What do you think?
Rate this book
Good Work: Transform your Work from the Inside Out
224 pages, Paperback
Published April 6, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 11, 2026
Since becoming a mum, I feel like I’ve lost touch with my passion for my profession.
I’m an Organisational Psychologist. I turn up. I do my job. I care about doing it well. But somewhere between raising two small humans, working, two redundancies during two rounds of parental leave, and the general exhaustion of life, I feel like I stopped having the energy or motivation to stay across the latest research, think deeply about the future of work, or feel particularly excited about the profession I chose.
To borrow the language Kathryn Page uses in Good Work, I think I’ve been feeling a little “beige”. Languishing. Not unhappy, not completely disengaged, but going through the motions more than I realised.
Early in the book, Kat writes about feeling like she’d become a “Chief PowerPoint Officer,” which honestly had me chortling. Because… same. Since reading it, I’ve thought about that line more than I’d like to admit. Somewhere along the way, I think I too became a Chief PowerPoint Officer 😂
But in all seriousness, reading this book genuinely reignited something in me.
Full disclosure: I was incredibly fortunate to have KP as my supervisor early in my career, and I know firsthand how incredible and passionate she is about organisational psychology and making work better. But what I loved about Good Work is that she has managed to take decades of research, complex organisational problems and some genuinely confronting realities about the way we work, and make them real, funny, engaging and incredibly practical.
Her humour runs through the entire book and makes reading about workplace psychology, psychosocial hazards, burnout, psychological safety and the future of work genuinely enjoyable. This is not a dry business book that will sit half-read on your bedside table while you tell yourself you’ll eventually finish it.
There were so many ideas that stayed with me.
The reminder that sometimes the best way to speed up is to slow down, and that recovery and rest aren’t indulgences but essential to sustainable performance. The discussion around Gen Z not being lazy or unwilling to work, but as a generation who have seen some of the worst of modern work and simply aren’t willing to accept it. The amazing Sydney Swans mindfulness story. The very relatable airport disaster. And, having briefly crossed paths with the late Alison Milner, I was especially heartened to see her important work and contribution to the profession acknowledged. 🩷
I absolutely loved the idea of replacing a “sick note” with a “fit note” and rather than GPs prescribing stress leave, asking what adjustments to workload, support or working conditions would allow someone to remain at work, it feels like such an important shift. And the acknowledgment that this will only work in organisations where people feel psychologically safe enough to be honest about what they need.
That is what I appreciated most about this book. It doesn’t simply tell people to meditate, become more resilient or practise self-care while ignoring the systems that are making them unwell. Kat fights for what is right. She challenges organisations and leaders to take responsibility for creating work that is genuinely good for people.
I work in a NFP. Some of the bigger examples in this book, like Medibank’s four-day week trial, are unlikely to appear in my workplace anytime soon. But I never felt like that made the book irrelevant to me. There is something here for everyone: organisational psychologists and other OD/HR professionals, leaders, people who simply want to make work better, and anyone whose physical or mental health has suffered because of their job and who wants to understand how work could be different.
Perhaps what I’m most grateful for is that Good Work reminded me why I became an organisational psychologist in the first place.
Kat was one of the people who helped shape me early in my career. More than a decade later, she’s done it again.
Thank you for writing this book, KP. I needed it. 🩷
This is the best book I’ve read about work, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Buy it. Read it. Whether you’re an organisational psychologist, a leader, an employee, or simply someone who has to exist in a workplace: there is something in Good Work for you.
I’m an Organisational Psychologist. I turn up. I do my job. I care about doing it well. But somewhere between raising two small humans, working, two redundancies during two rounds of parental leave, and the general exhaustion of life, I feel like I stopped having the energy or motivation to stay across the latest research, think deeply about the future of work, or feel particularly excited about the profession I chose.
To borrow the language Kathryn Page uses in Good Work, I think I’ve been feeling a little “beige”. Languishing. Not unhappy, not completely disengaged, but going through the motions more than I realised.
Early in the book, Kat writes about feeling like she’d become a “Chief PowerPoint Officer,” which honestly had me chortling. Because… same. Since reading it, I’ve thought about that line more than I’d like to admit. Somewhere along the way, I think I too became a Chief PowerPoint Officer 😂
But in all seriousness, reading this book genuinely reignited something in me.
Full disclosure: I was incredibly fortunate to have KP as my supervisor early in my career, and I know firsthand how incredible and passionate she is about organisational psychology and making work better. But what I loved about Good Work is that she has managed to take decades of research, complex organisational problems and some genuinely confronting realities about the way we work, and make them real, funny, engaging and incredibly practical.
Her humour runs through the entire book and makes reading about workplace psychology, psychosocial hazards, burnout, psychological safety and the future of work genuinely enjoyable. This is not a dry business book that will sit half-read on your bedside table while you tell yourself you’ll eventually finish it.
There were so many ideas that stayed with me.
The reminder that sometimes the best way to speed up is to slow down, and that recovery and rest aren’t indulgences but essential to sustainable performance. The discussion around Gen Z not being lazy or unwilling to work, but as a generation who have seen some of the worst of modern work and simply aren’t willing to accept it. The amazing Sydney Swans mindfulness story. The very relatable airport disaster. And, having briefly crossed paths with the late Alison Milner, I was especially heartened to see her important work and contribution to the profession acknowledged. 🩷
I absolutely loved the idea of replacing a “sick note” with a “fit note” and rather than GPs prescribing stress leave, asking what adjustments to workload, support or working conditions would allow someone to remain at work, it feels like such an important shift. And the acknowledgment that this will only work in organisations where people feel psychologically safe enough to be honest about what they need.
That is what I appreciated most about this book. It doesn’t simply tell people to meditate, become more resilient or practise self-care while ignoring the systems that are making them unwell. Kat fights for what is right. She challenges organisations and leaders to take responsibility for creating work that is genuinely good for people.
I work in a NFP. Some of the bigger examples in this book, like Medibank’s four-day week trial, are unlikely to appear in my workplace anytime soon. But I never felt like that made the book irrelevant to me. There is something here for everyone: organisational psychologists and other OD/HR professionals, leaders, people who simply want to make work better, and anyone whose physical or mental health has suffered because of their job and who wants to understand how work could be different.
Perhaps what I’m most grateful for is that Good Work reminded me why I became an organisational psychologist in the first place.
Kat was one of the people who helped shape me early in my career. More than a decade later, she’s done it again.
Thank you for writing this book, KP. I needed it. 🩷
This is the best book I’ve read about work, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Buy it. Read it. Whether you’re an organisational psychologist, a leader, an employee, or simply someone who has to exist in a workplace: there is something in Good Work for you.
May 1, 2026
A beautiful view of what work can be. With practical tools on how to make it a reality
Read
April 13, 2026Read this if you want to better understand the relationship between work and wellbeing — and imagine what it looks like when we get it right.
May 15, 2026
This book achieves two unusual things. First, it successfully considers both we who work and offers advice to those trying to improve working lives in our teams and organizations. And secondly, it refreshingly doesn’t assume that all work is done in commercial settings.
Dr. Page is an organisational psychologist. Her book’s grounded in solid research but it’s also practical, readable, and short. Bonus points for sneaking the word shite past academic publisher Wiley. If you have a bit of sway at work and want to think more about making work better for everyone, this might be the book to help you frame how to achieve that—and how to improve your own working life at the same time.
Dr. Page is an organisational psychologist. Her book’s grounded in solid research but it’s also practical, readable, and short. Bonus points for sneaking the word shite past academic publisher Wiley. If you have a bit of sway at work and want to think more about making work better for everyone, this might be the book to help you frame how to achieve that—and how to improve your own working life at the same time.
May 15, 2026
This book is interesting, real, academic, honest, and challenging all at once. Page provides strategies for leaders and others to achieve organisational and structural change, and challenges for current and future generations.
I wish it had been around when I was younger and working. it includes research, real life stories, plus the author's own experiences and insights.
It is also well edited which is very refreshing (as a prolific reader I hate it when typos or grammatical errors interrupt the flow of a book).
Well done to Kathryn and I look forward to following her future endeavours.
I wish it had been around when I was younger and working. it includes research, real life stories, plus the author's own experiences and insights.
It is also well edited which is very refreshing (as a prolific reader I hate it when typos or grammatical errors interrupt the flow of a book).
Well done to Kathryn and I look forward to following her future endeavours.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews