ReDesigning Wellbeing for Equitable Care in the Workplace
Summary
Monthly or even quarterly well-being sessions on caring for your mental heath aren't enough to create inclusive and supporting workplace environments. In the teams that we cultivate and work with, there needs to be a foundation of care and autonomy that is integrated into the workflow. Equitable well-being should be at the core of creating an inclusive workplace and user experience for your customers and employees. In this interactive talk, we'll explore the themes of capitalism, hierarchy, classism, and other harmful realities of inequity that hinder true equitable well-being in the workplace to better the employee experience. We'll dive deep into how to reimagine a workplace framework and environment that is grounded in overall well-being and inclusion. Through this, you'll walk away with the knowledge and tools to push toward a dynamic of a more speculative and imaginative future that can be more freeing, and aligned with the well-being of people and all inhabitants, including the land, that can enable contribution to a healthier cyclical work environment.
Key Insights
-
•
Redesigning workplace wellbeing benefits from models rooted in communal and playful experiences, like kickbacks.
-
•
Psychological safety depends fundamentally on trust, not just formal policies.
-
•
Workplaces should embrace autonomy and co-creation to honor diverse employee needs and voices.
-
•
Burnout often arises because rest is treated as a reward, not a basic human right.
-
•
Hustle culture, especially in design and creative fields, contributes significantly to burnout.
-
•
Healing and wellbeing approaches must incorporate cultural differences, such as varied bereavement needs.
-
•
Playfulness in the workplace invites curiosity, creativity, and a sense of community among employees.
-
•
A safe and supportive space allows vulnerability, accountability, and transparency to coexist.
-
•
Work culture often reflects dominant societal structures, necessitating global and inclusive perspectives.
-
•
Personal rituals and breathing exercises help individuals regain agency even in toxic environments.
Notable Quotes
"Share everything, own nothing but credit everyone."
"Your breath is the most powerful thing; it reminds us of the power and agency that we do have as individuals."
"A kickback is a free flowing and life giving gathering that transforms and electrifies throughout the night."
"Burnout exists because we made rest a reward rather than a right."
"Stop saying rest is a luxury or a privilege. It is not. It is a human right."
"If you are silent about your pain, they will kill you and say you enjoyed it."
"We as a society are taught to care about people, rarely taught to care about ourselves."
"Jobs are always asking me for three references; I might start asking for three happy employees."
"We need to move the speed of trust. If I don’t trust you, how can I feel safe with you?"
"When we protect our rest, we also protect our dreaming."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"I don’t know anyone who uses the configuration out of the box without customizing it heavily and extensively."
Sam ProulxEverything You Ever Wanted to Know About Screen Readers
June 11, 2021
"If anything's going wrong on your end, please reach out to help-customer-desk-service in Slack for tech help."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
November 17, 2022
"Keep your LinkedIn profile updated and compelling so you’re findable for passive job opportunities."
Corey Nelson Amy SanteeLayoffs
November 15, 2022
"Enterprises are basically people pursuing outcomes, doing activities, and using objects—this simple theory underpins the language of Edgy."
Milan GuentherA Shared Language for Co-Creating Ambitious Endeavours
June 6, 2023
"We’re starting to see the role of the central researcher shift more towards coaching than just doing research themselves."
Erin May Roberta Dombrowski Laura Oxenfeld Brooke HintonDistributed, Democratized, Decentralized: Finding a Research Model to Support Your Org
March 10, 2022
"Simulation or personas can never replace testing with real users to build empathy and get accurate results."
Sam ProulxUnderstanding Screen Readers on Mobile: How And Why to Learn from Native Users
June 6, 2023
"AI can’t yet fully replace bespoke and careful proposal building, though it helps junior researchers draft the first outlines."
Mujtaba HameedThe new horizon of ethnography: using AI to unlock the full potential of in-person research
March 11, 2026
"Technology generates as many new problems as new solutions."
Ilana LipsettAnticipating Risk, Regulating Tech: A Playbook for Ethical Technology Governance
December 10, 2021
"One in four people in the United States have a disability."
Samuel ProulxFrom Standards to Innovation: Why Inclusive Design Wins
September 10, 2025