Member Spotlight: Keaton Fletcher

Name
Keaton Fletcher

Position/Employer
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology

How long have you been a SIOP member?
9 years

What roles have you had within SIOP?
Co-chair of Student & Academia Subcommittee of Visibility Committee, member of Bridge Builders Subcommittee of Education & Training Committee, member of Theme Track Subcommittee of Program Committee

Interest Area(s)
Leadership/Teams, Stress/Health, Social Justice, Gender

What sparked your interest in I-O psychology?
I took a History and Systems of Psychology course my senior year of undergrad. I was pre-med until that point but decided I didn’t want to do med school. In one of the lectures they talked about I-O and how it helps make work more efficient, including healthcare teams (and was the highest paid area of psychology). That's how I got into I-O.

What role do you see I-O psychology playing in the future of work?
We can and should make sure that the worker, as a human being, is front and center of the discussion as we talk about the future of work. As psychologists, we are obligated to ensure that the worker's needs, well-being, and functioning are centerpieces of this conversation.

Which of the Top 10 Work Trends for 2022 do you most strongly relate to and how can I-O psychology practitioners, educators, and students impact this trend?
As the Trend Champion for Mental Health in the Workplace, I think this one is pretty personally relevant. My number one suggestion may be a bit controversial: If you're measuring performance, you should also measure stress/distress/burnout/or well-being. For too long we (society, but also I-O psychology) focused on performance improvements without considering the impacts on workers' mental health. It's commonplace for journals or reviewers to knee-jerk reject manuscripts because they don't include a performance variable, and an organization would scoff at the idea of not measuring performance. I want the same level of reverence paid to employee mental health and well-being.

What advice would you give to students or those early in their careers?
Create a strong social support network that encourages you to be bold and take risks. So often we tell ourselves we can't do things, so it's important to surround ourselves with people who will tell us to just try it and who will be there to celebrate if it goes well or to help us out if we fail.

What is one of your favorite SIOP Annual Conference memories/highlights?
My very first SIOP Annual Conference was in Hawaii in 2014. Tammy Allen was SIOP president. USF hosted a reception in the presidential suite. Kim French and I (just friends at the time) bartended that reception together. Flash forward 8 years, we're married with two sons and two academic jobs in I-O psychology.

Please share one non-I-O-related bit of information about yourself
When I was in undergrad, I was in my college's top choir. We toured South Korea and Italy (including singing Mass in the Vatican). It was a pretty sweet experience for a guy who can't really read music.

Is there anything you would like to add?
Subscribe to my podcast Healthy Work (cohosted by Maryana Arvan) and the associated substack for occupational health psychology content.

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