Mind games: Psychology in the workplace

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We are living through possibly the biggest upheaval in the world of work for generations. From the pandemic ushering in a new era of hybrid work, to the looming potential (and threat) of artificial intelligence (AI), it is hard to think of a more uncertain time for workplace dynamics since the advent of the personal computer.

As an example, in 2019, 4.7% of workers in the UK worked from home, according to a study on homeworking before and after lockdown from Wiserd, a collaboration between five universities in Wales. Between 22 May and 2 June 2024, according to ONS data, 14% of UK employees only worked from home, while 26% travelled to work and worked from home.

In this context, a chief workplace psychologist sounds like a good idea. An occupational psychologist generally applies psychological knowledge, theory and practice to the workplace and deals with issues ranging from employee performance, behaviour, health and wellbeing to broader workplace culture, aiming to help improve employee job satisfaction and effectiveness.

As workers become separated by geography and work patterns, adapting workplace culture has become vital. Experience management and AI business Qualtrics has had such a role in place for the past two years, with the position filled by Dr Benjamin Granger. Working within Qualtrics’ XM Institute, he leads research and thought leadership around experience management (XM), employee experience (EX), and the intersection between EX and customer experience (CX), in addition to his internal role as workplace psychologist. He even touches on candidate experience, for job applicants.

Speaking to Impact at Qualtrics’ X4 conference in Salt Lake City earlier this year, Granger says that he believes his role is a natural fit. “I think the role of a psychologist in an organisation that does what we do is a no brainer,” says Granger. “What we’re doing is measuring experiences that humans have.

“The umbrella phrase I would use to describe it is psychological ergonomics. We need to understand psychologically how people process information.”

When Granger joined Qualtrics in 2015, he was initially working in EX advisory services, moving up to lead that department before taking up a joint role as chief workplace psychologist in 2022. In April this year, he shifted to becoming full-time chief workplace psychologist. Granger has a PhD in industrial organisational psychology from the University of South Florida and, prior to Qualtrics, worked as senior consultant – selection strategy at telecommunications firm Verizon.

When he first took up his current role, Covid-19 was in full swing, and workplace dynamics – previously centred on office working – were jettisoned in favour of home working.

Granger says that in terms of the employee experience, the pandemic was a grand experiment “as a single intervention that affected everyone in every organisation”. It led to large-scale changes in how people work and also how they engage more broadly with their organisations. “That has spurred a lot more interest [in EX], with people saying ‘we can’t keep operating the way we used to – we need to change how we deliver’.”
Qualtrics data showed a higher level of burnout for leaders during the pandemic, according to Granger, as they were expected to be much more hands-on in communicating with their staff during an uncertain period, while also navigating Covid-19 and its restrictions. For example, Qualtrics’ 2023 Employee Experience Trends Report found that 46% of top-level leadership globally was at risk of burnout in the third quarter of 2022.

Staff have also become more accustomed to fast change within organisations, he says, with the speed at which businesses adjusted to restrictions in 2020 used as a yardstick to measure progress in other areas of workplace strategy and culture. Data is therefore playing a key role. “I can’t think of a conversation with executives where they are not talking about data-driven decisions,” says Granger. “Many leaders have already bought into the idea of CX metrics, and so, very wisely, HR professionals are creating a set of metrics and data that are very similar, putting them in the same place, juxtaposing them for leaders, so subconsciously they see them as equivalent.”

Grappling with technology

Granger argues that EX and CX, fundamentally, have substantial overlap, and many of the skills that can help companies engage with their customers can be transferred to helping them build strong company cultures and positive relationships with their staff.

“Underneath the skin, we all have the same skeletal frame and inner workings,” he says. “There are some differences in terms of access to data and information. But people have very similar needs, wants and desires, and that plays out as consumers and employees.”

Occupational psychology is likely to play an even more pivotal role as AI comes to the fore. For all its promise, in the eyes of many people, there is fear that AI could take jobs, radically alter them or leave people’s qualifications significantly out of date at a speed that would make it impossible to retrain fast enough. Granger says that how AI’s introduction is communicated internally will be key to whether it is accepted by the workforce, and whether some of those concerns can be efficiently salved.

“I find AI to be a big experiment. Some companies will do really well and they will communicate about it well,” he suggests. “People will gradually be more comfortable and confident with it. I’m interested in how organisations are going to communicate about AI, and how they are going to ease employees into it.”

For this reason, psychology will become even more important in the workplace; Granger predicts that it will continue to expand in the coming years. “If we’re going to be introducing AI, if we’re going to be running businesses made up of people and then serving people, we have to be thinking of psychological ergonomics,” he adds.

“Every organisation has a unique fingerprint, but underneath the surface it is just a group of people using shared resources to achieve shared goals. Every company on earth is exactly that.

“If you are to be successful managing groups of people through constant change, we need to know how people think, we’ve got to know how people react to change and how you communicate and adopt new technology.

“That’s psychology.”

This article first appeared in the July issue of Impact magazine.