Dignity at Work Conference
Dignity at Work Conference
IESE Barcelona • March 19-20, 2026
Work is the primary site where persons seek recognition, belonging, and a share in the common world. Yet contemporary arrangements -algorithmic oversight, the contractualization of vocation, and the commodification of time, among other factors- may erode the very structures which should uphold the dignity of people and their work. We convene this conference to explore the conditions under which work may be an expression of the person’s dignity, a practice of competence and care, and a pathway into citizenship.
Our purpose is to articulate a rigorous, interdisciplinary vocabulary for dignity at work; to diagnose how visibility, time, and vocation are being reshaped in digital and precarious regimes without lapsing into nostalgia or techno philia; to surface affirmative models -craft, cooperation, and care- that present dignity as learned practice; and to translate these insights into an actionable research and institutional agenda for leaders and policymakers, specifying design principles for organizations in which recognition and participation are constitutive.
Join us to engage in profound dialogue and explore practical solutions to create workplaces fostering the dignity of people and their work.
With the support of:
FOUNDATIONS AND FRACTURES
“Human Dignity in a Fragmented World: Europe in the Global Geopolitical Competition”
In an era of intensifying geopolitical competition, values lie at the core of an unprecedented reshuffling. This keynote examines Europe’s positioning in the global arena through the lens of its founding constitutional principle: the protection of human dignity since the aftermath of the Second World War.
“The Dignity of Work: A Relational View”
Conceptual inquiry into the nature of work as human activity and the dignity of work in the face of the new technological era
“The Loss of Vocation: From Calling to Contract in Modern Workplaces”
The economic and moral shift from vocation to employment:
– The transformation of calling in secular modernity
– How bureaucracy and specialization undermine purpose in work
– Restoring meaning: Can modern organizations reclaim the idea of vocation?
“Meaning, Joy, and the Silent Pride of Competence”
An interdisciplinary conversation on the intrinsic satisfactions of doing something well:
– Craft, attention, and moral formation
– The quiet dignity of excellence without expected recognition
– Deep practice
“Work and leisure: Leisure, Rest, and the Right to Be Unproductive”
Debating the moral and political significance of rest:
– Leisure as the precondition for reflection and freedom
– The commodification of time and its ethical consequences
– Toward a post-productivist understanding of dignity
REIMAGINING WORK FOR A DIGNIFIED FUTURE
“Community, Encounter and Belonging”
Revisiting work as the foundation of community and belonging:
– Labor as participation in the civic order
– Unorthodox trajectories
– Rethinking economic value beyond productivity
– Public-private collaboration
“The gift economy”
Envisioning alternative models of work grounded in reciprocity and education:
– Work as an act of care for others and the world
– The dignity of unseen work
“AI and Human Flourishing”
How dignity may be honored in the age of AI:
– Algorithmic management and meaningful work
– Surveillance and trust in the workplace
– AI and skill development
– The gig worker
“From the Dignity of Work to the Work of Dignity”
Reimagining how societies work.
Derek Byrne
Co-founder & CEO Way 2 Work Ireland
Derek Byrne has worked in the humanities and social care sector for the past thirteen years, with a particular focus on supporting young people. His professional experience spans several areas including addiction services, residential childcare, and aftercare provision. He holds an academic background in Social Care, Psychodynamic Theory, and Project Management, which informs his practice and leadership approach.
Derek is the Co‑Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Way 2 Work Ireland ( www.way2work.ie ), a non‑profit organisation established in 2019 to foster ambition, opportunity, and professional development among young people with care experience. The organisation is specifically designed to support training, skills development, and employment pathways across all sectors of the Irish labour market.
In addition to his work in the non‑profit sector, Derek is the Service Director of Purpose Recruitment ( www.purposerecruitment.ie ), a recruitment agency he founded in 2023. In this role, he oversees service delivery and strategic development, with a commitment to creating inclusive and meaningful employment opportunities.
Melanie Calero
Director of Data and Artificial Intelligence, El Corte Inglés
Director of Data and Artificial Intelligence with 15 years of experience in the design and implementationof data strategies, as well as in the management of advanced analytics projects and the creation ofbusiness value through the use of data.
Advisor on Innovation, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.
Ricard Casas
Head of People and Culture at ISS Spain
Ricard is currently Director for People & Culture at ISS Iberia. He has more than 35 years of experience in the service industry, having founded a contract cleaning company in Barcelona, in 1987. This company was eventually acquired by ISS in 1999. Since then, Ricard has been a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of ISS Iberia.
Prior to this, Ricard worked as Research Officer at the Centre for Labour Economics of The London School of Economics and Political Science. Ricard holds B.Sc. (Econ) and M.Sc. (Econ) degrees from The London School of Economics and Political Science. He is married and has three children and two grandchildren.
Mario di Ciommo
Head of Geopolitical Analyses and Scenarios, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti
Mario Di Ciommo (1979) holds a PhD in European Constitutional Law and has over twenty years of experience in public affairs and policy analysis. His research focuses on European and international political and institutional issues. He is the author of several articles published in Italian and European academic journals, as well as two books: one on human dignity in post-war European constitutionalism (2009) and another on the challenges of European integration (2020). After working in think tanks and research centers, in 2009 he joined a major European banking group, holding public affairs and regulatory roles in Rome and Brussels.
In 2016, he joined Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, where he initially served as Head of Institutional Relations with the European Union.
Since 2023, he has been Head of the Analysis and Geopolitical Scenarios Department.
Xavier Costa
Co-founder, Krisos
El camino de Xavier Costa en las Organizaciones ha sido, y sigue siendo, el de liderar Procesos de Transformación desde la conciencia y poniendo a las personas en el centro.
Es co-Fundador del fondo de Impacto krisos.eu creado para adquirir empresas en situación de crisis, transformarlas hacia un nuevo paradigma Teal, con autogestión, un propósito evolutivo y trabajando para la plenitud de las personas.
Es Co-Fundador de FULL CIRCLE desde dónde desarrollan Procesos de Transformación Organizacional. Su firme propósito: mejorar el mundo a través de las organizaciones.
Quiere contribuir a construir un mundo mejor, más justo con las personas y el planeta, eliminar la pobreza y crear organizaciones sanas, sostenibles, conscientes, en las que las personas puedan sentirse plenas.
Trabaja para sembrar y preparar el entorno para que las nuevas generaciones puedan trabajar desde otro lugar mejor y aumentar la prosperidad del planeta.
Núria Danés
Director of Social Inclusion “la Caixa Foundation”
Manuel Fontán del Junco
Director of Museums and Exhibitions, Juan March Foundation
Doctor en Filosofía, estudia en las universidades de Navarra y Münster (Alemania). Publica textos y ensayos sobre estética y teoría de las artes, filosofía de la cultura y sobre artistas modernos y contemporáneos. Además, traduce al español textos de Martin Heidegger, Franz Marc, Walker Percy, Peter Sloterdijk, Boris Groys o Paul Klee. Entre 1995 y 2005 es director de tres sedes europeas del Instituto Cervantes: Bremen, Lisboa y Nápoles. Desde enero de 2006 es director de Museos y Exposiciones de la Fundación Juan March y director del Museo de Arte Abstracto Español (Cuenca). Ha dirigido y en algunos casos comisariado más de un centenar de exposiciones. En 2016 fue Clark fellow del The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute en Williamstown, Massachusetts.
R. J. Snell
Director of Academic Programs and Editor in-chief of Public Discourse, Witherspoon Institute, Princeton
Daniel Ortiz
Managing Director, CIRE, Generalitat de Catalunya
March, 19, 2026
FOUNDATIONS AND FRACTURES
9:00: Welcome Coffee & Registration
9:30: Opening Remarks
- Prof. Mireia Las Heras
- Prof. Carlos Rodríguez-Lluesma
09:45: Keynote Session
Human Dignity in a Fragmented World: Europe in the Geopolitical Competition
In an era of intensifying geopolitical competition, values lie at the core of an unprecedented reshuffling. This keynote examines Europe’s positioning in the global arena through the lens of its founding constitutional principle: the protection of human dignity since the aftermath of the Second World War.
- Mario di Ciommo
10:30: Coffee Break
11:00 Colloquium
“The Loss of Vocation: From Calling to Contract in Modern Workplaces”
The economic and moral shift from vocation to employment:
– The transformation of calling in secular modernity
– How bureaucracy and specialization undermine purpose in work
– Restoring meaning: Can modern organizations reclaim the idea of vocation?
- Sir Martin Donelly
- Lord Stephen Green
- Moderator: Prof. Carlos Rodríguez-Lluesma
12:15: Panel
Meaning, Joy, and the Silent Pride of Competence
An interdisciplinary conversation on the intrinsic satisfactions of doing something well:
– Craft, attention, and moral formation
– The quiet dignity of excellence without recognition
– Deep practice
- Manuel Fontán del Junco
- Cristina Iglesias
- Moderator: Prof. Santiago Álvarez de Mon
13:30: Lunch
14:45: Panel
Work and leisure: Leisure, Rest, and the Right to Be Unproductive
Debating the moral and political significance of rest:
– Leisure as the precondition for reflection and freedom
– The commodification of time and its ethical consequences
– Toward a post-productivist understanding of dignity
- José María Alvarez-Pallete
- R. J. Snell
- Moderator: Prof. Santiago Álvarez de Mon
16:00: Break
16:30: Leading with and for Dignity
– Architectures of voice and participation
– Respectful leadership practices
– Subsidiarity and solidarity
- Ricardo Casas
- Xavier Costa
- Moderator: Prof. Mireia Las Heras
17:45: Keynote
The Dignity of Work: A Relational View
Conceptual inquiry into the nature of work as human activity and the dignity of work in the face of the new technological era
- D. Giulio Maspero
- Prof. Carlos Rodríguez-Lluesma & Prof. Mireia las Heras
18:30 Day 1 Closing Remarks
March, 20, 2026
REIMAGINING WORK FOR A DIGNIFIED FUTURE
8:30: Welcome Coffee
9:00: Colloquium
Community, Encounter and Belonging
Revisiting work as the foundation of community and belonging:
– Labor as participation in the civic order
– Unorthodox trajectories
– Rethinking economic value beyond productivity
- Derek Byrne
Public-Private Collaboration:
– Successful pathways to social inclusion
– How to bring them to our organizations
- Núria Danés
- Daniel Ortiz
- Moderator: Carlos Rodríguez-Lluesma
10:15: Panel
Gift, Care and the Common Good
Envisioning alternative models of work grounded in reciprocity and education:
– Work as an act of care for others and the world
– The dignity of unseen work
- Kirstie McAllum
- Marta Lince-Faria
- Moderator: Prof. Mireia Las Heras
11:15 Coffee Break
11:30 Panel
AI and Human Flourishing
How dignity may be honored in the age of AI:
– Algorithmic management and meaningful work
– Surveillance and trust in the workplace
– AI and skill development
– The gig worker
- Pablo García Ruiz
- Melanie Calero
- Moderator: Prof. Carlos Rodríguez-Lluesma
12:45 Keynote session
Being and Thriving Together: Ontological Relations and the Future of Work
- Ilaria Vigorelli
- Prof. Carlos Rodríguez-Lluesma & Prof. Mireia Las Heras
13:30 Closing Remarks
Synthesis of Themes and Concluding Statement:
From the dignity of labor to the labor of dignity — reimagining how societies work
- Prof. Mireia Las Heras
- Prof. Carlos Rodríguez-Lluesma
13: 45 Appetizer
Academic Co-Director
Mireia Las Heras
Professor
Managing People in Organizations
Academic Co-Director
Carlos Rodríguez-Lluesma
Professor
Managing People in Organizations
Maria Puig
Director of "Dignity, Diversity and Belonging" Office, IESE Business School
Denise Clerc
Faculty Assistant Manager, IESE Business School
Esther Ribes
Events Manager, IESE Research Events Unit
With the support of:
Location
The Dignity at Work Conference will take place on the Barcelona North Campus of IESE Business School.
C/Arnús i Garí, 3-7
08034 Barcelona
+34 93 253 42 00
Accomodation
IESE is a dynamic community of scholars and practitioners who will welcome you to Barcelona, a traditional and welcoming Mediterranean city. It is a city with a great number of tourist attractions and a friendly atmosphere that will offer conference participants and their families plenty of opportunities to enjoy their stay here, over and above the academic program we are preparing for you. Accommodations options near IESE:
Contact Information
IESE Business School
conferences@iese.edu
Tel.: +34 932 53 42 00