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Centre for Transformative Work Design Innovative research. Informed leaders. Inspired workers. Centre director Professor Sharon Parker About the Centre Good work design makes life better Good work design means workers have moderate demands (e.g., reasonable work loads) combined with positive aspects of work such as job autonomy, social contact, and task identity. Our vision in the Centre is to transform work, through work design, to create better lives for workers, better results for organisations, and better outcomes for all in society. To learn more about the Centre, visit the website Research spotlight: The dull job effect Our new research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (2019) has found that managers and professional employees with dull and boring jobs are more likely to design jobs for their colleagues that are: Demotivating Disengaging Low Skill Repetiton A series of three studies assessed how people design jobs for others as well as how their personal backgrounds contributed to these decisions. A key insight suggested that individuals who designed poor jobs were more likely to lack autonomy in their own role. This research suggests that poor work design does not happen in isolation, rather, it can create a ripple effect. If organisations wish to remain innovative, agile and high performing, it’s critical they equip themselves and their managers with the tools to design better work. Key research streams 1. Future work challenges What is the role of work design in delivering the benefits (or mitigating against the detriments) of radical change occurring in work and society? 2. Transforming individuals Which work designs optimize psychological growth across the lifespan? What is the role of work design in accelerating individual learning and development. 3. Transforming organisations How do we achieve good work designs in organisations? What knowledge, skills, and attitudes do stakeholders need to actively design good work? 4. The antecedents of good work design How can work design enable coordinated agility within work both efficiency and innovation? 5. Organisations and the mature workforce Against the backdrop of an aging workforce, what work designs and cultures support attract and retain mature workers? 6. Healthy Work How can we utlise work design to create healthy work environments, enabling workers to thrive and feel their best?

< Back Emergency Services Workforce 2030 Read the report About the report This report provides a consolidated, overview picture of emerging workforce challenges and opportunities likely to face emergency service organisations over the coming decade. It is a first step in bringing together the wide range of research that can inform and strengthen strategic workforce planning in these organisations. McLennan, B.J., Chong, J.X.Y, Dunlop, P. D. (2022). Emergency services workforce 2030. RMIT University, Curtin University, Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre. https://espace.curtin.edu.au/bitstream/handle/20.500.11937/89161/88985.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Citation: Previous Next

ARC Training Centre for Transforming Maintenance through Data Science Project members Project lead Professor Mark Griffin Project lead Eden Li Overview Transform the maintenance management process Our vision to enable Australian companies to lead the way maintenance is conducted, increasing both productivity and profitability through the automation of the work management stages. Visit the website to learn more Purpose of the Centre To deliver the next generation of data science solutions focused on the problems that industry needs, which is to ensure the efficient and effective maintenance execution. Our academic-and-industry partnership will deliver the next generation of data science products coupled with training to ensure efficient and effective maintenance execution. Enable Maintenance Work Management by providing decision support solutions for activity that need a ‘human-in –loop’ for maintenance and automating activities that don’t. A framework around “person, tasks, and culture” will be developed that is specific to the maintenance context of the organisation and involves stakeholders from the maintainer, the engineer, and the manager groups. It is essential that the overall system, not just individual elements, supports the translation of analytic models into business practice. The framework Research themes The Centre is a partnership between Curtin University, The University of Western Australia, CSIRO and industry partners Alcoa, BHP and Roy Hill, as well as CORE Innovation Hub and the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia. To enable this transformation, the Centre will focus on the three key roles in a new digitally-driven maintenance management system. These are: The maintainers responsible for executing work on the assets and making crucial observations about as-found condition of the assets, The engineers responsible for the models and analysis necessary for fault detection, asset health assessment and remaining useful life predictions, and quantifying uncertainty, and The maintenance managers responsible for ensuring that decisions at the system level balance cost, risk and performance. Support the maintainer Triage support Support the engineer Managing uncertainty Support the manager Decision making Each research themes has a series of three blocks of work: Data driven The development of fit-for-purpose data sets, these will be provided by our Partner organisations.The aim here is that all data captured by the maintainers is machine readable, the data is cleaned and stored, and captured data in a way that is repeatable and requires minimal data wrangling by users. Building Suitable models. The data sets will be used to build suitable models, taking us to our second block of work. Models are themselves developed, validated, stored and updated in a trackable way. The use of these models by decision makers is also tracked and performance changes measured and assessed. Computational efficiency. The Centre has employed software engineers to ensure research outcomes are more easily translated into existing operations and/or provisioned via a consistent platform We understand that models by themselves don't deliver value; we also need to change organisational psychology/culture/training/software architecture/business process. What we believe makes this Centre special is that this is built-in alongside our translation themes. Translation themes The output of maintenance analytics creates new decision-making challenges for maintainers, engineers, and managers. The most significant risk is that the information is simply not used in Organisations. This theme will adopt a multilevel perspective to build a comprehensive picture of the factors that support decision making when using complex data. This aspect of the project translates the core research programs into business practice by integrating user issues hierarchically at three levels of analysis: Cognitive is particularly important for maintainers using information delivered through novel media and in a context that is different to traditional maintenance systems, Task demands is particularly important for engineers designing models, and for the maintainers using models. Use of data will be inhibited if the output of models is not a meaningful part of the overall task requirements of maintainers or generates tasks that cause fatigue, boredom, or distress Organisational culture is particularly important for managers implementing decisions based on analytic models. For example, if an underlying cultural belief places primacy on the intuition and implicit skill of senior managers, then analytics models can undermine the role of managers and limit the use of data output This translation project will work with the industry partners to implement a plan based on research at each level to integrate across the three levels.

< Back An Employer Lens on COVID-19: Adapting to change in Australian workplaces Read the report About the report This report provides the first detailed analysis of how Australian employers have experienced and adapted to COVID-19. Baird, M., Hamilton, M., Gulesserian, L., Williams, A. and Parker, S.K. (February 2021). CEPAR Industry Report. An Employer Lens on COVID-19: Adapting to Change in Australian Workplaces. Citation: Previous Next

Events Browse our upcoming and past events at the Future of Work Institute. Upcoming event No events at the moment Past Events You are what you do: How work design shapes your identity and personality 04 Mar 2026, 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm AWST Details Transforming work with play: Insights into embedding playfulness at work 19 Feb 2026, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm AWST Learn more Thrive at Work in Mining - Toolkits and Case Studies Launch 24 Nov 2025, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm Details Thrive at Work Leadership Masterclass Series Launch 04 Nov 2025, 8:30 am – 12:00 pm Details Multiple Dates Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Workshop #4 - Psychosocial Risks: Identification and Mitigation Strategies 25 Sept 2025, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm Details Multiple Dates Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Workshop #3 - Cultivating Respect: Fostering an Inclusive Workplace via Dive 28 Aug 2025, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm Details Multiple Dates Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Workshop #2 - Leading Well: How to Manage Workplace Well-being as a Manager 03 July 2025, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm Details Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Workshop #1 - Exploring the Benefits and Techniques of Good Work Design 19 June 2025, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm Details Design for Care Showcase: A Journey to SMARTer Workplaces in the H&SA Industry 30 Apr 2025, 8:30 am – 12:00 pm AEST Details Design for Care State of Affairs Breakfast 4: SMARTer work design to prevent psychological injury 05 Nov 2024, 8:30 am – 10:00 am Details Beyond the buzz: What can we really expect from a future with AI? 17 Sept 2024, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Details Roundtable: Reshaping management for the future workforce 17 July 2024, 9:00 am – 11:00 am Details Breakfast: Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Landmark Study - Insights and ideas moving forward 27 June 2024, 7:00 am – 11:00 am Details Design for Care State of Affairs Breakfast 3: Changing work design to improve mental health 03 Apr 2024, 8:30 am – 10:00 am Details 2024 Centre for Transformative Work Design Conference 13 Feb 2024, 8:30 am – 14 Feb 2024, 5:30 pm Details Future Ready Series 04 Oct 2023, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Details SMART Design for Care State of Affairs Breakfast 2 04 July 2023, 8:30 am – 10:00 am Details Thrive at Work in Mining Masterclass Cohort Celebration and Toolkits Launch 18 May 2023, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm Details Load More Featured event Centre for Transformative Work Design (CTWD) Conference 2024 Leading global scholars in work design, industry and government representatives gathered in Perth to explore how to navigate the increasing complexities of our working lives. The theme of the inaugural conference was ‘Work Design for Success: Innovative Research and Leading-Edge Practice.’ Learn more FOWI Academy & Seminar Series Dedicated to research, learning and discussion Our FOWI Academy & Seminar series brings together researchers from all disciplines and career stages to explore enriching perspectives and new approaches in Management, Organisational Behaviour and related areas. View past recordings

Our Partners Browse through our extensive list of government, industry and not-for-profit partners Research partners The Future of Work Institute collaborates with other research partners in order to fulfill its vision of helping people and organisations thrive in the digital age. Work Science Center CEPAR The ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) produces world class research on population ageing. The Centre is a unique collaboration bringing together academia, government and industry to address one of the major social challenges of the twenty first century. CIAO Centre of Expertise Inclusive Organisations Research Partners Industry partners The Centre works with industry partners across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. Corporate Consultancy Societies and Interest Groups Not-for-profit Government partners The Centre works with a diverse range of state and federal government departments across Australia. State and Federal Interested in partnering with us? Contact us for more information

Our work is guided by three core research themes: Transforming Work, Human System Integration and Optimising Employee Experience. We promote meaningful and productive work as an essential foundation for a healthy economy and society, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies, demographic change and evolving work practices are reshaping the modern workplace. Research Streams Three research programs contribute to the overall theme of thriving in a digital age. Our streams Stream 1: Transforming Work Go to stream 1 Stream 2: Human System Integration Go to stream 2 Stream 3: Optimising Employee Experience Go to stream 3 STREAM 1 Transforming Work In every industry, better quality work means better health and productivity. Yet modern work abounds with stories of burnout, insecurity, and isolation. This theme focuses on designing work so people are more effective, healthier and safer. STREAM 1 PROJECTS AND RESOURCES Thrive at Work Many organisations struggle to support workers experiencing mental ill-health, and to prevent harm from work-related psychosocial risks. Our evidence-based tools and resources are designed to helps organisations measure, consult, assess, and prioritise their workers’ mental health. Learn More Improving work for mature workers (CEPAR) Population ageing is accelerating, with the number of people aged over 65 expected to triple in the next 25 years. As a result, it is a financial imperative that people stay in work longer. Learn More The Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Program Conducting high profile industry-level intervention projects across the mining sector. Learn More STREAM 2 Human System Integration New networks of people and technology are creating exciting possibilities in every industry. This theme focuses on supporting innovations in remote and automated work for safety-critical industries, such as health, defence, resources and emergency services. STREAM 2 PROJECTS AND RESOURCES Defense Workforce Planning Our researchers are helping to understand the skills and personnel requirements for future defence systems. With new technology changing how and when skills are applied, workforce planning must adapt to ensure readiness. Learn More Future Capability Lab Our new, highly interactive facility in the heart of Perth serves as a hub for studying, developing and implementing innovative approaches to work. Learn More STREAM 3 Optimising Employee Experience The onus for employers to create positive meaningful experiences for their workers, from the beginning to end of their journeys, has never been greater. This theme focuses on understanding the recruitment, motivation, compensation, and skills required in new and evolving work structures. Extensive collaborations with organisations, industries, and government Learn about our partnerships

Western Australian Workers’ Mental Health Project member Project lead Yukun Liu Overview The Future of Work Institute (FOWI) partnered with PeopleSense, an employee assistance program (EAP) services provider, to analyse their large dataset of anonymous responses from clients regarding mental health issues. This collaboration marked the first time that PeopleSense’s EAP database had been analysed for scientific purposes. Through rigorous statistical analyses, FOWI researchers generated several interesting findings and patterns. Highlights of the findings include: Mean and deviation levels on stress, depression, and anxiety; quantified impact of mental health on personal life and work performance; Gender differences on mental health and its impact on work and life; associations between mental health and demographics such as marital status and; Identification of the most common presenting work- and personal- related problems such as relationship or family difficulties, interpersonal conflict with managers or peers and workload. FOWI also provided feedback and suggestions on how to improve the design of PeopleSense’s client surveys and questionnaires to more effectively capture data on mental health issues. Industry outcomes Informing key members and individuals Present more evidence-based patterns and findings to their stakeholders. Tailoring to needs Customise their EAP programs and treatments to provide better services to their clients.

< Back Changing work design to improve mental health in the Healthcare and Social Assistance industry Read the report About the report This report presents the results of Design for Care participant interviews assessing their experiences of work redesign. It identifies key organisational, leadership, group, and individual factors that supported or hindered the effectiveness of the work redesigns. Iles, L. J., Askovic, M., Deng, C., Trezise, M., Graf, E., Zettna, N., Jolly, A., Kunzelmann, A., Thomas, C., Carr, M., Yam, C., Johnson, A., Nguyen, H., Parker, S. Changing work design to improve mental health in the Healthcare and Social Assistance industry. A report by the Centre for Transformative Work Design at Curtin University and the University of Sydney Business School, funded by Insurance and Care (icare) NSW as part of the Design for Care research project. April 2024. Citation: Previous Next

< Back Gadget review: release of new Airy Pods Daniel Williams 22 Mar 2023 This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Previous Next

MAPNet Rethinking work skills for the future of work Project team Project lead Professor Mark Griffin Project member Melissa Chapman Project member Katrina Hosszu Project member Megan Orchard Project member Professor Sharon Parker Project member Professor Karina Jorritsma Project member Professor Marylène Gagné Project member Professor Patrick Dunlop MAPNet overview Our approach To explain the deep structure of work tasks. The MAPNet approach allows organisations to identify the multitude of skills and activities that are fundamental for enabling success in uncertain and interdependent work environments. The MAPNet framework details key skills required for employees and organisations to be successful for the future of work. Understanding the future of work The changing nature of work is a growing concern. Technological innovation, automation, big data, and demographic changes such as longevity are leading to substantial disruption across industry sectors. There is an urgent need for a better understanding of future work skills and how they develop. What is driving the change in work? Governments, organisations, and communities are grappling with the demands of future work. We have reviewed the key trends that demand newways of thinking about skills and work requirements. MAPNet skills Foundation Skills: Mastery The foundation of MAPNet is the concept of mastery; the ability to perform core tasks with a high level of proficiency. Transformational Skills: Adaptivity Adaptivity involves adjustingoneself and reconfiguring responses in a changing environment. Through adaptivity, people apply their current knowledge and skills to new situations that are more diverse and more complex than the ones they have previously encountered. Transformational Skills: Proactivity Proactivity is a set of self-starting, action oriented behaviours that change the situation or oneself to improve personal or organisational effectiveness. Two types of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) have been noted as key to proactivity; a thorough understanding of one’s work (job-related KSAs) and context relevant knowledge. Network Skills: Local Networks Team work in local networks allows individuals to achieve something greater than their individual capabilities through utilising a network of skills and abilities. Networked Skills: Complex Networks Modern work often requires a complex network of skills achieved through multiteam systems. Multiteam systems are defined as when two or more teams work interdependently towards shared goals. Integration Skills: Transformational Networks The above skills do not function in isolation and high performance is achieved when individuals integrate transformational and network skills. Building blocks for the future We have defined some of the most commonly noted key abilities, which we suggest as the building blocks of future skills, as outlined by the MAPNet framework: Critical thinking Problem solving Collaboration and communication Creativity and Innovation Information and Communication Technology (ICT) / Technical literacy Foundational skills and STEM Developing and supporting the MAPNet skills The key conditions and systems that are needed to develop and support the MAPNet skills are: Work design Motivation Teams Selection and training Leadership To support and develop the MAPNet skills, adaption in these areas are usually required at the organisation level. However, there are also a number of opportunities for individuals to engage their own sense of agency in preparing for the future of work. MAPNet report Download the report summary Download the full report

East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) Remote Monitoring Service Project members Project lead Professor Sharon Parker Project lead Professor Mark Griffin Project lead Professor Karina Jorritsma PhD student Natalya Desai PhD student Natalie Griffins Overview What is the EMHS Remote Monitoring Service? Virtual care models including Remote Monitoring Services have a significant potential to transform traditional service delivery. Remote Monitoring Services use innovative technology to monitor patients in their hospital ward beds for subtle changes in their condition and early signs of clinical deterioration. This technology will allow medical professionals to more closely monitor patients, and respond to patient needs more efficiently, effectively, and consistently. Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) is investing in a Remote Monitoring Service (RMS), a system which will provide clinicians located in a central Command Centre with a range of data provided by patient monitoring technology, data analytics tools, and clinical systems. These systems are designed to facilitate proactive, and not reactive care, by using technology to evaluate clinical information, identify patterns and predict deterioration earlier. Once patient deterioration is identified, RMS will facilitate communication between RMS clinicians and staff on the ward using two-way audio and video in order to support the development of an appropriate care plan. Our Mission The effectiveness of implementing remote monitoring systems has had mixed results, with much of the difference in these outcomes attributable to work design issues. In collaboration with EMHS and HEDA, the aim of this research project is to implement the institute’s SMART work design framework to the context of RMS, to understand how RMS influences work design factor for key staff members, and how work roles can be best designed to maximise the value of HIVE for patient outcomes, hospital outcomes, and staff outcomes. Data collection is ongoing and includes observations, interviews, and surveys with hospital staff, centring on staff work experiences, perceptions of their work, perceptions of RMS, and observations of current work design. Our Impact Not only will the insights from this research inform the effectiveness of the planned RMS implementation, but also serve as a foundation for facilitating the expansion of RMS to other sites with leading-edge knowledge to harness such technologies across Australia. Partners Professor Suzanne Robinson from Health Economics and Data Analytics (HEDA) Associate. Professor Richard Norman from Health Economics and Data Analytics (HEDA) East Metropolitan Health Service Key References Hay, G. J., Klonek, F. E., Thomas, C. S., Bauskis, A., Baynam, G., & Parker, S. K. (2020). SMART work design: Accelerating the diagnosis of rare diseases in the Western Australian Undiagnosed Diseases Program. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 8. Kahn, J. M., Rak, K. J., Kuza, C. C., Ashcraft, L. E., Barnato, A. E., Fleck, J. C., ... & Angus, D. C. (2019). Determinants of intensive care unit telemedicine effectiveness. An ethnographic study. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 199(8), 970-979. Rincon, T. A., Bakshi, V., Beninati, W., Carpenter, D., Cucchi, E., Davis, T. M., ... & Olff, C. (2020). Describing advanced practice provider roles within critical care teams with Tele-ICUs: Exemplars from seven US health systems. Nursing Outlook, 68(1), 5-13.