Better Life Lab

This season of Better Life Lab, we’ve been taking a close look at work stress and the future of work and wellbeing. Parts of the American economy are looking tough for many workers — even “dystopian. People are quitting their jobs at record rates. We know what many of the problems are. Yet the fixes are not so simple. So on this closing episode of our fourth season, we ask: Are bad jobs an inherent part of the workplace — or can we actually do what it takes to make the jobs of the future good jobs, big enough to support real human life for all of us? Guests Rep. Jim HimesHouse Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in GrowthZeynep TonGood Jobs InstituteWarren Valdmanis Resources What if Progress meant Wellbeing for All?Making wellbeing a policy priority. Lessons from the 2021 World Happiness ReportThe Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote an Economy that Serves AllHearing Recap: Our Changing Economy: The Effects of Technological Innovation, Automation and the Future of WorkEconomists pin more blame on tech for inequality Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Being unemployed in the United States is bad for you. It’s bad for your mental, physical and emotional health. Bad for your family stability. Bad for your ability to survive. It’s just bad news, period. The research shows that 83 percent of laid-off workers develop a serious stress-related condition. And as we look at the future of work, that’s a problem for the American economy. Because one of the big questions about the American workplace is:What if, in the a future, we actually have less work … and more unemployment? Guests Kiarica ShieldsMark Attico Dorian WarrenCommunity ChangeSarah Damaske, Resources Reforming Unemployment Insurance: Stabilizing a system in crisis and laying the foundation for equity, A Playbook for Improving Unemployment Insurance Delivery,A Plan to Reform the Unemployment Insurance System in the United States,How Does Employment, or Unemployment, Affect HealthSingle transitions and persistence of unemployment are associated with poor health outcomesThe Toll of job loss Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Tubbs grew up in poverty. And when, at 26, he was elected mayor of his hometown, he decided to do something about it. And what he did in Stockton, California, no American mayor had done before. He started giving poor people cash. No strings attached. Stockton’s pilot program in Guaranteed Basic Income started lifting people out of poverty. It gave parents more time with their kids. And it was actually cost-effective. So as we look to the Future of Work and Wellbeing, could Guaranteed Basic Income programs play a central role in lifting all of us up — and boosting the standard of life for all Americans? Guests Michael Tubbs End Poverty in California.Natalie FosterEconomic Security ProjectJohn Summers, Resources Stockton’s Basic Income Experiment Paid OffThe Potential for a Guaranteed Income: A Conversation with Four MayorsThe Future of LeisureThe Evolving Concept of Time for Work, LeisureLess Work and More Leisure: Utopian Visions and the Future of Work, CBC Radio, 2018 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PTSD. Burnout. Depression. That’s what you get from a too stressful workplace. And — employers take note — you also get reduced commitment to work, and much higher costs. As workplaces have navigated the COVID pandemic, new technologies have amped those stresses to 11. Bossware. Tattleware. After-hours nastiness on Slack. Now there’s a whole different kind of “technostress” wearing on warehouse and retail workers, whose every movement is tracked and rated by algorithms. Researchers are only beginning to study the impact “technostress” has on workers, from toxic interpersonal relationships to “email apnea” Tech is here to stay — but how can we foster healthier, less “technostress”-inducing work cultures? Guests Roxanne FeligAdrian UgaldeMaddie SwensonAshley Nixon Resources Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceTechnostress Dark Side of Technology in the Workplace: A Scientometric AnalysisTechnostress: Implications for Adults in the Workplace,Workplace bullying jeopardizes employees’ life satisfaction: the roles of job anxiety and insomniahe Workplace-Surveillance Technology BoomAre you Breathing? Do you have email apnea? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Civil Rights movement opened up new work opportunities for Black workers. But, decades later, African-Americans work disproportionately in low-wage jobs and are overrepresented in the jobs at highest risk of vanishing because of workplace automation. White workers, meanwhile, are 50 percent more likely to hold “future proof” jobs. These are the kind of jobs that build often on education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. And for those Black workers who do find a path to “future proof” jobs in health care or tech, the reward often includes a hostile work environment. And that’s bad news for every American. One study found that eliminating racial inequality could boost the U.S. economy by as much as $2.3 trillion a year. What are we waiting for? Guests LeRon BartonNahsis DavisAdia Harvey WingfieldFlatlining: Race, Work and Healthcare in the New Economy, Resources What it’s Like to be a Black Man in TechFlatlining: Race, Work and Healthcare in the New Economy,No More Invisible ManRace and the Work of the Future: Advancing Workforce Equity in the United StatesWhy are Employment Rates so Low among Black men?Digitalization, Automation & Older Black Women: Ensuring Equity in the Future of Work Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the advent of the New Deal, employers were expected to guarantee workers a measure of security — a fair wage, a reasonable number of hours, benefits like retirement and health insurance. Recent years have seen a rise in “non-standard” work arrangements — independent contractors and gig workers who work without benefits or job protections. Gig-work platforms offer workers the tantalizing promise of flexibility and freedom. Gig-work platforms make the tantalizing promise of flexibility and freedom. But that can come at a deceptively steep price for many gig workers: low and variable wages, unpredictable schedules, and paltry benefits. Trying to make a living this way is also enormously stressful —one study of gig workers found that the more employment insecurity they experienced during the day, the more their nights became fitful, sleepless and anxiety-ridden. Guests Cherri MurphyQuan D. Mai,.Resources After the Gig: How the Sharing Economy got HijackedBergguen Institute’sPlatform Cooperativism ConsortiumA Brief History of the GigThe battle for the future of “gig” workRideshare Drivers UnitedWhy Precarious Work Is Bad for Health: Social Marginality as Key Mechanisms in a Multi-National ContextGig Economy in the U.S. – Statistics and Facts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recently there’s been a dramatic shift in the American workforce: The “Great Resignation.” “The Big Quit.” In one year, more than 47 millions of people left their jobs. The majority were women. “It is horrible for our economy when millions of women exit the labor force,” says economist Michelle Holder, CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. While men have regained nearly all the jobs they lost since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re still missing 2 million women. So where have all the women gone? We’ll hear Holder’s insights, as well as the stories of two working women whose thriving careers were turned upside down by the rigidity — and sexism — built into the American workplace. Guests Kari McCrackenKiarica ShieldsMichelle Holder, Resources for Show notes Handling work-family conflicts: future agendaWork-Family conflict and mental health among female employeesMeasuring work-life conflict among low-wage workersThe jingle jangle of work-nonwork balance: a comprehensive and meta-analytic review of its meaning and measurementLower-wage workers and flexible work arrangementsWhen work and families are allies: a theory of work-family enrichmentWork-family enrichment and satisfaction: the mediating role of self-efficacy and work-life balanceThe Early Impact of COVID-19 on Job Losses Among Black Women in the U.S. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the future, robots may take over tasks such as doling out medications. But no machine can raise a child or truly care for a disabled, ill or aging loved one. And home care jobs are projected to be among the fastest-growing jobs in America. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects care jobs will grow 33 percent by 2029. By some estimates, 70 percent of people over 65 soon will require long-term care. But care jobs are also, for the most part, poverty-wage jobs. They are low-paying, stressful, emotionally taxing, unpredictable and precarious. Half of all care workers in America earn so little that they qualify for public benefits. Nine out of 10 home health workers are women, 62 percent are people of color and one-third are immigrants. In what many scholars say was an overt act of white supremacy and patriarchy, care workers were excluded from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. They were denied the federal right to organize and collectively bargain, demand a minimum wage or overtime pay. What would the future of care work look like if they could? Guests Brittany WilliamsDanielle WilliamsAi-Jen Poo, Resources Working while Caring: A National Survey of Caregiver Stress in the U.S. WorkforceMother and Daughter do the same job. Why does one make $9 more an hour?Professional Caregiving men find meaning and price in their work, but still face stigma, Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Japan, generations of workers have given their all to the code of Karoshi. It’s a word that literally means, “Work til you die." Few Americans know the word “Karoshi.” We don’t think it happens here. But the workplace now actually ranks as the fifth leading cause of death in America. To help us understand work stress better, we’re joined by the co-directors of the Healthy Work Campaign. Marnie Dobson and Peter Schnall. How do we shift from work being something that can make your life miserable, to something that can enhance the quality of your life? It comes down to how much power, control and autonomy you have at work. Guests: Cate LindemannCherri Murphy,Marnie Dobson and Peter SchnallHealthy Work Campaign Resources: The Relationship Between Workplace Stressors and Mortality and Health Costs in the United StatesGlobal, regional, and national burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours for 194 countries, 2000–2016: A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and InjuryBad Jobs, Bad Health? How Work and Working Conditions Contribute to Health DisparitiesPsychosocial Factors at Work: Recognition and ControlEmployee Control and Occupational StressHealthy Work Campaign fact sheetWork, Stress and Health and Socio-Economic StatusWorkplace Stress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As much as the media has been inundated with future of work stories that read like a Sci-Fi-like robot apocalypse, the future of work, in a very real sense, is already here. And what’s really at stake is inequality. The real question for the future of work is not whether automation, robots and AI will replace jobs - they will. And, if history is any guide, as-yet unimaginable jobs will be created. Over 60 percent of the jobs today didn’t exist in 1940, according to MIT researchers. The real question is - will the jobs that are created be “big enough” for workers and families to thrive, much less survive. And, given the current trajectory we’re on, the answer is no. Since the 1980s, automation, globalization, the financialization of the U.S. economy and policies that rewarded capital instead of labor have led to a sharp polarization of the U.S. workforce. Middle class jobs lost have been replaced by increasingly unstable, precarious jobs - involuntary part-time, low-wages, with scant access to benefits like health care, and unpredictable schedules. But, as economist David Autor and his colleagues at MIT argue, that polarization is a choice. And we could come together as a society and make a different choice for the future. If we don’t, he warns, we are building toward a stratified society of “the servers and the served.” Guests Joe LiebmanDavid Autor Resources: MIT Future of Work Task ForceFuture of Work InitiativeExtending the Race Between Education and TechnologyThe Future of Warehouse WorkWorker Voices: Technology and the Future for WorkersThe Future of work and its impact on HealthThe Future of Jobs Report 2020BLS fastest growing occupations 2020-2030 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this year-end edition of Crisis Conversations, Brigid and members of the Better Life Lab team reflect on the memorable stories, voices, and lessons learned from COVID-19. And we consider a bold new agenda for work-family justice and gender equity in 2021 and beyond. Host: Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Vicki Shabo, Senior Fellow, Paid Leave Policy and Strategy at Better Life Lab Roselyn Miller, Policy Analyst, Better Life Lab Jahdziah St. Julien, Research Associate, Better Life Lab Emily Hallgren, PhD BLLx Intern, Better Life Lab Stavroula Pabst, PhD Intern, Better Life Lab Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is the pandemic is setting women back a generation? Without reliable childcare and schools, an unprecedented number of working mothers have been forced to reduce their hours. Or have had to leave the workforce entirely. As Elizabeth Gedmark, vice president of A Better Balance said recently: “It’s not a question of whether women are set back in the workplace. It’s a question of how far back we will go: 10 years, 15 years, 20 years?” What needs to change NOW to staunch the hemorrhaging and help women and their families achieve economic stability? And how can we design systems to ensure equity in the future? Host: Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Bryce Covert, Journalist and author, most recently of "The economy could lose a generation of working mothers" Jessica Calarco, Associate professor of sociology at Indiana University who studies inequalities in family life and education. Her pandemic-related research includes "My husband thinks I’m crazy" and "Let’s not pretend it’s fun" Kari McCracken, Mother of five who was recently pushed out of the workforce and a career she loved because of a lack of childcare Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The United States is an outlier among developed nations when it comes to supporting working families. Unlike other advanced economies, we offer no national public paid family leave, no publicly supported universal childcare, no requirements that employers offer flexible work and schedule control. Researchers and advocates have long lamented we don’t have these policies because the constituents who need them most – parents – are too stressed and busy to organize and demand them. Has COVID-19 changed that? Host: Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Dasja Reed, Single parent and member of Strolling Thunder Alissa Quart, Executive Director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and author most recently of Daycare slots for babies are vanishing. Now their parents can’t work Justin Ruben, Parent and co-founder of ParentsTogether Tamara Mose, Sociology professor at Brooklyn College, director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the American Sociological Association and author of Raising Brooklyn: Nannies, Childcare and Caribbeans Creating Community Jennifer Beall Saxton, Parent, Founder and CEO of Tot Squad Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What role will care and caregiving could play in the 2020 election. Pundits have long insisted that care issues like childcare, elder care and paid and unpaid caregiving are not “bread and butter” economic issues that move voters or swing elections. Will that change in this unprecedented time of COVID-19? Are voters beginning to see that care work is no longer just “women’s work,” but central to a functioning economy? And what difference could that make on Nov. 3? Host: Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Abby McCloskey, Economist, fellow with the Bipartisan Policy Center, and founder of McCloskey Policy LLC. She has advised multiple presidential campaigns, including those of Howard Schultz, Jeb Bush and Rick Perry. She is a member of the AEI-Brookings Bipartisan working group on paid leave. Amanda Brown Lierman, Managing Director, Supermajority, a progressive, membership-based organization that trains women to become effective advocates to build an equitable future for all women, and former political and organizing director for the Democratic National Committee. Roselyn Miller, Better Life Lab policy analyst and author of The Bipartisan Case for Caregiving. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kamala Harris just made history as the first woman of color nominated for national office by a major party. So why, after so much time and money have been spent on diversity initiatives, and on women’s leadership conferences and the like, are there still so few women — particularly women of color — in leadership positions in politics, in academia, and in American business? Join us as women leaders and thinkers share what needs to change to create space for more diverse women leaders, and to enable them to thrive. And why — especially now — that matters so much, for all of us. Host: Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Laura Morgan Roberts, Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and author of Beating the Odds and Race and Leadership: The Black Experience in the Workplace Ilana Fischer,CEO of Whisps, a growing snack company where 100 percent of the C-suite executives are women Adrienne Penta. Managing Director at Brown Brothers Harriman and executive director of the Center for Women & Wealth Toni Irving, Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and former executive director of Get IN Chicago, where she led a $45 million social impact fund to reduce gun violence Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police sparked a racial justice reckoning, many American organizations put up Black Lives Matter signs. Many put out statements committing to tear down structural racism and build diverse, equitable and inclusive cultures at work. The trick is — how exactly do you do that? These business and organizational leaders have some ideas. Host: Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Melonie Parker, Chief diversity officer at Google, whose team produced the 2020 Diversity Annual Report Anselm Beach, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Equity and Inclusion, spearheading Project Inclusion Sarah Todd, Senior reporter, Quartz and Quartz at Work, author of What an anti-racist workplace looks like Tim Cynova and Lauren Ruffin, COO and Chief External Relations Officer for Fractured Atlas, a New York City-based nonprofit that helps artists access funding Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the era of coronavirus, the notion of work-life balance can seem a dream for those who still have work. But the gut-it-out model is bad for workers, virtual and otherwise, and bad for employers. Host Brigid Schulte talks with behavioral science workers at ideas42 — a nonprofit that seeks to use behavioral science insights to improve lives and drive social change. We'll hear about efforts at ideas42 to research and re-design workplace culture in an innovative pilot project ideas42 is collaborating on with Accion, an international nonprofit working with microfinance programs, We'll explore what role the concept of “scarcity” plays in how we go about our pandemic workdays, and in how we design work in the first place. And we'll consider whether something called "the party principal" could make some of us better, happier virtual workers in the time of COVID-19. Guests include: Matthew Darling, Vice President at ideas42 and a teaching fellow at Harvard University Lynne Curran, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, at Accion Antonia Violante, a Senior Associate at ideas42 Uyhun Ung,a Senior Associate at ideas42 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One American in five takes care of another family member or loved one. That's more than 53 million family caregivers in America. Members of this vast, largely invisible workforce were already under pressure prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Many were forced to choose between inflexible or unsupportive work environments, and caring for loved ones who need care. These caregivers are not supported by public policy – the emergency paid family leave law Congress passed last spring actually excluded those caring for aging or chronically ill loved ones. And many people, including those in the so-called sandwich generation, never get a break to take care of themselves. As the pandemic rages, and with a coming aging crisis, how do we begin to care for our family caregivers? Host:Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Debbi Simmons Harris, A family caregiver in Minnesota who had to stop working to care for her son, who has required complex medical care for more than two decades. Jennifer Olsen, DrPH,Executive Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving. Jessica Mills, A family caregiver in Georgia who put off her college plans to care for her mother with dementia. Karen Lindsey Marshall, J.D. Director, Advocacy & Engagement, National Alliance for Caregiving. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Schools, summer camps and childcare centers are closed — and many may not reopen until next year. How are parents supposed to manage work, childcare and homeschooling? The childcare crisis is about to become even more acute, as many parents who lost their jobs due to the pandemic have already exhausted the temporary 12-week paid leave Congress passed in early spring. What will it take to build a truly high-quality, universal system that benefits everyone? Host: Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Caitlyn Collins Sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis and author of Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving Renée Boynton-Jarrett Professor of pediatrics at Boston University, social epidemiologist and the founding director of the Vital Village Community Engagement Network who focuses on the role of early-life adversities as life course social determinants of health. Marla Schuchman Entrepreneur, mother of two, struggling to launch a start-up with no child care. Alycia Hardy Policy Analyst on childcare and early education for the Center for Law and Social Policy who wrote about including parent voices in policy solutions and her struggles with remote work for her two children and caring for her nieces while her sister and husband risk their health as essential workers Adriana Y Garcia Furloughed salon and social justice worker, and mother of four, living in Portland, Oregon. Maria Cancian Dean, McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown who researches the dynamics between public policies and family wellbeing Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pregnant workers already face discrimination on the job, Before the pandemic struck, the United States was the only advanced nation without a national paid maternity or parental leave policy. Now, pregnant workers have to navigate workplaces that pose real infection risks — often without recourse. Delivering a child in the pandemic has become fraught and isolating. And for many new moms whose low-wage jobs are considered "essential," the emergency paid leave law Congress passed doesn’t even apply. So what can we learn from the pandemic about how to better protect pregnant workers? How can we ensure healthy outcomes for new mothers and children, and, in particular, for new African American mothers and children, whose rates of infant and maternal mortality are alarmingly high? Host: Brigid Schulte, Director, Better Life Lab at New America Guests: Gabrielle Caverl-McNeal, Director of Workforce Development at New Moms Dina Bakst, Co-founder and co-president of A Better Balance Khushbu Shah, Interim Editor in Chief, Fuller Project Rebecca Pontikes, Principal of Pontikes Law LLC Dr. Ashley Deutsch, Director of Quality and Patient Safety for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.