Full course description
What if rethinking the way we design work could unlock greater job satisfaction, healthier employees, and improved productivity?
We know the nature of work is changing, and the future is all about working smarter. But what does that mean in practice for employee and employer?
Delivered by work design experts, this course provides a structured and practical pathway to understanding and applying SMART Work Design. Through expert-led sessions, real-world case studies, and applied exercises, you’ll develop the knowledge, tools, and job design strategies needed to enhance employee wellbeing and drive stronger organisational performance.
You will gain hands-on insight into:
- Work design concepts and their impact on employee health, wellbeing and performance
- The SMART framework - Stimulating, Mastery, Agency, Relational and Tolerable Demands - and its role in workplace transformation
- Bottom-up approaches to redesigning your own role using job crafting and SMART principles
- Practical techniques to reduce stress, increase engagement and improve organisational outcomes
With a strong focus on employee satisfaction, wellbeing and productivity, this course equips you with the knowledge and skills to engage employees and managers effectively, and improve the way work is designed.
This credential is particularly suitable for:
- Professionals and managers with an interest in designing healthy work.
- Businesses or Government departments wanting to provide a professional development program for employees and managers around performance and productivity.
By completing this credential you will learn:
SMART Work Design
Build a foundational understanding of what work design is, why it matters, and the meaning of SMART work design principles.
Bottom-Up Job Redesign
Explore what a bottom-up approach to work redesign means, the different types of bottom-up redesign using SMART work design.
Top-Down Job Design
Examine manager-led approaches to work redesign, including formal and informal strategies, team-focused methods (face-to-face and virtual), and socio-technical systems thinking within the context of SMART work design.
Assessment
To successfully complete this credential, you are required to pass a final assessment. You will be asked to apply your skills and knowledge to assess your current job (or a previous job) by using a SMART Work Design Survey tool, and then create a work re-design for this job.
Monday, 7 September 2026
Course starts and access to online modules opens
Wednesday, 16 September 2026 (12–1pm AWST)
Live online Q&A session #1
Course introduction and assessment details*
Wednesday, 14 October 2026 (12–1pm AWST)
Live online Q&A session #2
Course discussion and reflections*
Sunday, 1 November 2026 (11:59pm AWST)
Final assessment submission deadline
Monday, 6 September 2027
Access to course content ends
*All Q&A sessions will be recorded and made available for later viewing if you are unable to attend.
Program Director
Professor Sharon K. Parker is an ARC Laureate Fellow, Director of the Centre of Transformative Work Design (based at Curtin University's Future of Work Institute) and a John Curtin Distinguished Professor in Organisational Behaviour. Sharon is a world-leading researcher on the topic of work such as proactivity, mental health and job performance.
Sharon's research has been cited more than 26,000 times internationally and she has been recognised as one of the world's most influential scientists and social scientists in the 2019 Highly Cited Researchers list released by the Web of Science Group, as well as the 2020 World's Top 2% Scientists list by Stanford University. Throughout her career, Sharon has attracted competitive research funding worth over $40,000,000.
Sharon K. Parker
Facilitator
Future of Work Institute
Dr Lucinda Iles is an Organisational Psychologist Registrar, and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Transformative Work Design (CTWD) at Curtin University. She conducts research on work-related mental health and well-being, work design, and the ageing workforce. Currently, Lucinda is the lead postdoctoral researcher on the Design for Care project, a research project that aims to understand how work redesign interventions can be leveraged in the healthcare and social assistance industry to support employee mental health and well-being.
Facilitator
Future of Work Institute
Jie Yi is an Applied Organisational Research Analyst at the Centre for Transformative Work Design. She is a Registered Psychologist and holds a Master of Industrial and Organisational Psychology from the University of Western Australia. Her work spans multiple projects aimed at enhancing work design to improve employee wellbeing. She contributes to the Design for Care project, which investigates how to leverage work redesign to improve mental health and wellbeing in the healthcare and social assistance industry, and collaborates with ChemCentre on initiatives to improve staff experiences through work design strategies.
Facilitator
Future of Work Institute
Dr Belinda Cham is a Research Fellow at the Future of Work Institute (FOWI) at Curtin University, and a Registered Psychologist. Her applied research sits at the intersection of organisational behaviour and human factors, applying behavioural science to the design of work systems to support human performance and wellbeing in safety-critical environments. Belinda leads research projects in collaboration with the Australian Defence sector, which aim to understand how future maritime platforms can be designed around the people who will operate them, supporting them on long, demanding missions.
Once you successfully complete and pass the final assessment, you'll earn a digital badge that is instantly shareable to your social networks (including LinkedIn) which showcases your new skills and knowledge mastery.
This credential provides foundation knowledge in a discipline and doesn't require previous knowledge.
You will also earn 5 credit points which are in line with Australian Qualification Framework Level 8 criteria, ensuring comprehensive theoretical and/or technical knowledge of the credential. 100 credit points are required to earn a Graduate Certificate at Curtin.
"The learnings from the course helped immensely in distilling this work using the SMART approach and provided useful insights into how I could use the SMART model to be more effective."
"I found the course to be very insightful into how work design can have such an impact on overall well being, morale and being productive at work. It is interesting to learn how different and practical of crafting and shaping jobs and the recovery steps that can be taken as well. I will definitely look at introducing the concepts to my team and seeing if we can explore more."
"I have nothing but good things to say about this course. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every module — a very well-designed and engaging course indeed. I am glad that I took this course. I am putting the knowledge into practice with my current team. I am definitely recommending this course to the managers in my department."
Curtin Credentials focus on five themes, which have been carefully curated based on what's most relevant and valuable to professionals today, and in the future. This credential fits within the following theme:
Thrive and adapt in the changing world of work by developing and broadening your skillset in a range of areas, including work design and cognitive flexibility.
*Curtin may cancel or reschedule a credential at any time and for any reason as it sees fit. The Start Date and the other details of this credential are provided as a general guide only and may change from time to time.
✝This credential involves 30 hours of online resources, readings, activities and assessments. However to pass and earn 5 credit points, you may need to commit further time.
^Learning is done completely online.
§Price subject to change. Please check price at time of purchase.
Start: 7 September 2026
Duration: 30 hours
Length: 8 weeks✝
Delivery Mode: Online^
Price: AUD $899 (incl. GST)§
Print Version: Coming soon