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 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
“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.
TBC
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