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Work is a significant part of people’s lives – and its quality matters. Workplaces that nurture belonging, meaningfulness,and sustainability can significantly improve quality of life. When genuine interaction, appreciation of diversity, effective teamwork, and a healthy organisational culture are emphasised at work, employees’ well-being grows stronger. A happy and committed employee not only feels better – they also promote creativity, renewal, and the goals of sustainable development. A healthy workplace is a resource not only for the individual, but also for the entire organisation and society. 

In this event, we will explore key themes in research on happiness, well-being, and motivation at work, led by Aalto University researchers Marjo-Riitta Diehl, Frank Martela, Niina Nurmi, and Satu Rekonen. The discussion will be facilitated by Anna Kevätsalo, HR Manager at Aalto University School of Business and a doctoral researcher completing her PhD at the Department of Management Studies. 

Program

Speakers
 

• Frank Martela is a professor, a philosopher and researcher of psychology specialized in what makes for a good life and how organizations and institutions can support better living. His is a quest to understand what to do, value, and aim for in this unfolding experience called human life. He aims to investigate the fundamentals of happiness, meaningfulness, human basic needs, and good life to deliver insights that can help each of us to live a slightly better and more self-chosen life.
• Marjo-Riitta Diehl is a professor of organizational behavior whose research focuses particularly on organizational justice. She examines what justice means in today's workplaces, how employees experience and interpret fairness, and the role justice plays in the thinking and actions of leaders. According to Diehl, justice is not merely an ethical ideal but a fundamental human need and a key to trust, collaboration, and well-being in the workplace. The theme of justice naturally also connects to diversity and inclusion—topics that are central to Diehl's research, especially from the perspective of gender and leadership. She has studied, among other things, strategies used by female leaders to navigate tensions related to gender roles and women's networking in gendered contexts.
   
• Niina Nurmi is a professor focusing on the future of work in global organizations - how to design thriving collaborations for better employee health, creativity, and innovativeness in global virtual work.Traditional work design theories have not kept pace with changes in modern day work. Nurmi's research advances work design literature by creating a better understanding of how to design and lead thriving global virtual collaborations – situations in which knowledge workers are at a distance from other team members and must rely on communication technology to facilitate their interaction across distance, language, and cultures. 
   
• Satu Rekonen is a University Lecturer specializing in creative problem-solving, collaboration skills, and organizational renewal. She hosts Driving Renewal (originally Uudistajat), a podcast that explores organizational renewal through interviews with leading experts. Her research focuses on collaboration practices in the early stages of developing new solutions, as well as the paradoxes of design work in engineering organizations. Rekonen’s work spans the development of collaboration skills across contexts—from students to professionals and societal problem solvers—and she has designed research-based methods to support effective teamwork.