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    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)

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    • Monday, 9 October, 2023
      FT News Briefing podcast11 min listen
      Israel responds to historic Hamas attack

      The death toll from Hamas’s unprecedented multi-front assault on Israel passed 600 on Sunday

    • Tuesday, 26 September, 2023
      Employment
      Net zero was never going to be an easy win for workers

      The green transition will be hard and involve trade-offs policymakers would rather not talk about

      James Ferguson illustration of miners’ helmets left rusting in a field, with wind turbines set against a blue sky behind them
    • Tuesday, 19 September, 2023
      UK employment
      Why don’t people leave bad jobs?

      Giving workers a bit more security might make the labour market more flexible, not less

      A man and a woman ponder as they look at a door marked ‘exit’
    • Tuesday, 12 September, 2023
      Employment
      Experiments are key for more grown-up industrial relations

      In the UK, the Labour party’s commitment to sectoral collective bargaining could bring positive changes

      Montage image showing two workers, one dressed in high-viz with a helmet and clipboard. The other is in hospital scrubs with a stethoscope
    • Tuesday, 22 August, 2023
      Minimum-Living wage
      The minimum wage has passed the high inflation test

      It reduces pay inequality while employment doesn’t suffer — even if productivity is not boosted

      Three piles of gold coins against a background of blue block graph paper
    • Tuesday, 15 August, 2023
      Office life
      Beware of performative policymaking

      There’s a lesson for politicians in the fate of laws introduced around the world establishing a ‘right to disconnect’

      A man anxiously rubbing his temples as he looks at a laptop, with the words ‘log out’ emblazoned behind him
    • Tuesday, 8 August, 2023
      UK labour productivity
      In praise of the ‘techies’ who make companies more productive

      As it stands on the verge of the next industrial revolution, Britain needs people who can put new technology to good use

      A man and a woman wear high-visibility vests and hard hats and carry notepads
    • Tuesday, 25 July, 2023
      UK Inequality
      Globalisation is not to blame for Britain’s insecurity problem

      The country’s precarious low-wage jobs and shortage of affordable housing are hardly the fault of international forces

    • Tuesday, 18 July, 2023
      Social affairs
      Some people need to be nudged into saving

      Successful trials in the UK are a useful reminder of the protective power of the ‘rainy day fund’

      FT montage image showing coins dropping into a piggy bank
    • Tuesday, 11 July, 2023
      Health
      It’s time to relearn the lost art of leisure

      We should prioritise rest now, rather than waiting for an automated future that may never arrive

      A person reclines on a hammock while reading a book
    • Monday, 3 July, 2023
      Global Economy
      There is more to life and death than GDP

      Economic growth isn’t the only way to compare how well countries are doing

    • Tuesday, 27 June, 2023
      UK mortgage rates
      Why higher rates risk reigniting intergenerational conflict

      A cohort of people in their mid-30s have probably been pummelled twice by monetary policy over the past decade

      Montage of images of a house, with pound coins floating in the background and a graph line charting the rise in interest rates across the front
    • Tuesday, 20 June, 2023
      UK politics
      Politicians must send the right signals on ‘green’ jobs

      Without clear incentives from government, demand for employment in the decarbonisation effort will continue to lag behind

      Montage image showing two workers with fluorescent jackets and hard hats looking over a laptop, with wind farms and solar panels in the background
    • Sunday, 18 June, 2023
      FT SeriesAI in the workplace
      AI shakes up way we work in three key industries

      Professional services, filmmaking and coding are among the first to use the technology in everyday operations

      A montage of the Hollywood sign, professionals checking documents and a person writing computer code
    • Tuesday, 13 June, 2023
      Employment
      Why ‘harvested by hand’ labels bother me

      Supermarket claims about the use of human labour rather than machines give us too little information

      A seasonal worker holding a crop of berries in both hands
    • Tuesday, 6 June, 2023
      Working from home
      How the digital nomad went corporate

      The romanticism of work on the move has collided with the realities of tax and immigration

      FT montage of a woman working at a laptop with a cityscape showing through one window and a beach through another
    • Thursday, 1 June, 2023
      Economists Exchange
      Andrew Scott: ‘We have to invest much more in our future selves’

      We’ve never expected people to be living into their 10th decade, so we’ve never planned for it. Now that must change

      Illustration showing Sarah O’Connor and Andrew Scott
    • Tuesday, 30 May, 2023
      Work & Careers
      Don’t bet against the ‘suitcase principle’ of white-collar work

      Humans have a remarkable ability to create jobs for themselves — whatever the progress of technology

    • Wednesday, 24 May, 2023
      Artificial intelligence
      Let’s not write people off as ‘AI losers’

      The idea that the outcome of technological change is inevitable is both dangerous and untrue

    • Tuesday, 9 May, 2023
      Working from home
      The ability to work from home does not just benefit the elite

      More flexibility has improved work-life balance for many since the pandemic began

      Montage showing chart lines and a woman working on her laptop
    • Tuesday, 2 May, 2023
      UK society
      People are numb to big numbers

      Millions, billions, trillions — the human brain isn’t wired to comprehend information on a large scale

      A montage of two people deep in thought with random figures scattered around them
    • Tuesday, 25 April, 2023
      UK employment
      Let’s enforce existing labour market laws before we write new ones

      The UK lags behind the rest of the developed world in ensuring compliance with regulations

    • Tuesday, 18 April, 2023
      EU immigration
      Why countries are jostling to attract migrant workers

      Labour shortages and demographic pressures fuel competition for skilled people

    • Tuesday, 4 April, 2023
      EU employment
      How Spain has taken on the problem of precarious work

      A country famous for temporary jobs is experimenting with new types of contract to boost permanent employment

      A cyclist courier, a man in a hard hat and a woman in a hi-vis vest holding a parcel
    • Tuesday, 28 March, 2023
      Future of work
      We are all secretaries now

      Cost-cutting has left workers drowning in ‘self-service’ admin tasks — but AI might come to the rescue

      FT montage image showing a man working at a computer, with a clock and notifications for emails and messages hovering in the background
    Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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