This week on Work Is Weird Now, we’re joined by Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst, co-founders of Hoxby and The Workstyle Revolution, to unpack how work needs to evolve beyond industrial-age thinking.

From the legacy of the 9–5 to the rise of digital, distributed work, we explore why organisations are struggling to balance autonomy with structure and what happens when people are given freedom without the skills or frameworks to use it well.

We get into: • Why traditional hierarchies create a parent–child dynamic at work • The shift from presence-based to trust-based collaboration • Why “freedom within a framework” is the real unlock • How autonomy is a skill, not a perk • What organisations get wrong when they try to go “flat”

Along the way, Lizzie and Alex share the deeply personal experiences that shaped their thinking — from burnou ...