Stacy Davies

Director of Workforce Insights & Technology
General Mills

Q: What motivated you to pursue a career in Industrial and Organizational Psychology?

A: I love applied work and being able to make an impact every day. During my undergraduate studies, I didn’t know about the field of I/O Psychology as it wasn’t a course that my university offered at the time. When I was researching graduate school options, I learned about I/O psychology and it immediately captured my attention, as it was a perfect marriage of my interest in psychology and my loved for applied work. What’s more motivating & applied than getting to positively impact people at work every day?

Q: How did you transition from academia to the practical application of I/O psychology in the workplace?

A: During my graduate studies, I had the opportunity to intern with some terrific organizations and see how what I was learning in the classroom came to life at work. I started off with research on personality inventories, then assessment center validation work, and then using the data from these instruments to help client organizations make better people decisions, which in turn led to my career in People Analytics. Seeing the spectrum from academia, to external consulting in R&D, and then to internal practitioner in HR has helped me gain a well-rounded perspective and I am thankful for these experiences that have shaped my career.

Q: Can you provide examples of how I/O psychology has made a significant positive impact on the organizations you've worked with?

A: My team and I are responsible for driving decisions that accelerate business performance and enhance employee experience through the strategic utilization of measurement, data, analytics, and insights. One of the best examples of positive impact is “Work with Heart” – a General Mills framework that gives employees the flexibility to work from home, the office and elsewhere based on their own needs and needs of the business. To get here, we adopted a data-driven analytical approach and General Mills has embraced flexibility as a key differentiator, and it contributes to making General Mills a great place to grow a career.