A podcast for real working life

Honest conversations.Useful waysto work better.

Cathal Quinlan and Annette Sloan explore the questions that shape our working lives, with authors, researchers and people who have been there.

Latest: Why Employees Don’t Want to Come Back to the Office

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Podcast archive · 1 hr 10 min
13 October 2026

Why Employees Don’t Want to Come Back to the Office

What makes an office worth coming back to?

LeadershipTeams & culture
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The guest gives us the idea. We work out whether it survives Monday.
Let's Take This Offline

Two perspectives. One useful question.

Cathal brings the practitioner’s instinct. Annette brings the coach’s clarity. After the interview, they take the big ideas offline, test them against real work and answer a listener question.

CQCathal Quinlan

Host, leader and enthusiastic interrogator of workplace nonsense.

ASAnnette Sloan

Coach, collaborator and the person most likely to ask what this means.

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From the archive

Three conversations worth your next hour.

Listener questions
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What to Do When a Team Member Keeps Letting You Down

A team member keeps missing commitments. There is always a reason, the rest of the team is frustrated, and their manager is running out of patience. What should happen next?

Listener questions
Q&A

How to Say No at Work (With Respect)

Saying yes to one thing leaves less time for something else. So how do you decide what deserves your attention?

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Listening is the beginning.

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