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One of the most important aspects of occupational health jobs is the mental well being of the workforce, hence occupational health psychology is a lucrative position in occupational health staffing. Occupational health psychology deals with studying the relationship between an employee’s mental and physical wellbeing and workplace stress. One can say that the ultimate goal of occupational health jobs like occupational health psychology is to create and improve a workplace’s environment in such a manner that employees actually want to come to work and work every day. The field also ensures that the workforce has an opportunity to imbibe and partake in what can only be called a healthy work-life balance. The said branch of occupational health psychology actually combines the learnings from occupational health sciences with that of psychology, to create a safe work environment for the workforce that would help in fostering emotional, physical and mental well-being.
You may wonder what is the point of the occupational health jobs associated with psychology – to answer this let’s address the root cause. What is occupational stress really? It can be defined as anything really, that negatively impacts an employee’s ability to be productive at the workplace. It can also be anything that reduces an employee’s morale. The truth of the matter is that this kind of stress can cause a company to suffer tremendous losses in terms of revenue as well have a high employee turnover rate. This hence, is the root cause of occupational health vacancies for occupational health psychologists.
Before the workplace stress and the needs of the employees ends up destroying a company, occupational health therapists can address all the issues. One of the key goals to this end, for occupational health psychologists apart from decreasing the occupational stress, is also to reduce what is known as “call-outs” as well as tardiness and lowering the aforementioned turnover rates. Hence, occupational health psychologist jobs in occupational health help companies retain their employees by improving their work environment.
Coming down to the pertinent question about this particular occupation health staffing:
What are the Roles Played by an Occupational Health Psychologist?
Occupational health psychologists are tasked with designing courses and activities that are concerned with the relationship shared between an employee and his organisation, along with taking care of the mental health of the workforce. In simpler terms, this particular occupational health staffing can tell the management what kind of tasks should be assigned to which employee.
Apart from this, they are also tasked with monitoring the performance of the employees and by extension their mental health conditions. To this end, occupational health psychologists need to be familiar with the work culture of a particular organisation. They should also have familiarised themselves, with dealing with issues like workplace aggression, stress, and also bullying, so that it is easier for them to take care of issues related with the health of the employees.
Occupational health jobs like occupational health psychologists, work in tandem with the human resource department, in order to look after job placement and recruitment. You will also find them participating in management conferences, where they would be assisting the executives who are responsible for looking after the decisions regarding any sort of modifications, that have to occur within the work environment. This helps in enhancing employee satisfaction as well as bring about an improvement in productivity.
Occupational health psychologists also need to have a one-on-one meeting with employees, to ask them about any problems that they might have in the workplace and also guide them by providing them advice regarding how to overcome all these problems. Occupational health jobs like occupational health psychologists also play a vital role in project appraisals and managing the talent within the organisation.
How Much Does an Occupational Health Psychologist Earn?
Starting salaries for an occupational health psychologist can be somewhere around £18,000 to £25,000 per annum. Salaries for more experienced occupational health staffing can be around £35,000 pounds per annum and can even touch a maximum cap of £80,000 pounds.
What Educational Qualifications is Required for an Occupational Health Psychologist?
In order to take the most advantage of the occupational health jobs in occupational health psychology, a psychologist, needs to have a master’s degree at least. For this, you need to have a bachelor’s degree first, which can be in varied fields like general psychology, experimental psychology, industrial organisation psychology, health psychology etc. for a start.
Your graduate program for occupational health jobs in occupational health psychology should focus on health psychology, although a graduate program in industrial organization psychology could work well too. Either way, your graduate program for this occupational health staffing will be focused on combining both your classroom studies with research, that will help in giving you the best foundation to build upon this career.
The programs that you apply to for occupational health vacancies can last anywhere between as little as two years to even four or five years, depending on the requirements of the program. Added internship placements, practical experiences and other post-graduate requirements may end up extending the duration of the program. As it is with other areas in psychology, most jobs are available to individuals who decide to do a doctorate in the subject, which of course open up the chance for a private practice of consulting firm as well.
Occupational Health Jobs in Occupational health psychology are available in many settings, ranging from private businesses to public non-profits to government agencies. With plenty opportunities lined up with occupational health psychology, you can easily tap into the field and explore the avenues it has to offer.
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