WhyWork Podcast

Hosted by Alan Girle, Trajce Cvetkovski, & Sara Pazell

Business Management Science

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Episodes

215

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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About the show

The WhyWork Podcast is an organisational strategy session and legal dissection of workplace events that are laced with humour. Your bloggers, Alan, Trajce, and Sara, explore the contemporary and uncomfortable realities of work and the boundaries that are tested. Alan and Trajce dismantle case law and Sara pushes all to consider how to redesign the world of work so that business objectives are realised and that people thrive. Good stories are told. The WhyWork team throws shade on some of the stories and the people involved as they consider defensible and remarkable work design strategy. When you listen to the WhyWork Podcast, you realise that no skeleton in the workplace closet is too sacred to unearth. It’s like listening to the water cooler gossip but then shit gets real, and it all becomes serious – fast. This is a must-listen for executive and emerging managers, work design strategists, human factors specialists and ergonomists, work health safety and law specialists, organisational scientists, occupational health academics, and anyone humoured by office and workplace antics! Get ready to exclaim, “She said WHAT...?” and “He DIDN’T! OMG!”. Laugh along with us while you learn lots.

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60 recent

June 15, 202620 min

S10: Special-Release Bonus 5: O–100 km/h in 3.5 Seconds. But Did You Die? (Part 2 of The Final 3-Part Reflection Series)

Season 10 Special-Release Bonus 5: Kidney Bean Reflection SeriesO–100 km/h in 3.5 Seconds. But Did You Die?WARNING: This episode includes discussion about the confronting topic of live organ donation.This episode discusses the gamification of kidney donation—when the 'shut down phase' intersects with another person's incessant curiosity. More than a Facebook or TikTok challenge, CJ reflects on this incredible journey and his daily gratitude rituals after receiving Sara’s live kidney donation.Trajce remarks that he is witness to two productive people acting now as business as usual. ‘But did you die?” asks Sara, a carryover from last week’s episode.CJ describes his textbook recovery yet the need to finely tune the health factors that influence the body’s sustained acceptance of a donated organ. Sara philosophises on the idea of positive medical care outcomes coexisting with system gaps. Her sentence begins, “We’ve talked about the gaps in the system …” and ends with a cliff hanger. Wait for next week’s final bonus series episode to complete this discussion on kidney donation.

June 7, 202642 min

S10: Special-Release Bonus 4: O–100 km/h in 3.5 Seconds. But Did You Die? (Part 1 of The Final 3-Part Reflection Series)

Season 10 Special-Release Bonus 4: Kidney Bean Reflection SeriesO–100 km/h in 3.5 Seconds. But Did You Die?Kidney x 3. Friendship x Infinity. Perspective x 1000WARNING: This episode includes discussion about the confronting topic of live organ donation.Sara donated a kidney. CJ received it. Trajce joked about it. Alan sunned himself in Tassie.Months after a life-changing transplant, the WhyWork® team reunites to reflect on friendship, fear, mortality, recovery, and what happens when someone literally gives a part of themselves to help another person live. Sara shares the reality of becoming "Kidney x1," CJ explains what it's like carrying three kidneys around, and Trajce provides his usual blend of legal commentary and provocation.From confronting death and challenging assumptions about risk, to navigating recovery, return-to-work, and life with three kidneys, this episode is equal parts inspiring, insightful, and unexpectedly funny.A conversation about courage, gratitude, and discovering what really matters when life accelerates from 0–100 km/h in 3.5 secs.

May 18, 20260 min

S10 Trailer 04: Travel Back in Time with WhyWork

S10 Trailer 4: Travel Back in Time with WhyWork - 10 Seasons of salacious tales, 100's of episode recordings with case law dissection and work re-design gems. Like homemade cooking leftovers - tasty!

May 4, 20261 min

S10 Trailer 03: We've got it all - from baldness to Brazilian accents

S10 Trailer 03: We've got it all - from baldness to Brazilian accentsWe spread like a new disease... you want a war by the same TV ... We come in via back force entry, the mugs from Backwater Brissie. Why are you talking shit about the underdogs who never quit?WhyWork underdog caselaw dissection is returning to the airwaves soon. Check out our special-release episodes until then.

April 27, 20261 min

S10: Trailer 2: Turn Down the Chiles in the Con Carne

S10: Trailer 2: Turn Down the Chiles in the Con CarneWe're talking about being a good-time girl, when documentation only goes so far, Swimmin' to safety or when SWMS ain't swimmin' upstream at all. Stay tuned, the full episodes for S10 will release soon.

April 20, 20261 min

S1o: Trailer 1: Receding hairlines, lap dance moves, and culture clash: Welcome to work

S1o: Trailer 1: Receding hairlines, lap dance moves, and culture clash: Welcome to work.Are you upset because people are making fun of you at work? Listen to S10 WhyWork - full episode releases coming soon. Hear about how work becomes all-to-human when collegues exploit personal issues like receding hairlines, Coyoto nightclub dancing, and accented variations of spoken English.

April 7, 202642 min

S10 Special-Release Bonus: Early Intervention Under Cross Examination – Band-Aids, Bureaucracy, and Better Design

S10 Special-Release Bonus: Early Intervention Under Cross Examination – Band-Aids, Bureaucracy, and Better DesignWelcome to this special episode release recording during the launch of the Phoenix Occupational Medicine Early Intervention Done Right Symposium 2026. This episode promises nudity, sex, drugs, and almost rock & roll. The WhyWork Podcast - Alan Girle, Trajce Cvetkovski, and Sara Pazell - examine both serious and salacious work-related tales. The flagrant disregard for the law, mishaps, and egregious failures, capture our imagination. This episode discusses invisible, hidden hazards, like dust exposures, nudity as a workplace norm, and recreational drug use intersecting with work readiness tests. The target audience for this show centres on occupational rehabilitation providers, medical teams, and operational leaders. Tune in if your work makes you confront nudity, recreational drug use, or health and safety standards.For more on the team's discussion of a dusty scneario, refer to this NSW Dust Diseases Tribunal Worker's Compensation case law:Bennett v Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer and Ors [2025] NSWDDT 5

March 30, 20261 min

S10: Early Intervention Done Right: Special Release Trailer 03

The second trailer for the Launch of the Phoenix Occupational Medicine Early Intervention Done Right Symposium 2026 - Special Episode Release - promising nudity, sex, drugs, and almost rock & roll. Of course, Sara must shamelessly promote the podcast - voluntarily recorded, produced, and promoted - listen in, subscribe, download, and submit your 5-star rating to keep the @WhyWorkPodcast in the charts!

March 23, 20261 min

S10: Early Intervention Done Right: Special Release Trailer 02

The second trailer for the Launch of the Phoenix Occupational Medicine Early Intervention Done Right Symposium 2026 - Special Episode Release - promising nudity, sex, drugs, and almost rock & roll.