WorkLab

Let us know if you have any suggestions for a WorkLab Webinar.  admin@eawop.org

The modern workplace: how to make it work for people.

Since the pandemic changes are evident in the way people work.  Hybrid working has become more commonplace.  Many employees, but not all, value this but it has implications for employees and managers. Employees’ self-regulating capacity is challenged as they are required to regulate themselves, their working place and time. Managers need to adapt their management style for effective performance management, have a more active focus on team building and managing relationships and be careful not to lose focus on employee well-being.  Employers are reducing and reworking expensive office spaces in the light of the low occupancy that hybrid working brings, with the danger of making them less conducive spaces for employees, while paradoxically trying to encourage employees back to the office because of concerns about the impact on productivity, creativity and team working when teams are dispersed. Organisations need to rethink how they invest in physical spaces, approach workplace design and what support they provide for those working outside the office.  This year’s workshop, led by Professor Evangelia Demerouti of Eindhoven University of Technology and Dr Nigel Oseland from Workplace Unlimited will examine these trends, present the latest research findings and demonstrate approaches that can be used to enhance both effective ways of working and worker well-being in the modern workplace.

Developing an evidence based coaching approach for purposeful conversations

EAWOP invites European practitioners working in the field of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) to join the next face to face Practitioner Skills Workshop. The 2024 workshop is focused on coaching. Coaching interventions are increasingly common and this workshop will help understand how they can be used effectively within an evidence-based paradigm. As well as covering the considerations for when coaching might be helpful the workshop will introduce some coaching models and include experiential elements so that participants can develop their own skills in listening and interacting with others which can be used in many contexts.

Aim

To explore the psychology behind coaching, raising awareness and developing skills in coaching to enhance the effectiveness of interactions with others.

Objectives

• To increase understanding of the psychological research and theory supporting the use of coaching as a development tool
• To understand a range of intervention styles, including the contexts in which a coaching style is appropriate
• Deepen listening skills and raise awareness of different types of listening and the impact our listening has on our interactions with others
• To practice coaching and being coached, experimenting with a range of coaching tools and techniques
• Deepen self-awareness and reflective practice
• Enhance the way in which we are able to interact with others

Who should attend

Psychologists with a range of prior knowledge and experiences, who have an interest in coaching and a desire to develop their own coaching skills to support their work with their clients.

The WorkLab aims to provide a platform for the latest scientific research to be brought to an audience of practitioners, who can thereby develop and enhance their professional practice and skills.   Similar to previous years we begin on Thursday afternoon setting the stage for the workshop and sharing our experiences of organizational interventions. This will be followed by one and a half days with our speakers in dedicated interactive sessions to facilitate the development of knowledge, tools and methods that can be applied in participants’ practice. The topic will be explored in the usual WorkLab style; balancing theory and evidence based-practice using a range of participative learning styles, and, a lot of fun!
Participants are encouraged to bring their own case studies to share and reflect upon during the two days.

Our speakers

As usual we have a leading academic and highly respected practitioner to share their insights on our topic.

Professor Rebecca J Jones

Professor Rebecca J Jones PhD CPsychol is a Professor in Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School and Co-Founder of   Inclusive Leadership Company. Her research interests lie in examining the factors that influence coaching effectiveness and her consultancy practice focuses on working with organisations to create diverse and inclusive workplaces using coaching and psychological theory and research to achieve sustained behaviour change. Rebecca is the author of the book ‘Coaching with Research in Mind’, host of ‘Coaching@Henley’ podcast and has published her research in globally renowned journals.

Verity Hannell

Verity Hannell is an award-winning coach and Lecturer in Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School overseeing their triple accredited Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching. Her coaching specialism is mental health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on the boundary conditions of practice. Verity has over 13 years of coaching experience, facilitating change with individuals, teams, and entire organisations from numerous sectors including; finance, talent management and media, pharmaceutical, and the public sector. She is actively involved with the coaching professional bodies, raising awareness of evidence-based coaching practice, and promoting mental health inclusivity.

Engaging Leadership: Cultivating Employee Strengths and Psychological Safety in Organizations

EAWOP invites European practitioners working in the field of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) to join the next face to face Practitioner Skills Workshop. The 2023 workshop is focused on developing better leadership and the impact that has on the working environment.
The well-being of employees and the success of organizations are highly dependent on the quality of leadership (Skakon et al., 2010; Schyns & Schilling, 2013). As leaders hold significant influence within organizations, their use of power can significantly impact employee stress levels, motivation, life satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and turnover rates. In this workshop, we will delve into the duality of leadership, exploring how leaders can empower their employees by identifying and nurturing their own and their employees' strengths by building trust and creating a psychologically safe work environment.

Our speakers 

As usual we have a leading academic and highly respected practitioner to share their insights on our topic.
 

Kimberley Breevaart

Kimberly Breevaart is Associate Professor Leadership and Employee Well-Being at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. For the past 10 years, she has investigated daily leadership behaviors in relation to employee engagement and burnout through the use of daily diary studies. Her research is firmly rooted in the field of positive psychology, and focuses on the ways in which leaders can build an engaged and high performing workforce through employees’ strengths and resources. Additionally, in 2018, she received a 2-year fellowship for her research on abusive supervision, which she used to develop a theoretical framework with important implications for practice called The Barriers Model of Abusive Supervision. The model puts the employee in the middle of an onion-shaped model and outlines barriers in various context (such as the organizational and the societal context) that make it hard for employees to speak up or end the relationship with the abusive supervisor.

Jessica Halgren

Jessica Halgren has 25-plus years of experience working with C-level and senior executives from leading organizations in Europe, North America, and Asia. The insight-driven approach Jessica brings to executive coaching conversations draws upon evidence-based research, practice, and industry credentials in the areas of transformative learning, adult learning, and adult development.  She believes that the challenges leaders face - in their roles, their professional relationships, their organizations, and themselves – are often challenging because the path to resolving them powerfully requires new perspective, thinking, and behavior. Jessica holds M.Sc. in Organizational and Social Psychology from the University of Leiden as well as numerous developmental coaching-related certifications. She is currently nearing completion of her doctorate in Leadership and Organizational Learning at Columbia University with a dissertation centered on uncovering developmental leadership coaching practices for facilitating transformative insights.

Our Programme

The WorkLab aims to provide a platform for the latest scientific research to be brought to an audience of practitioners, who can thereby develop and enhance their professional practice and skills.   Similar to previous years we begin on Thursday afternoon setting the stage for the workshop and sharing our experiences of organizational interventions. This will be followed by one and a half days with our speakers in dedicated interactive sessions to facilitate the development of knowledge, tools and methods that can be applied in participants’ practice. We will discuss challenges and opportunities and develop strategies for promoting organizational wellbeing interventions. These concepts will be explored in the usual WorkLab style; balancing theory and evidence based-practice using a range of participative learning styles, and, a lot of fun! 
Participants are encouraged to bring their own case studies to share and reflect upon during the two days.  

Improving psychological wellbeing through organizational interventions

EAWOP invites European practitioners working in the field of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) to join the next face to face Practitioner Skills Workshop. The 2022 workshop is focused on how we can make changes to the way work is organised, designed and managed to improve employee health and wellbeing.
In the European Union, the Framework Directive 89/3 91/EEC on Safety and Health of Workers at Work established employers’ general obligations to ensure employee health. Crucial to the Framework is prevention, including the management of adverse psychosocial working conditions. Despite this Framework and the fact that organizational interventions have positive benefits for organizational outcomes, employee motivation and learning, most organizations employ an individual approach to managing health and wellbeing. European surveys show that this is partially due to a lack of knowledge on how to design, enact and evaluate organizational interventions.

In this workshop, we will explore some of the available tools and look at how they could be applied in different cultural and organizational settings.
We will include presentations of the latest research findings and practical tools and methods to improve employee psychological wellbeing through organizational interventions. The programme will be interactive and we will draw upon participants’ case studies and experiences in identifying strategies for how practitioners can support such interventions.

Our Speakers

Professor Karina Nielsen and Sharon De Mascia

Our speakers are Professor Karina Nielsen and Sharon De Mascia.  The WorkLab is presented in English but both our speakers are fluent in Spanish.

Similar to previous years we begin on Thursday afternoon setting the stage for the workshop and sharing our experiences of organizational interventions. This will be followed by one and a half days with our speakers in dedicated interactive sessions to facilitate the development of knowledge, tools and methods that can be applied in participants’ practice. We will discuss challenges and opportunities and develop strategies for promoting organizational wellbeing interventions. Participants are encouraged to bring their own case studies (see guidelines) to share and reflect upon during the two days.

The WorkLab aims to provide a platform for the latest scientific research to be brought to an audience of practitioners, who can thereby develop and enhance their professional practice and skills.

The EAWOP WorkLab is an interactive workshop event and participants will:

• Gain a broader understanding of how to improve psychological wellbeing;
• Become familiar with a selection of tools that facilitate psychological wellbeing;
• Learn about the latest research to inform future practice;
• Develop their understanding of the factors that prevent psychological wellbeing initiatives from being successful;
• Explore how to improve the evaluation of psychological wellbeing initiatives.

These concepts will be explored in the usual WorkLab style; balancing theory and evidence based-practice using a range of participative learning styles, and, a lot of fun!

Improving psychological wellbeing through organizational interventions

We will continue with virtual WorkLab events while travel remains difficult.   This year's scheduled event,  Improving psychological wellbeing through organizational interventions, will go ahead in November 2022.  Meanwhile we are organising a series of virtual events focusing on the changing world of work beyond the pandemic.     These will be organised as two hour virtual workshops and we have three planned to be scheduled between November 2021 and June 2022.  We are very excited about the speakers we are talking to. 

Organising Committee:

Helen Baron (UK); Marja Jeanson (NL); Dr Diana Rus (NL)

Virtual WorkLab is free and open to EAWOP members (Qualified psychologists can join EAWOP at http://www.eawop.org/how-to-join) and psychologists nominated by their Constituent associations ONLY.  Attendees must be:

a) practitioners working in Work and Organizational Psychology for at least two years;

b) have an interest in applying/learning more about the changing workplace and new ways of working, and

c) able to evidence being inspired and committed to practitioner activities.

Thursday 18th November 2021   09.00 – 11.00 CET

Improving Worker Experiences When Working From Home: Lessons from Work Design

Professor Sharon Parker

We are delighted to be able to welcome Professor Sharon Parker to lead our first workshop.  ARC Laureate Fellow Sharon K. Parker is a John Curtin Distinguished Professor at Curtin University, Director of the Centre for Transformative Work Design, and named a Web of Science 2019 Highly Cited Researcher. She has published over 150 articles in leading journals on topics including work design and proactive behaviour.  <link to long bio>
Many people worked from home during COVID, and predictions are that the level of flexible working will remain high into the future. In this presentation, Sharon  will discuss workers' experiences during COVID-19 through a work design lens.  She will summarise key benefits and challenges for those workers working from home using the SMART model of work design, and will show how these factors, as well as individual factors, influence employee mental health, well-being, and performance. Sharon will present a future research agenda, and also discuss the sorts of practical support that applied psychologists can offer organizations during this time.

Following Sharon’s presentation, delegates will participate in some interactive activities to review and develop how the SMART model of work design can be embedded in their practice.

Thursday 24th February 2022    09.00 – 11.00 CET

The year of the plague: The societal and psychological changes that may shape how we work and live in the future

Professor Frederik Anseel

Throughout human history, pandemics have always shaken-up society. This time will be no different. Sometimes it takes a while to see the new fault lines, to see the larger patterns and trends that change society, industry, and technology. When in the fog of war, it is difficult to see the bigger picture. However, being able to anticipate what is coming next can help us prepare for and maybe even shape the change. In this talk, Frederik will use insights from behavioural science to explore how societal changes and psychological dynamics that have emerged throughout the pandemic may affect how we work, live, and thrive in a post-covid era.
After an introduction to the theme, participants will jointly discuss and tackle a pressing problem that many organizations are currently trying to address: How to redesign the workplace to make it work for everyone?

Thursday 19th May 2022   10.30 - 12.30 CET

The application of Artificial Intelligence to Selection: Possibilities and Principles

The use of AI in selection is substantial and growing. According to a recent analysis of the talent assessment marketplace by Rocket-hire, over half the vendors in the talent assessment space are firms 10 years or younger and most of these firms (62%) offer AI-based tools. Solutions range from scraping social media for personality profiling, skills matching, and job matching solutions, to using machine learning to create complex scoring algorithms of game play behaviour, to more traditional psychometric design principles combined with advanced data identification tools like natural language processing. Many AI based solutions are developed by data-scientists with a very empirical approach rather than psychologists applying individual difference theory. High profile cases have pointed to both innovative uses and the potential for bias and unfairness.

In this panel discussion we bring together three psychologists with a great deal of experience in the area including both academic and practitioner perspectives and with both development and implementation experience to share their ideas on what AI can do, and their views on how it should (and should not ) be used as well as to answer participants questions.

Dr. Markus Langer from Saarland University in Germany has written extensively about the use of AI in selection and other applications. Dr Lara Montefiori is a psychologist who has designed some leading applications of AI for assessment and Dr Suzanne Brink from HireVue helps clients implement AI based solutions.  

Like other areas of applied psychology such as clinical, educational and health, the effectiveness of the profession depends on using the best available scientific and contextual evidence to first understand clients’ problems and issues and then doing the same to identify and implement solutions and interventions.  In other words, our effectiveness depends on evidence-based practice.

However, it seems reasonably clear that work psychologists are not particularly evidence-based compared to other applied psychologists.  There are several reasons for this:  1.  Confusion between the scientist-practitioner model and evidence-based practice (they are very different);  2.  The education and training of work psychologists; 3.  Work psychology science is not focused on practice; 4.  The clients of work psychologists (typically HR professionals) may not want us to do evidence-based practice but rather provide services and products they have already decided they want; 5. A lack of diagnostic criteria or agreed frameworks for approaching organizational issues.

This interactive webinar will consider nature of these barriers to evidence-based practice for work psychologists and provide suggestions of how they can be overcome so that work psychology as a profession and a discipline can become more effective and make a greater contribution.

Speaker

Rob Briner is Professor of Organizational Psychology Queen Mary University of London and Associate Director of Research at Corporate Research Forum.  He has been interested in evidence-based practice for in several fields including work psychology, management, HR, policing and policy-making.  For more see:  

LinkedIn Profile

Dr Anita Keller 

February 2026

Demands are an inevitable part of organizational life, and most employees can manage a certain level of pressure for a certain amount of time. In this session, Anita explores the different strategies employees use to handle everyday stressors, highlighting which types of demands are easier to manage and why. Crucially, we will discuss how features of the organizational environment, including work design and employees’ roles, can either support effective coping or undermine it. Last, by looking at the long-term effects of sustained stressor exposure, we discuss when coping stops working and why. This may provide insights into practical levers organizations can use to protect employee well-being and health.

dr. Maja Graso

27 June 2025  

Maja investigates the factors that shape how people perceive visible and invisible harms in their social environments. Whereas visible threats - such as a fire threatening a community - tend to generate shared urgency and collective action, invisible harms often produce disagreement and division. Their ambiguity invites competing interpretations, making them more difficult to address in a coordinated and lasting way. Her research focuses on how people perceive harms they cannot directly observe and how they seek to resolve them. When individuals or groups disagree on what constitutes harm, whose interpretation should guide social norms, and how should organizations respond? Which interventions meant to address harm provide only superficial or temporary relief, while exacerbating deeper conflicts or undermining long-term peace?

Professor Karl Aquino 

October 9, 2024

In this online EAWOP WorkLab session (October 9, 2024), Professor Karl Aquino delves into the intricate relationships between victims, villains, and vigilantes in the workplace. Learn how these roles emerge and affect organizational culture, and explore the surprising role of communal narcissism in shaping behaviour and social dynamics. 

Professor Almuth McDowall

12 July 2024

This session will outline the current programme of research undertaken by the Centre for Neurodiversity Research at Work (C4NRAW) based in London, UK. 

The session will commence with five key priorities. It will then be outlined how research relevant to work and organizational psychology is developing, and also what can be learned from other domains such as neuroscience.