and pitfalls of the remote stand up – from aligning with your team, to leading with empathy, to meetings that really could have been an email. You’ll hear from Marshall Walker Lee in defence of daily stand ups, with support from Matan Talmi, the co-founder of Spinach.io, and Kate Sullivan, head of legal at EasyJet. New debater David Shaw says ditch the synced meetup, with support from corporate humor comedian and Supermeme.ai co-founder, Sanjeev Yencee.

Are you the type to send Slack messages around the clock? Or are you more likely to close your laptop for the day at 5pm sharp? Today’s episode is all about setting boundaries with workplace communications — and it’s a bit more complicated than you might think. Debater Shannon Winter argues in favor of sending messages anytime – she’s backed up by Chase Warrington, head of remote at Doist who shares practical tips to set team-wide expectations. Kelvin Yap argues against after hours messaging, with support from organizational psychologist, Dr. Archana Tedone, who shares the unavoidable pressures of workplace chatter.

Does turning your camera on during video meetings fill you with dread? Or do you look forward to seeing your colleagues' faces on calls? Today, we debate whether teams should default to having cameras on or off in virtual meetings. Get ready to dig into the surprising impacts that cameras can have on creativity, engagement, and even career advancement. Debater Maren Hotvedt argues in favor of keeping cameras on, supported by Juraj Holub, co-founder of Remote People and former chief meeting designer at Slido. Marshall Walker Lee comes out swinging against the practice, with help from industrial-organizational psychology professor, Dr. Kristen Shockley.

Season three of Work Check is out March 7th! This season is all about debating the way your remote or hybrid team is collaborating, with questions about the best ways to Zoom, ping, Slack, or DM your teammates. Join Christine Dela Rosa and a team of debaters for new episodes every other Tuesday.

Do you dream of a four-day workweek? Fantasize on Friday afternoons about the luxury of a three-day weekend? Today’s debate digs into the potentials and pitfalls of the schedule that’s been generating buzz around the world, and asks - is the grass really greener? Debater Kelvin Yap argues in favor of the four-day workweek, supported by Kath Blackham, the CEO of VERSA, a Melbourne-based AI agency that’s been taking Wednesdays off since 2018. In opposition, we have Marshall Walker Lee, supported by Abigail Marks, a professor of the Future of Work at Newcastle University, who shares the dangers of recklessly jumping on the four-day week bandwagon.

To wrap up season two of Work Check, we’re bringing in a special guest judge - Atlassian’s co-founder and co-CEO, Scott Farquhar. Debaters Maren Hotvedt, Kelvin Yap and Eli Mishkin join host Christine Dela Rosa to hear Scott’s takes, and reflect back on the season’s debates.

Every team needs a chat tool – but it’s not easy to know who should be looped into different conversations, or how open team communication should be. We all know the feeling of being inundated with messages in shared channels, and we’ve also been that person left out of a decision that happened in direct messages. So today, we’re debating the merits and pitfalls of open channel communication. Debater Kelvin Yap argues in defense of open channel communication, supported by Matt Abrahams, a strategic communications expert and host of the podcast “Think Fast, Talk Smart”, who shares what we miss when we opt for DMs. Eli Mishkin argues against the distraction from open channels, with the expertise of former technology executive Linda Stone who coined the term “continuous partial attention”.

The role of the manager has evolved dramatically since the days of barking orders and closed doors. But with modern managers being tasked with managing productivity, morale, development…are we asking too much? Today’s debate digs into how responsible managers should be for the emotional wellbeing of their team members. Arguing in favor of managers taking on this emotional labor is debater Eli Mishkin, joined by workplace wellness consultant Laura Putnam who shares just how much your manager already affects your wellbeing (…and even your heart health!). Debating against this responsibility is Marshall Walker Lee with support from Dr. Mahreen Khan, a Senior Researcher in the People Insights Team at Atlassian, who explains the risks of putting too much on managers.

Do you add your work friends on Facebook? Tweet at your teammates? Instagram DM other individual contributors? Turns out, most of us do … but should we? In today’s debate, we hear the promise and perils of connecting with colleagues on social media. Debater Rani Shah argues in favor of adding colleagues online, alongside her guest Susan McPherson, author of The Lost Art of Connecting. Maren Hotvedt comes out against the practice, supported by Dr. Casey S. Pierce, an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan, who shares the risks of merging your online and work selves.