Employee Experience Day 2026
Meaning, Identity and Connection: The Human Side of Sustainable Employee Experience
What does it really feel like working in your organization – and what makes people want to stay, contribute and grow?
Employee Experience is shaped in the everyday moments where people meet culture, leadership, relationships, systems, expectations and opportunities. But a sustainable employee experience is not only about smooth processes, attractive benefits or strong engagement scores. It is also about something more human: whether people experience meaning in their work, see themselves as part of something valuable, and feel genuinely connected to their colleagues, leaders and organization.
At Employee Experience Day 2026, we explore the human side of sustainable Employee Experience. We look at how meaning, identity and connection influence engagement, wellbeing, performance and retention – and how organizations can create workplace experiences that are not only designed with good intentions but actually lived and felt in everyday work.
Join us for a day of insights, cases, conversations and presentations on how organizations can strengthen the experiences that help people thrive, belong, take ownership and contribute to a workplace they want to be part of.
Sign up now to secure your spot and save the date in your calendar!
What you can expect on NOCA’s Employee Experience Day 2026:
At this year’s Employee Experience Day, you will meet strong voices from research, practice and the keynote stage, each bringing a different perspective on what creates meaningful, connected and sustainable work experiences.
You can look forward to insights on:
- How meaning, identity and connection shape the lived experience of work
- Why emotional intelligence matters for trust, belonging and everyday leadership
- How mental calm can strengthen capacity, clarity and wellbeing in demanding work lives
- Why identity coherence may be a more relevant lens than traditional work-life balance
- How recognition, emotions and social conditions influence meaningful work
- And much more!
Program highlights:
Designing Healthier Work – a Case from Topsoe
Case Presentation by Katrine Sonnichsen, Head of HSE Business Partnering at Topsoe
How can organizations make the psychosocial/psychological working environment more concrete and preventive? In this case, Katrine Sonnichsen shares how Topsoe translates methods from physical safety and risk management into the way work is organized and performed – helping leaders and teams identify risks, create better barriers and move from individual wellbeing initiatives to a more preventive approach focused on the work itself.
Turning Thousands of Employee Comments into Actionable Insights – a Case from Falck
Case Presentation by Randi Rix, Sr. Global Employee Engagement Lead at Falck
How can organizations make sense of large amounts of employee feedback without losing nuance, context or the human voice behind the data? In this case, Randi Rix shares how Falck works with AI-supported analysis of open comments from employee surveys. The case explores why Falck developed the application, how it is used in practice, and what it makes possible when employee feedback becomes too extensive to process manually. Randi will also share reflections on the precautions, limitations and learnings involved in using these tools in employee listening.
Stop Busy Snapping: From Collective Worry to Constructive Action
A keynote by Mads Hyldig
In a world of constant change, high demands and endless mental noise, the employee experience is shaped not only by what happens around us, but also by what happens within us. In this keynote, Mads Hyldig introduces the concept of busy snapping: the collective worry and frustration that can arise when teams get stuck talking about problems without moving towards action. Mads will share how organizations, leaders and teams can create space for real frustrations while shifting from collective rumination to more constructive conversations, shared responsibility and action.
The EQ Advantage: Why Emotional Intelligence Matters in Meaningful, Connected Workplaces
A keynote by Mikkel Severin
Employee Experience is shaped in the everyday interactions between people: how leaders communicate, how teams collaborate, how conflicts are handled, and whether employees feel seen, understood and able to contribute. In his keynote, Mikkel Severin will explore why emotional intelligence should be seen as a strategic capability in organizations that want to create both strong results and healthier human experiences at work, showing how EQ can help strengthen trust, belonging, motivation and the quality of leadership in daily work. Mikkel will also challenge participants to look beyond engagement and wellbeing as end results and instead ask what creates them in the first place: the emotional quality of everyday leadership, relationships and interactions.
From Work-Life Balance to Identity Coherence: Why Identity May Matter More Than Balance
A keynote by Billy Adamsen
For decades, organizations have approached wellbeing and work-life balance as a question of time, roles and flexibility. But what if this is only part of the story? In his keynote, Billy Adamsen will challenge the traditional understanding of work-life balance and introduce identity coherence as a critical lens for understanding wellbeing, engagement and sustainable work. Drawing on his research, he will explore how employees are affected when there is a conflict between who they are, what they must be, and how they are expected to act in different work contexts. This presentation will offer new perspectives on Employee Experience: one that helps leaders and HR professionals look beyond surface-level engagement measures and better understand how work identity can influence motivation, stress, ownership and long-term attachment to work.
The Social Conditions of Meaningful Work: Two Sociological Perspectives on Work, Recognition and Sustainable Employee Experience
A keynote by Poul Poder and Mikael Carleheden
In this session, Mikael Carleheden and Poul Poder will bring two sociological perspectives to the question of meaningful and sustainable work.
Mikael Carleheden will offer a historical and contemporary diagnosis of the various logics that have shaped (and continue to shape) working life in modern society.
Poul Poder will bring a micro-sociological perspective on the conditions for human wellbeing and empowerment in today’s dynamic, project-oriented organizations.
Together, the session will invite participants to look beyond purpose statement, engagement initiatives and individual motivation, and instead ask which social, emotional or organizational conditions actually make meaningful, connected and sustainable employee experiences possible.
Full conference program:
About the speakers:
Katrine Sonnichsen, Head of HSE Business Partnering, Topsoe
Katrine Sonnichsen is Head of HSE Business Partnering at Topsoe, where she works with health, safety and working environment as an integrated part of daily operations and organizational development. Her work focuses on making the psychosocial working environment more concrete and preventive by applying methods from physical safety and risk management to the way work is organized and performed. At Topsoe, Katrine works to strengthen the connection between wellbeing, safety, leadership and everyday work – helping leaders and teams identify risks, create better barriers and address pressure before it develops into individual strain.
Randi Rix, Senior Global Employee Engagement Lead, Falck
Randi Rix is Senior Global Employee Engagement Lead at Falck, where she leads global employee listening programs across 25 countries and approximately 25,000 employees. With more than 15 years of experience in employee listening, HR consulting and project management, Randi works with global touchpoints such as onboarding, engagement and exit surveys. Her work focuses on translating employee feedback into actionable insights that strengthen engagement, leadership and organizational performance across a complex global workforce.
Mads Hyldig, Psychologist, Author, War veteran and Partner in Mindcamp
Mads Hyldig is a psychologist, war veteran, partner at Mindcamp and co-author of the bestselling book HjerneRO, as well as host of the podcast of the same name. After serving in Afghanistan, Mads became a psychologist, and the combination of these backgrounds gives him rare professional insights and lived experiences on the understanding of how people worry, overthink and have a constant mental activity that can lead to stress. Mads – and Mindcamp – work on how to create more calm, clarity and capacity in everyday life. They advise organizations, leaders and employees on how to reduce unnecessary mental noise and build healthier ways of working, both individually and in teams.
Mikkel Severin, Executive Advisor, Global Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author and CEO at Mind Control
Mikkel Severin is an executive advisor, global keynote speaker and bestselling author of Sæt mennesker først – skab topresultater med emotionel intelligens (English: It’s All About People First – Create Extraordinary Results with Emotional Intelligence). For more than 15 years, Mikkel has studied what separates top-performing people, teams and organizations from the average. His work focuses on emotional intelligence, human behavior, leadership, high performance and the ability to decode and connect with people in ways that create trust, clarity and momentum. Mikkel advises executives, leadership teams and major organizations on how to make emotional intelligence a strategic priority as a driver of performance, collaboration, well-being and retention. His People First approach is currently being brought to a broader leadership audience through keynotes, masterclasses, leadership programs and a new collaboration with FranklinCovey. Mikkel also teaches Børsen’s bestselling masterclass on EQ as a strategic priority.
Download Mikkel Severin’s whitepaper on his collaboration with FranklinCovey by clicking here!
Poul Poder, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
Poul Poder is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen. His academic work focuses on sociological theory, the sociology of emotions, interaction theory, organizational sociology, conflict, violence and the sociology of personal life. In recent years, Poul has focused especially on emotions and organizations. His PhD dissertation, Feelings of Power and the Power of Feeling: Handling Emotion in Organizational Change, explores how emotions are handled and shaped in organizational life. He has also written about emotion management between colleagues, empowerment, anger in organizations and the role of emotions in everyday social interaction. Poul brings a sociological perspective to working life that highlights how emotions, courage, confidence and participation are shaped through relationships, culture, hierarchy and everyday interaction.
Mikael Carleheden, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
Mikael Carleheden is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen, and has been part of this department since 2009. He has previously held academic positions at Örebro University in Sweden, Aalborg University, Columbia University and the University of Chicago. Mikael holds a PhD in Sociology from Lund University in Sweden. His research is rooted in social theory and critical theory, with a focus on structural transformation, democracy, civil society, freedom, social pathologies and the diagnosis of contemporary society. He is also editor of the journal Acta Sociologica. Mikael brings a broad sociological and critical-theoretical perspective to questions of meaning, freedom and human flourishing.
Billy Adamsen, PhD, Mag.Art., Author, Lecturer and Associate Professor at Zealand Academy of Technology & Business
Billy Adamsen, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Zealand Academy of Technology and Business. His work focuses on work identity, engagement, leadership, organizational development and the relationship between identity, wellbeing and performance. His research is grounded in neurophilosophy, organizational psychology and structural analysis, and he develops theories and methods that help explain some of the persistent challenges facing individuals, organizations and societies. For more than 18 years, Billy has researched work identity and engagement, and he is the author and co-author of several books, including Work Identity – A Neurophilosophical Perspective, Demystifying Talent Management and Rekonstruktiv ledelse. Across his work, Billy challenges established assumptions about talent, engagement and work-life balance. His forthcoming book From Work-Life Balance to Identity Coherence argues that the central challenge in modern working life is not simply how people divide their time between work and life, but how they sustain a coherent sense of self across different social, emotional and professional contexts.
Sæt mennesker først – by Mikkel Severin
Get a copy of Mikkel Severin’s book with an exclusive NOCA discount!
Use the discount code Severin10 when purchasing the book on Saxo.com to get a 10 % discount. The discount code is valid from August 11 until September 20 2026.
Get your copy here: Sæt mennesker først af Mikkel Severin
Koden kan ikke kombineres med andre koder. Den giver ikke automatisk fri fragt og kan ikke bruges, hvis du har et Saxo medlemskab med shoppingfordele. Koden gælder til og med 20/09 2026. This discount code cannot be combined with other discounts. It does not automatically give free shipping and cannot be used in you have a Saxo membership with shopping advantages. The code is valid until 20 September 2026.
Right now you can save 15% on the English version “It’s All About People First” when purchasing on Saxo – via THIS LINK.
*No show fee
By registering for this event, you also accept NOCA’s conditions regarding no-show fee.
In order to give the most members the opportunity to participate in the event and to protect ourselves against food waste, we need to know if you are participating, otherwise we can give your place to someone else.
Therefore, if you cancel after the deadline on September 8th 2026 at 12:00 CET or do not arrive on the day, you will subsequently receive a charge of 500 DKK.
Should you be prevented, you are always welcome to send a colleague in your place and thereby avoid paying a no-show fee. Your colleague will need to pick up your name tag upon arrival at the event.
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