Reframinng Cyclical Health at Work: A Service Design Toolkit for Cycle-Aware Workplace Transformations
Translated title
Reframinng Cyclical Health at Work: A Service Design Toolkit for Cycle-Aware Workplace Transformation
Authors
Kántor, Zsófia Ágnes ; Sopkova, Margareta
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2026
Submitted on
2026-05-25
Pages
114
Abstract
Many workplaces are built around stable availability, linear productivity, and the idea of bodily neutrality (treating all bodies as the same). However, menstruation and other cyclical health experiences involve fluctuating physical, cognitive, and emotional capacities. This thesis uses service design, a participatory approach to improving services and organisations, to explore how workplaces can better align with cyclical health. Using literature review, desk research, surveys, interviews, participatory workshops, prototyping, and usability testing, the study examines how symptoms, stigma, choices about disclosure, flexibility, workplace culture, and organisational responsibility shape everyday experiences. The project develops the Cycle-Aware Workplace Toolkit, a four-stage process (Setting Up, Reimagining, Creating, Embedding) that helps organisations assess readiness, question assumptions about productivity and bodily neutrality, prototype practical forms of support, and integrate cycle-aware practices into daily routines. Rather than relying on individual tracking, forced disclosure, or fixed cycle-syncing models, the toolkit uses participatory and disclosure-light methods to make workplace conditions discussable and adaptable without requiring personal details. Findings indicate that cycle-aware workplace design cannot be reduced to menstrual leave, awareness campaigns, or informal flexibility. It requires coordinated organisational learning across culture, communication, managerial practice, spatial conditions, team-level negotiation, and privacy-conscious implementation. The thesis contributes to service systems design by reframing cyclical health as an organisational issue and offering a structured way to turn recognition into practical, context-sensitive workplace change.
Mange arbejdspladser er indrettet efter stabil tilgængelighed, lineær produktivitet og idéen om kropslig neutralitet (at alle kroppe antages at fungere ens). Men menstruation og andre cykliske helbredsforløb indebærer svingende fysisk, kognitiv og følelsesmæssig kapacitet. Dette speciale bruger servicedesign, en deltagende tilgang til at forbedre services og organisationer, til at undersøge hvordan arbejdspladser bedre kan tage højde for cyklisk sundhed. Gennem litteraturstudier, skrivebordsresearch, spørgeskemaer, interviews, deltagende workshops, prototyper og brugertest undersøger studiet, hvordan symptomer, stigma, valg om åbenhed, behov for fleksibilitet, arbejdskultur og organisatorisk ansvar præger hverdagen. Projektet udvikler Cycle-Aware Workplace Toolkit, en proces i fire faser (Setting Up, Reimagining, Creating, Embedding), der hjælper organisationer med at vurdere parathed, udfordre antagelser om produktivitet og kropslig neutralitet, afprøve praktiske former for støtte og forankre cyklusbevidste praksisser i daglige rutiner. I stedet for individuel tracking, tvungen åbenhed eller faste cycle-syncing-modeller anvender værktøjskassen en deltagende og disclosure-light tilgang, der gør arbejdsforhold mulige at drøfte og justere uden at kræve personlige detaljer. Resultaterne peger på, at cyklusbevidst arbejdspladsdesign ikke kan reduceres til menstruationsorlov, oplysningskampagner eller uformel fleksibilitet. Det kræver koordineret organisatorisk læring på tværs af kultur, kommunikation, ledelsespraksis, fysiske rammer, forhandling i teamet og implementering med respekt for privatliv. Specialet bidrager til service systems design ved at omramme cyklisk sundhed som et organisatorisk anliggende og tilbyde en struktureret proces, der omsætter erkendelse til praktiske, kontekstfølsomme ændringer på arbejdspladsen.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords