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“We spend one-third of our lives at work. Work life is life.”
About the Author
Kelly Mackin is a workplace wellbeing innovator, human behavior researcher, speaker, and the best-selling author of “Work Life Well-Lived.” She is also the CEO of Motives Met, a platform that empowers people to create their best work life and workplace with forward-thinking insights and tools like the Human Needs Assessment™.
Kelly’s journey from ill-being to well-being ignited her dedication to helping people cultivate health and happiness. Through her no-B.S. approach to wellbeing and original research that challenges the status quo, she helps create thriving cultures where people can be well and perform well at work.
Background and Inspiration
Transform: What inspired you to write about wellbeing at work, and what keeps you motivated in this field?
Kelly: We spend one-third of our lives at work. Work life is life. Our experiences at work inevitably bleed into our lives outside of work and the lives of those around us. They also bleed into the bottom line of the organizations we work for. Having a work life you want to wake up to every day is critical to our happiness, yet my research found that much of the information out there is downright inaccurate. We’re so bombarded with advice on what we should need that we’ve lost sight of what we really do need to achieve well-being at work.
You’ll come across one social media influencer who says it’s about hustling to reach your potential. Yet, a different one says forget about the hustle – it’s about prioritizing your work-life balance. Or you’ll read research that says the number one reason people leave their jobs is because of a lack of growth opportunities, but other research says it’s because of a bad boss, lack of fairness, or lack of appreciation.
We are drowning in information but starving for real wisdom. I was inspired to pursue that wisdom and share it in my book because the dream of a work-life well-lived is attainable. My research shows everyone is driven by a different set of motives—the psychological, emotional, and social human needs driving our ability to thrive at work. Once we understand what those motives are for each of us and our teams, we can have more productive, meaningful conversations about how to foster happy, healthy work environments.
Transform: Can you share a pivotal moment or experience that led to your interest in wellbeing at work?
Kelly: My dedication to making wellbeing the way of the future and ill-being a thing of the past began back when I was a kid, witnessing my mom go from thriving at work to complete misery. I remember vividly a moment when I was 10 years old. I walked into our kitchen, and lo and behold, my mother was flipping pancakes. My jaw dropped. This was not normal for my mother, who was usually gone for work by this time or frantically getting ready to head out the door. I asked her what was happening, and she laughed at my bewilderment, telling me she just hadn’t gone to bed yet – she had stayed up the entire night working and was taking a break to make me pancakes. For too long, people have felt that they had to earn wellbeing at work, but it is a right, not a privilege.
Unfortunately, I found myself on a similar path in a very toxic work environment. Our company culture still reeked of the Mad Men era, but in modern times, with Jameson shots before meetings to cope with intense clients and endless drama. I would wake up in a panic to check emails from a client who sent urgent messages in the middle of the night. I would run through the halls in my heels on an urgent mission, adrenaline pumping through me, putting out one fire and then another. I would have many days where I would get to the office by 7 a.m. and get home at 11 p.m., still having work to do. It started to take its toll on me, and my health was deteriorating physically and mentally.
It took me hitting some real lows before I woke up and realized that this dehumanizing way of working was not sustainable. When the work wellbeing movement began, I knew I needed to be part of it, and I started the journey that led to our platform today.
Themes and Messages
Transform: What core themes do you explore in your writing, and why are they significant to you and your audience?
Kelly: The overarching theme of my book is elevating happiness, well-being, and mental health for yourself and your team at work. The desire to achieve these things is universal, so it’s my goal that with “Work-Life Well-Lived,” we have a common guide for making this vision a reality.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean we all get there the same way. Instead, we all have a unique set of motives that drive us. Once we know what those are and we tap into them in the workplace (and our managers do, too), we can achieve desired outcomes like wellbeing, connection, and retention that are lasting and genuine. This approach encourages individuals and team leaders to move away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to a more personalized approach to coaching, teaching, supporting, serving, and inspiring each person and each team uniquely based on who they are and the human needs that drive them.
“For too long, people have felt that they had to earn
wellbeing at work, but it is a right, not a privilege.”
Challenges and Rewards
Transform: What has been the most challenging part of your career as an author focused on HR wellbeing at work?
Kelly: There’s no single definition of work wellbeing. In fact, if you asked 10 people to define it, you would get 10 different answers. It’s like trying to win a game without knowing the rules, without a shared meaning and mindset. Trying to help individuals and leaders address a problem that’s so fluid seemed difficult initially, so we dove into our research to find out what health and happiness at work are truly all about. We poured countless hours into conducting research and interviews in order to define the human needs that drive well-being, and we found that there are 28 of them. These are essential ingredients like purpose, autonomy, free expression, clear expectations, and fun, to be well and perform well at work.
One of the biggest things I want people to understand from my book and my research is that we don’t all need these things to the same degree, in the same way, at the same time in our careers. Motives Met data shows that when people’s most important needs are met, when their top motives are healthy, they have the greatest ability to thrive.
Transform: What’s the most rewarding aspect of writing about workplace trends and wellbeing at work?
Kelly: The future of work is now. We’re at this incredibly exciting and also challenging time in that so much has evolved so quickly in the past few years. We’ve had no choice but to be flexible and adapt. And this is where we’ve landed.
I believe my work can make a real impact now with individuals, managers, and organizations at large trying to determine how we can thrive at work, as we embrace this new world of how, where, and even when we work. How do we lead in a human-centered way when technology is so prevalent in everything we do? How do we keep the needs and motives of individuals front and center as our businesses grow? How do we help meet employees where they are to nurture their wellbeing at work when it’s defined differently by every individual? I’m helping leaders crack the code on some of these difficult, pressing questions, and it’s been an incredibly rewarding journey so far.
Publishing and Reception
Transform: How do you respond to feedback and criticism of your work, especially from HR professionals?
Kelly: Many HR professionals are looking for new, innovative ways to create thriving cultures, and I find my research and approach refreshing. Some leaders, well-being experts, and HR pros don’t want to change outdated mindsets. One publisher told me I shouldn’t be so bold in my book because I call out the who, when, where, and why we get well-being at work wrong.
My research challenges the status quo and some leaders’ and organizations’ stances on employee engagement and happiness. It disproves psychological concepts ingrained in our culture, like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which has shaped workplaces for decades, dominating conversations on human behavior, wellbeing, and motivation, but it’s holding us back. Maslow’s pyramid, with its rigid levels of needs, pushes an outdated set of needs. My research and book outline how and why it’s about identifying your personal needs hierarchy. They do not follow a universal order of importance; what matters most to me at work will be quite different from what matters most to you.
While many people have good intentions, their false and often oversimplified solutions can hurt us more than help us. When I share myths like “not everyone needs purpose to be fulfilled at work” or some employees couldn’t care less about growth and career advancement,” it does ruffle some feathers. I always come back to the data that illuminates the truth, and I reinforce that if we want the future of work to be different, we need to change our thinking.
Advice and Future Plans
Transform: What’s next for you? Are you working on any new projects or books?
Kelly: I’m focused on growth and empowering more individuals, leaders, and teams with Motives Met’s insights and tools. These insights are a critical first step, but insights alone don’t create change—action does. That’s why we created actionable tools like Motives Met Human Needs Assessment™ and Culture Connect software for leaders™ to uncover the top motives that matter most to each person, shining a spotlight on each person’s unique wellbeing drivers. Being armed with this knowledge is a gateway to understanding, being mindful and intentional, and evaluating and communicating our needs so we can ultimately meet them together because wellbeing is co-created. Keeping our vital human motives healthy at work takes a collective effort, and culture truly belongs to everyone. With the book, you get free access to take the assessment, uncover your top 5 motives, and begin a personalized journey toward wellbeing at work.
“Keeping our vital human motives healthy at work takes
a collective effort, and culture truly belongs to everyone.”
About the reader:
Transform: For a reader who just finished your book Work Life, Well-Lived, and is processing all the great insights, what is the first step they should take to operationalize their learning?
Kelly: Create a personal wellbeing action plan.
Transform: Share three takeaways from Work Life, Well-Lived that the reader should walk away with.
Kelly: Upon finishing the book, readers will be empowered to elevate happiness, mental health, and well-being for themselves, the people they work with, and those they lead. The first big takeaway is the five-step roadmap that will guide them to thriving at work.
The second is the 10 “Work-Life Well-Lived Principles,” which bring to life key concepts like taking a proactive and preventative approach to wellbeing rather than a passive and reactive one, as prevention is always better than a cure. Through these principles, readers will learn how to welcome “motive diversity” to embrace the variety of needs among us, shifting from judgment to greater connection and more inclusive workplaces.
The third takeaway is that readers will become self-aware of the top motives driving their unique wellbeing and will be provided with exercises to develop their “motive story” and take action.
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