It’s all go at Work Psychology Group! At the end of 2022, we welcomed a trio of newbies to the team to fill a number of positions we had available.
Strengthening our team of consultants is Kelly Lopez and Alex Sadler. While Emma Dougan joins our growing team of psychologists.
It comes as no surprise that here at WPG, our people are our most important asset. So now that we’ve given our new starters a chance to settle in, find their feet and hit the ground running, it was about time we found out a bit more about them.
From their reasons for wanting to join WPG, to what sort of colleague they are — here’s what Kelly, Alex and Emma had to say.
So, what made you want to work as an Organisational Psychologist (OP)?
Alex says: “During my undergrad BSc in Psychology, I conducted a qualitative analysis of imposter syndrome in women working in the financial services sector for my research project and just found it so fascinating. I then spent the first five years of my career in recruitment and always felt that there should be a ‘science’ behind making such important decisions like ‘who to hire to deliver this multi-million-pound project?’. So, I went back for my masters, found assessment and selection, and here we are!”
“To be honest, it wasn’t until my second year of university that I’d even heard about an OP as a job option,” Emma recalls. “Straight away, I thought it was such an intriguing avenue to go down. With the pandemic hitting shortly after this occurred, my interest rose even further when I realised the impact that OPs can have in the workplace — especially post-pandemic!”.
What’s the best thing about your job?
“Working on truly impactful projects in high stakes and important environments such as healthcare and the judicial system,” Alex says. “I also really value feeling like I have a voice in the organisation. I’m being asked for ideas, opinions, insights and feedback every week. I love feeling that I am contributing towards progressing the broader strategy and priorities for WPG as well as delivering projects for clients.”
While Kelly says: “The best thing about my job is that it is so varied! One day I could be deep into data analysis, other days I get the opportunity to catch-up with our friendly clients to discuss their projects. It’s so much fun!”
What attracted you to working at WPG?
“The opportunity to work for a truly research led consultancy was really appealing to me, how to actually apply the latest research,” Alex tells us.
Emma says: “Throughout my Master’s degree, it became so apparent that there was a major disconnect between the research in the OP world and the practice itself. When researching companies, WPG is the only major company trying to bridge that gap and have everything rooted in academic research. I think it’s really admirable how WPG strives to do this and can contribute to how a workplace operates.”
And Kelly agrees. She says: “What stood out about WPG, is the fact that they place so much importance of evidence-based practice. Since joining WPG, I have noticed that everything we do as a team and for our clients is guided by the literature and research findings from well-established and credible journals.”
What makes you cross?
“People who are rude to waiters/waitresses/servers,” Alex says. “Doing a customer service role should be national service, it’s one of the hardest jobs out there,” she adds.
“When people don’t put things back in the cupboard,” Emma tells us. “After living in student accommodation for four years and having to deal with it – I despise when things aren’t put back where they belong.”
And as for Kelly? “When people don’t bother to indicate when pulling out,” she says.
What sort of work mate are you?
“I like to think that I am reliable, conscientious and helpful,” Alex says. “I’m also great for a thriller/mystery book or true crime podcast recommendation!”.
Kelly says: “I like to think I am a cheerful and encouraging work mate.”
While Emma considers herself to be a listener. She says: “I take my time for things to compute in my brain and this often means I don’t have questions to ask right away, but it’s not a lack of interest more so taking my time to ask the right questions.”
What’s the biggest challenges organisations are facing today in the workplace?
“I think the new hybrid world of work is so complex,” Alex answers. “Working from home is great for flexibility, autonomy and control over work but I don’t think every organisation has the recipe yet on how to do this and still reap all the benefits of face-to-face collaboration, idea sharing, team building.”
Emma says: “I think whilst still in that post pandemic phase, hybrid and remote working and the communication surrounding these working types is so important. In the selection and assessment world, equality, diversity and inclusion has become such a vocal point and there is definitely a great push to improve it across many sectors.”
Kelly says: “I think one of the biggest challenges organisations faces, is balancing work from home and work from office, for their employees. It’s hard for organisations to implement one hard rule when everyone’s needs are so different.”
