Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footer

Cookies on FT Sites

We use cookies for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to analyse how our Sites are used.

Accept & continue
Manage cookies
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Open side navigation menuOpen search bar
Financial Times
SubscribeSign InmyFT
  • Home
  • World
    Sections
    • World Home
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • War in Ukraine
    • Americas
    • Middle East & North Africa
    • Australia & NZ
    Most Read
    • China builds coalition to counter America’s ‘barbaric and bloody’ leadership
    • Europe plans for risk that Russia cuts gas supply this year
    • G7 urges Opec to boost output to cool oil market
    • North Sea oil and gas producers hit back at Sunak’s £5bn windfall tax
    • Grief turns to anger in Uvalde in aftermath of school shooting
  • US
    Sections
    • US Home
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
    Most Read
    • EY plans global audit spin-off in drastic Big Four shake-up
    • Still Top Gun? What Tom Cruise’s new movie tells us about American power
    • China builds coalition to counter America’s ‘barbaric and bloody’ leadership
    • Wall Street stocks snap seven-week losing streak
    • Twitter refuses to remove Silver Lake’s Egon Durban from board
  • Companies
    Sections
    • Companies Home
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
    Most Read
    • EY plans global audit spin-off in drastic Big Four shake-up
    • EY explores IPO or partial sale of global advisory business
    • Forget ESG. Bring on the BS Index
    • Bankrupt former KPMG partner sues law firm over job loss
    • Klarna boss puts brave face on buy now, pay later problems
  • Tech
  • Markets
    Sections
    • Markets Home
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
    • Cryptocurrencies
    Most Read
    • Live news updates from May 27: Texas police made ‘wrong decision’ in waiting to storm classroom, G7 urges Opec to raise output
    • Bull market rhymes lead to a turn in the investing cycle
    • Markets have become a minefield
    • The bullwhip effect, redux
    • A good tale can tempt us to forget the truth about markets
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    Sections
    • Opinion Home
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
    Most Read
    • Hard lessons from the crypto crash
    • Forget ESG. Bring on the BS Index
    • Britain isn’t working. That should concern us all
    • Bull market rhymes lead to a turn in the investing cycle
    • Why does it feel good to do good?
  • Work & Careers
    Sections
    • Work & Careers Home
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
    Most Read
    • Race at work: how hard are companies really trying?
    • Vive la différence between work and play
    • ‘A bonfire of the decencies’: Peter Hennessy on Boris Johnson’s government
    • Why presenteeism is an enduring corporate narcotic
    • The cold call is back and worse than ever
  • Life & Arts
    Sections
    • Life & Arts Home
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
    Most Read
    • Still Top Gun? What Tom Cruise’s new movie tells us about American power
    • Hard lessons from the crypto crash
    • A generation locked in the UK’s savings crisis
    • Aviva’s Amanda Blanc: ‘You prepare for everything. You do not prepare for comments like that’
    • ‘It’s not flavourless. It’s delicate and really, really nice’: the UK’s lager revolution
  • How to Spend It
MenuSearch
  • Home
  • World
  • US
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Markets
  • Climate
  • Opinion
  • Work & Careers
  • Life & Arts
  • How to Spend It
Financial Times
SubscribeSign In

Your guide to a disrupted world

Start a 4-week trial

Sarah O'Connor

Employment columnist

Sarah O'Connor is a columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times. She writes a weekly column focused on the world of work, as well as longer reported articles.

She joined the FT in 2007 and has covered the US economy from Washington DC, the UK economy from London and the financial crisis from Iceland.

Email Sarah O'Connor @sarahoconnor_  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
Email Sarah O'Connor @sarahoconnor_  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

Add to myFT Digest

Add this topic to your myFT Digest for news straight to your inbox

  • Tuesday, 24 May, 2022
    Minimum-Living wage
    Why a higher UK minimum wage fails to spur productivity

    A British experiment ended up with companies accepting lower profits, charging more or cutting investment

  • Tuesday, 17 May, 2022
    UK employment
    Beware the promise of salary advance schemes

    Such products look increasingly attractive to some employees as the cost of living crisis bites

  • Tuesday, 10 May, 2022
    New Zealand
    New Zealand’s jobs law will cause ripples beyond its shores

    Introducing fair pay agreements would reverse 30 years of labour market deregulation

  • Tuesday, 3 May, 2022
    UK employment
    Rot festers in the lower depths of the British labour market

    Poor regulation of umbrella companies is bad for workers, taxpayers and decent businesses alike

  • Tuesday, 26 April, 2022
    Pension automatic enrolment
    When a pensions policy is a resounding success, we should say so

    There remains more to do but automatic enrolment has had a transformational effect

  • Tuesday, 12 April, 2022
    UK employment
    Why the middle-class capture of apprenticeship matters

    Reforms have led to a sharp fall in England in younger apprentices from poorer areas

  • Tuesday, 5 April, 2022
    Working It podcast29 min listen
    Is this the end of work as we know it?

    Why millions are quitting their jobs, working less, or declaring themselves anti-work

  • Tuesday, 5 April, 2022
    Amazon.com
    Union victory for Amazon warehouse could change US labour movement

    Grassroots Staten Island win shows the power of organising from the bottom up

  • Tuesday, 29 March, 2022
    UK employment
    The P&O debacle shows that UK labour law needs an overhaul

    There are too many loopholes and grey areas that unscrupulous employers can exploit

  • Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
    Future of work
    A four-day week might benefit employers as well

    Experiments have shown that workers’ hours can be cut without a corresponding drop in output

  • Thursday, 17 March, 2022
    FT Magazine
    How did a vast Amazon warehouse change life in a former mining town?

    Ten years after her groundbreaking investigation into the retail giant, Sarah O’Connor returns to Rugeley to find out what’s changed

  • Tuesday, 15 March, 2022
    War in Ukraine
    Europe has done the right thing by allowing Ukrainian refugees to work

    But access to employment must be underpinned by services to help new arrivals to support themselves

  • Thursday, 3 March, 2022
    FT CollectionsClaudia Goldin
    Claudia Goldin: ‘Greedy work has been made less greedy’

    The pandemic has helped facilitate flexible working, which might make top jobs more compatible with family life

  • Tuesday, 1 March, 2022
    Coronavirus economic impact
    Better UK sick pay will help us live with Covid

    Britain lags behind countries like Germany in the help it gives to workers who fall ill

  • Tuesday, 22 February, 2022
    Artificial intelligence
    Never mind Big Tech — ‘little tech’ can be dangerous at work too

    ‘Algorithmic management’ is spreading beyond gig platforms and logistics warehouses to other sectors

  • Tuesday, 15 February, 2022
    UK immigration
    Keeping asylum seekers in limbo is bad for everyone

    ‘Human capital’ is damaged when people are shut out of labour markets and forced to sit idle

  • Tuesday, 8 February, 2022
    UK employment
    In unequal Britain, why aren’t there more Dick Whittingtons?

    The government’s ambition to spread highly-skilled jobs more evenly around the country is a good one

  • Monday, 31 January, 2022
    UK employment
    UK plan shows how not to deal with labour shortages

    The issue isn’t that the unemployed are too picky — it’s that many have left the jobs market altogether

  • Tuesday, 11 January, 2022
    Legal services
    Don’t roll your eyes when lawyers complain about overwork

    Listening to the concerns of people at the top can inform the debate over how to improve jobs at the bottom

  • Wednesday, 29 December, 2021
    UK employment
    A decent boss can make the world of difference at work

    Job satisfaction takes many forms but beware the demoralising effects of impersonal systems for evaluating employees

  • Tuesday, 21 December, 2021
    FT Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign
    Against the odds: the struggles of migrants to build a business

    The FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign: Despite many obstacles, new arrivals have a record of entrepreneurship

  • Monday, 20 December, 2021
    Flexible working
    It’s not only working mothers who benefit from flexible jobs

    Ruling out so many potential candidates at a time of staff shortages is irrational

  • Monday, 6 December, 2021
    UK government spending
    What a lost decade of education spending means for the economy

    The government has big ambitions but is only halfheartedly matching them with its wallet

  • Tuesday, 30 November, 2021
    Artificial intelligence
    AI is making applying for jobs even more miserable

    Asynchronous video interviews are bad news for both employers and would-be employees

  • Tuesday, 23 November, 2021
    US employment
    Corporate America’s parallel justice system is a recipe for unfairness

    Mandatory arbitration clauses deprive workers of their day in court when their rights are breached

Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

Be part of FT Community

Discover unmissable flagship events and members only communities to expand your thinking and elevate your career

FT LiveThe Global Boardroom: 5th EditionWhere next on the road to recovery?
Tuesday, 7th JuneDigital Conference
Learn more about FT Community

Useful links

Support

View Site TipsHelp CentreContact UsAbout UsAccessibilitymyFT TourCareers

Legal & Privacy

Terms & ConditionsPrivacy PolicyCookiesCopyrightSlavery Statement & Policies

Services

Share News Tips SecurelyIndividual SubscriptionsGroup SubscriptionsRepublishingExecutive Job SearchAdvertise with the FTFollow the FT on TwitterFT TransactSecondary Schools

Tools

PortfolioToday's Newspaper (ePaper)Alerts HubBusiness School RankingsEnterprise ToolsNews feedNewslettersCurrency Converter

Community & Events

FT CommunityFT LiveFT ForumsFT Board DirectorBoard Director Programme

More from the FT Group

Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2022. FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.
Financial Times

International Edition

Subscribe for full access
  • Switch to UK Edition
  • Top sections
  • Home
  • World
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • War in Ukraine
    • Americas
    • Middle East & North Africa
    • Australia & NZ
  • US
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
  • Companies
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
  • Tech
  • Markets
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
    • Cryptocurrencies
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
  • Work & Careers
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
  • Life & Arts
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
  • Personal Finance
    • Property & Mortgages
    • Investments
    • Pensions
    • Tax
    • Banking & Savings
    • Advice & Comment
    • Next Act
  • How to Spend It
  • Special Reports
  • FT recommends
  • Lex
  • Alphaville
  • Lunch with the FT
  • FT Globetrotter
  • #techAsia
  • Moral Money
  • FTfm
  • Newsletters
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • News feed
  • FT Community
    • FT Live
    • FT Forums
    • Board Director Programme
  • myFT
  • Portfolio
  • Today's Newspaper (ePaper)
  • Crossword
  • Our Apps
  • Help Centre
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In