Occupational Psychologists apply psychological knowledge, theory and practice to the world of work. Occupational Psychologists focus on how work conditions and tasks can affect people by developing or constraining them and influencing their wellbeing, and on how individuals and their characteristics determine what work is done, and how.
They also identify and resolve organisational issues with, for example, team culture, training and health and safety, applying expert knowledge of all levels of working (individual, team, organisational and global). Occupational Psychologists may work in a consultancy role or in-house, with management, training officers, teams and individual staff.
Starting salaries for this role are typically around £18,000 to £25,000. However, for those with more experience the average salary is around £35,000.
What would your role be as an Occupational Psychologist?
Both individual and consultancy-based roles carry out a range of work according to the needs of their clients or employing organisation. The British Psychological Society (BPS) divides this work into eight key areas:-
human-machine interaction
design of environments and work - ergonomics and health and safety
personnel selection and assessment, including test and exercise design
performance appraisal and career development
counselling and personal development
training (identification of needs, training design and evaluation)
employee relations and motivation
organisational development and change
Typical activities include designing/applying methods to understand an organisation's or team's current culture and helping them develop a new culture or achieve specific performance objectives; advising on new technologies, such as e-learning, portfolio working and virtual team working; helping people to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills, working with groups or individuals; advising on employee relations and schemes to motivate staff.
Business Psychologists would also be involved in developing, implementing or evaluating selection procedures, including psychometric tests, assessment centre exercises and structured interviews; developing and evaluating a training and appraisal programme and giving guidance and counselling to help staff plan their career or cope with redundancy.
Improving companies' health and safety performance by studying the causes of accidents and their prevention, designing and applying behavioural change interventions and assessing safety culture; advising companies of stress prevention and stress management initiatives and training staff in techniques will also be required.
Contact the HR Division Team
Email the HR Division at hr@stafffinders.co.uk.