The Human Infrastructure of Tech (Leeds Digital Festival)

Tech moves fast, and with AI constantly disrupting and reshaping our jobs, keeping up is exhausting.

While tech firms are brilliant at designing software, it’s easy to get lost in the project and neglect looking after your people, leaving their greatest assets feeling invisible and unmotivated.

“Digital busyness"; calendars packed with virtual meetings and non-stop Slack pings might look like connection, but they often leave people feeling completely isolated. In fact, 34% of UK workers regularly feel lonely at work, and 29% feel most isolated right after a team meeting.

Vague perks and meditation apps won’t fix this; sustainable performance depends on brilliant line management and "rehumanising" the workplace.

Hosted by Leeds-based consultancy, Joy Junction, this practical webinar introduces the Conversation Canvas, a free, one-page tool that gives managers the confidence to have meaningful wellbeing conversations with their colleagues. There’s no corporate fluff or rigid scripts, just a straightforward way to build trust, boost productivity, and stop burnout before it starts.

What We’ll Cover

• The connection crisis: The true business cost of digital fatigue, presenteeism, and "quiet cracking" within hybrid and remote teams.

• The "Me, We, Us" blueprint: Tracing how individual, team, and organisational layers interact to build genuine trust.

• Managers as signposters: Equipping technical leaders to have empathetic conversations without needing to be trained therapists.

• Ditching box-ticking: Real-world use cases showing how to embed the Canvas into onboarding, appraisals, return-to-work, and exit interviews.

• Live Canvas walkthrough: Learn about the Canvas today; use it tomorrow.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the session, you'll be able to:

• Prove the value of investment (VOI): Show senior leaders how psychological safety drives core business metrics like retention, morale, and productivity.

• Create safe spaces daily: Turn metrics-heavy meetings into spaces where teams feel safe to speak up, ask for help, or admit mistakes.

• Maximise current budgets: Discover how to uncover and promote hidden, underutilised benefits your organisation is already paying for.

Ideal For

• Founder wanting to build a solid employee value proposition.

• HR Leaders & Wellbeing Practitioners wanting data-backed, scalable frameworks to reverse high turnover.

• CTOs, Engineering Leads, & Tech Managers looking for practical tools to protect their team's bandwidth and performance.

• Individual Contributors who want a simple, shared language to take proactive ownership of their own day-to-day wellbeing.