Promoting the Profession of I/O Psych: SHL’s Inaugural Science Award
SHL chooses three winners for its inaugural science award granting them an opportunity to apprentice with our world-class scientific team.
Of the many things I have enjoyed working on at SHL over the years, emailing three winners that their submission to our first Science Award had been successful, ranks as one of the most rewarding. We initiated this award early in the year as an opportunity for SHL to strengthen our ties with academia, and for university students in postgraduate courses in HRM and Occupational Psychology to connect to us!
The core values of SHL are centered around our curiosity and innovation. As a business we recognize the importance of keeping up to date with the latest trends and research, but also recognize our responsibility, as the largest private-sector employer of occupational psychologists, to support and encourage those coming into the profession. So, this year we developed a range of initiatives designed to foster closer relationships with universities and professional bodies.
The idea of the SHL Science Award was suggested by Mark Holloway the Program Director at University of East London, and it was immediately supported by Teri Ellison (SHL’s Chief HR Officer), Sarah McLellan (UK Managing Director), Ken Lahti (Chief Science Officer), Robin Raven (Chief Product Officer) and Helen Farrell (Senior Consultant). We asked students as they finished their dissertation to submit an abridged version for review by this SHL team against criteria based around our organizational values of Impact, Connection, Fearless Innovation, and Curiosity.
As the largest private-sector employer of occupational psychologists, we recognize our responsibility to support and encourage those coming into the profession.
What we got back was phenomenal! The first thing I was struck by was the breadth of topics. The submissions covered areas like behavioral economics, workspace design, selection, career planning, employee engagement, and supporting diversity of gender, age, and ethnicity. The second thing was the quality of research by all those who had submitted. We were really impressed by the mix of both qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as the integration of previous research and the implications of their findings.
It was a difficult job choosing our three winners but in the end, the judges settled on:
- Leanne Kenyon from University of Hertfordshire who looked at the impact of job-advert wording on job-search motivation using a model of self-determination theory
- Lauren Thorne from University of East London who used a qualitative approach to look at the impact of a new coaching tool on exploring values for leaders in education
- Ashley Fevrier of University of Leeds who examined the impact of social relationships on career outcomes for apprentices
As a first run of this award, we have been delighted by the response and look forward to welcoming the winners, who will participate in a paid apprenticeship at SHL, as well as presenting their research to the I/O teams in our London office. We also look forward to running this award again in 2020, so if you are a student of postgraduate courses, then watch this space!
