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Jun 17, 2024 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
It was revealed last week that Wells Fargo, a major US bank, had fired “more than a dozen” employees. What for? For being caught using devices (both physical and apps) to pretend they were hard at work on their computers. Think mouse movers (bits of tech you can buy to manually jiggle a computer mouse to keep statuses appearing as ‘active’) or apps that will essentially do some sporadic clicking so your screen doesn’t go to sleep.
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Mar 17, 2024 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it much here (meaning this specific newsletter. I know I’ve mentioned it lots elsewhere on the internet), but I am a person with depression and OCD. I’m on medication, it’s fine, but sometimes the mental health issues manage to poke their way through the fluoxetine.
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Feb 29, 2024 | 
thecolumbiastar.com | Ellen Scott
Blythewood Middle School has announced one of its student interns, Erial Cooper, was awarded the “Teacher Candidate to Watch Award” by The South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education (SCAMLE). Cooper was nominated by Jennifer Germann and Kathryn Campbell, teachers at Blythewood Middle.
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Jan 29, 2024 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
If your boss sat you down and said…“Work out however much money you need each year to pay your rent, buy the essentials, and buy some things that bring you joy. In short: the salary you need to be comfortable, but not to go crazy with your spending. Let me know how much that is, and it’s your salary from now on. Your job will remain the same. Or, if you want to do some different things; work in a new department, or change your working hours, that’s fine. The only catch is that you can’t ‘move up’.
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Jan 24, 2024 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
Welcome to Work Woes, a new series I’m testing. Each edition I’ll take someone’s work-related problem and dish out some advice, asking additional experts when more than one view is handy. Every problem will be anonymised, because I don’t want anyone to get in trouble at their job, and I hope that some of the woes will receive advice that’s helpful to other people in other roles and situations, too. Let’s get into it…“I run a small business with a small team.
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Jan 8, 2024 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
London was supposed to have Tube strikes this week. Every day, pretty much every line. It was going to be seriously disruptive (the point of a strike). Last week we made plans: those who could cycle in or get the bus, would. If you had a ‘nice boss’, you were told to stay home. If you had a not-nice boss, you were told to come in regardless of the misery of what would end up being a three-hour commute. Then, at the weekend, the Tube strikes were cancelled.
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Jan 1, 2024 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
2024 is here, and thus the last few weeks have been filled with people making their predictions for the year ahead. Ins and outs lists! Trend forecasts! Vision boards! I had a little bit of imposter syndrome when it came to creating a list of predictions about work for 2024. Who am I to declare what trends will explode? What if I’m wrong about everything and everyone points and laughs?
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Dec 11, 2023 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
At seven years and a couple of months, my job at Metro is thus far my longest non-family relationship. To lots of people, seven and bit years isn’t that long to stay in a job - I remember meeting someone who said they’d been in the same place for 16 years - but in the world of digital journalism and among those under 40, where often we’re advised to change jobs every two years, it’s quite a big deal.
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Nov 27, 2023 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
I’ve been sleeping a lot recently. Unplanned naps on Sunday afternoon. Turning off 6am alarms and staying bundled up in a duvet until past 8. I’m much slower, too. I refuse to turn on the heating just yet, so days are spent under multiple blankets, moving from my desk to the sofa, where it’s warmer. Effort feels more effortful. When I talk to other people, they say the same sort of thing. Everyone’s tired. They don’t want to leave the house.
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Sep 10, 2023 | 
workingonpurposenewsletter.substack.com | Ellen Scott
I never wanted to become a manager, mostly because the very word inspires visions of someone uptight, old, out-of-touch, and - shudder - corporate, ie. nothing like the cool, edgy writer image I’ve been striving for since I was in my teens. But here’s the thing about work: if you’re good at your job, you’re going to move up the ladder. And in journalism, like many other jobs, moving up means managing other people.
