Working for the Brand

In the latest eye-opening Australian nonfiction offering this year, high-profile Melbourne lawyer Josh Bornstein sounds the alarm regarding freedom of expression in the digital age. No, he’s not arguing for what he terms the ‘inanity of free speech absolutism’, rather, he puts forward a case for the necessity of a nuanced approach to free speech, one that carefully balances the competing freedoms assumed to be fundamental to liberal democracies. This is easier said than done, of course, but Bornstein’s concern is that current discussions about the difficulties of finding this balance are being skewed by corporate interests to such an extent that in many standard employment contracts of our era, workers have signed away a number of democratic rights. Equally concerning, in his view, is the fact that these changes to conditions (or reversions to labour relationships of times long past) are barely raising an eyebrow. He takes the position that if these concessions were demanded of citizens by government, there would, or should, be protests in the streets.

Are the stakes really so high? If the examples outlined in this book of what happens when employees fall foul of their often contradictory (and therefore impossible to achieve) conduct obligations are anything to go by, then yes, the stakes are indeed high. Bornstein draws from numerous disciplines – professional sport, academia, journalism and more – to demonstrate the consequences for individuals when things go wrong on social media or in realms of private life which are perceived to be, if not explicitly work-adjacent, certainly employer-brand affecting. Readers who already take an interest in the issues at the heart of this book will be familiar with many of these cautionary tales, some of which elicit more sympathy than others, but in collecting and examining them, Bornstein delivers cutting insider analysis, sharing not only his professional insights but also, horrifyingly, his personal experience of how devastating it can be, and how few effective avenues of recourse there are, when the internet is mobilised against you, even when it’s based on a lie.

Working for the Brand is a fast-paced, scorching assessment of the excesses of neoliberal agendas, political ruthlessness across the spectrum, and the return of the mob mentality. It’s for readers of Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and Naomi Klein’s No Logo, along with anyone else who works, or cares about our society. In the words of Joe Aston, who will be making his contribution to this year’s nonfiction feast in November, ‘There is something in this book to offend almost everyone.’