Design for Meaningful Work Experiences: A Holistic Approach to Human-Work Interaction Design

Abstract

Promoting meaningful experiences at work is essential to employees’ wellness and constitutes a strategic investment toward sustainable growth. Interactive work tools appear to have been excluded from most academic efforts to determine meaningful work. Yet, user experience for work tools can optimize interaction with technology, improve employee well-being, and give a more exciting, satisfying, and meaningful perception of the activity for workers. We conduct a two-stage qualitative study to develop a model of Design for Meaningful Work Experiences, aiming to answer the following question: how can researchers and designers approach work tool design to stimulate human flourishing through more meaningful work experiences? Based on a preliminary case study and a follow-up study consisting of 9 qualitative interviews, we develop a model that describes a new methodology to integrate Positive Design into the relationship between Human Work and Interaction Design. Creative inversion is introduced as an emergent design technique that can help foster creativity by facilitating communication between researchers, designers, and users.