We intuitively know that a “happy worker is a good worker.” But what about their bosses? In the modern workplace, managers are accountable to several groups of people, from rank-and-file employees on one side, to chief executives and shareholders on the other. How well they juggle these conflicting pressures can determine not only their performance at work, but also how happy they are while doing it.

There’s a lot to be said for being a good coworker, but it’s important to remember that it’s not just about saying hello when you come into the office each day. Being a good coworker takes effort and can be considered an art form in some ways. As the workplace becomes increasingly social, coworker relationships play an important role in building a productive workplace.

Dear Lifehacker, I read somewhere that a creative workspace can lead to higher productivity and wanted to know if it's true? I work in a boring office job (it pays the bills) but I'm a creative type at heart. My question is, how can I add creativity to my corner of a boring workplace to inspire myself (preferably without getting in trouble)?

Even if your workplace has a relaxed dress code, there are probably a ton of unspoken rules that you're supposed to be following. Dressing appropriately for the job is more important than you realise - especially if you work in a large organisation where first impressions count. This infographic explains how to look your best in a variety of business environments; from 'baseline casual' to boardroom attire.

If meeting fatigue is crushing your will to live or if the work you're doing isn't challenging anymore, you are not alone.

You're thinking of jumping ship. Maybe it's your job, a relationship, a degree or some other commitment that's both so hard to keep doing and so hard to leave. Should you stay or should you go? Here's how to decide.

Whether you're doing the office dishes, engaging in impromptu football or just unwinding at the bar, it is often necessary to roll up the sleeves of your dress shirt. Unfortunately, most of us are rubbish at it: either the shirtsleeves are a bulky mess or they constantly fall down your arms. (Sometimes both.) This infographic demonstrates how savvy businessmen do it.

The salad days of cryptocurrency are fading fast. Yesterday, the price of bitcoin fell below $6000. Some are predicting it could dip through $3000 in the months ahead. This is a far cry from December 2017, when a single bitcoin hovered around $25,000 in value.

During this week's crypto bloodbath, it might be tempting to poke fun at colleagues who invested heavily in bitcoin and wouldn't shut up about the huge profits they were making. Instead, try showing a little empathy.

As workplaces become increasingly difficult and damaging environments, there are plenty of articles and books on dealing with “psychopaths” among your colleagues.

But psychopathy is heavily contested as a diagnostic category. And labelling a coworker a psychopath fails to account for how our workplaces can encourage bad behaviour.

We've taken a look at a few ways to handle kitchen thieves, like using fake mouldy sandwich bags. However, if nothing is working it's time to move to a more extreme measure: including laxatives with your food.

Dear Lifehacker, I have applied for a position internally with the company I already work for. The application process requests you to supply an "asking salary". My application was successful after several rounds of interviews but I was not given any information around salary, so I assumed my asking salary had been accepted. I have since discovered that the company has gone with a much lower salary than expected (25 per cent difference).

Most of us have no idea how we're perceived at work - especially when it comes to our 'personality'. While you can usually hazard a guess as to which workmates like or dislike you, the label attached to your identity is often a mystery. Are you considered to be a slob? A neat freak? A gossip monger? A brown-noser? A dullard?

One way to know for sure is to conduct an office poll at gunpoint. Or you could follow this flowchart which matches eight personality traits to a corresponding office stereotype.

There’s been a lot of interest in the harmful effects of prolonged sitting at work, from academics and the public alike. The attention being paid to sitting — or rather, not sitting — while on the job stems from the scientifically validated message that being sedentary in general, both indoors and outdoors, is bad for your health.

However, comparatively little attention has been devoted to the harmful effects of prolonged standing at work, despite past studies linking it to chronic back pain and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the lower limbs. What’s more, research has shown that prolonged standing might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

It's no secret that companies who invest in their employees’ wellbeing enjoy higher levels of productivity, enhanced creativity, employee satisfaction and loyalty. After all, no one wants to work with a business that doesn’t care about them.

One of the best and most cost-effective way to invest in your employees’ wellbeing is to spruce up the breakroom or "chill out" area. Here are some tips.

Five years ago, Silicon Valley was rocked by a wave of “brogrammer” bad behavior, when overfunded, highly entitled, mostly white and male startup founders did things that were juvenile, out of line and just plain stupid. Most of these activities – such as putting pornography into PowerPoint slides – revolved around the explicit or implied devaluation and harassment of women and the assumption that heterosexual men’s privilege could or should define the workplace. The recent “memo” scandal out of Google shows how far we have yet to go.

The "10-page anti-diversity screed" that got a Google employee fired this week is a prime example of many, many societal ills. Besides the larger issues of systematic oppression, workplace harassment, and misogyny and racism that are rampant in the tech industry at large, there's a simpler lesson to be learned here:

If you'd got a company-wide message board, blog, or Slack channel, maybe use some common sense before blasting something out to the entire staff, including your bosses?

With any job, employees are going to make mistakes, the likes of which usually don't cost much more than some lost time, money, or the goodwill of a customer. But in the case of air traffic controllers, seemingly minor mistakes could be catastrophically deadly.

Rather than putting the time and effort into promoting self-control, many organisations continue to favour focusing on goals, irrespective of how they are achieved. The general obsession by some organisations with outputs, reports, and metrics, signals to employees that performance is paramount, whatever the cost.

In recent weeks two prominent news stories have highlighted workplace romances blowing up into costly public scandals. The romantic relationship between CEO of Seven West Media, Tim Worner, and former executive assistant Amber Harrison, sparked an ugly legal brawl and left in its wake claims of bullying, breaches of contract and confidentiality and a corporate giant using its might to protect its own. More recently, two male AFL executives were publicly shamed and resigned after affairs with lower-ranked female staff.

The tone of the coverage of both cases suggests that sexual relationships between colleagues are an aberration. But the opposite is true: workplaces are where many relationships begin. According to Relationships Australia, in the 35 to 50 age group, 40% of people met their partner at work.