The Behavioural Economics Course for HR Professionals, offered by Oxford Training Centre, equips HR practitioners with essential knowledge of behavioural science principles and their application in human capital strategies. Understanding human behaviour in the workplace is crucial for designing HR policies, engagement practices, rewards systems, and performance structures that align with actual decision-making psychology. This programme introduces behavioural economics as a practical framework for influencing employee actions and organisational outcomes through evidence-based interventions.
Positioned within advanced Human Resources Training Courses, this course addresses the growing demand for HR professionals to apply psychological and behavioural insights to their strategies. Participants will explore cognitive biases, heuristics, nudging techniques, and other behavioural models that explain why individuals behave differently than expected under traditional economic models. Through a structured and applied curriculum, HR professionals will learn how to integrate these concepts into workplace design, recruitment, retention, communication, and organisational development efforts.
The course also dives into how behavioural economics impacts employee motivation, performance appraisal, benefits communication, learning and development, and workplace culture. HR teams seeking to influence workforce behaviour and improve outcomes through low-cost, high-impact interventions will find the curriculum immediately applicable. This training ultimately builds a solid foundation in behavioural economics and HR strategy for professionals aiming to enhance their evidence-based decision-making capability.
Objectives
- To develop a practical understanding of behavioural economics and how it can be applied in HR functions.
- To equip participants with tools for analysing employee behaviour and decision-making in the workplace using behavioural science.
- To explore how HR professionals can design nudges, defaults, and incentives to influence workplace outcomes.
- To improve HR policy-making using behavioural insights for HR benefits and compensation design.
- To introduce HR professionals to the use of behavioural frameworks in recruitment, retention, training, and development.
- To explain the relationship between cognitive bias and HR decision frameworks, particularly in performance management and talent selection.
- To embed behavioural economics in workforce planning, employee experience, and culture-building strategies.
- To teach participants how to identify unconscious influences on employee decisions and align HR practices with actual behavioural patterns.
- To train HR teams in the ethical application of behavioural nudging techniques within the workplace.
- To support the development of HR analytics and behavioural insights for policy optimisation and people strategy design.
Target Audience
- HR professionals seeking to understand and apply behavioural science principles in workforce decision-making.
- Senior HR managers responsible for policy design, performance evaluation, and employee experience strategy.
- L&D and OD professionals interested in behavioural economics and HR strategy integration in training programmes and leadership development.
- HR business partners involved in employee relations, organisational behaviour, or HR communications.
- Professionals overseeing recruitment, compensation, or workplace culture and aiming to optimise decision-making environments.
- Talent management and engagement officers focused on psychological drivers in HR and recruitment.
- Policy designers and strategists in HR who want to incorporate behavioural economics into procedural design and incentive alignment.
- HR generalists looking to gain certification through a certified behavioural economics program for HR.
- Workforce analytics specialists seeking skills in HR behavioural economics and cognitive bias analysis.
How Will Attendees Benefit?
- Gain a recognised foundation in HR training in behavioural economics, enabling evidence-based HR decision-making.
- Learn to identify and reduce cognitive biases that negatively impact HR decisions, from hiring to performance reviews.
- Understand how to apply nudging techniques and decision-making in HR training to improve engagement and retention.
- Develop skills in designing low-friction HR systems that align with natural human behaviours, improving efficiency and satisfaction.
- Acquire tools for integrating behavioural science for human resources professionals into communication, onboarding, and recognition strategies.
- Enhance understanding of organisational behaviour and behavioural economics and its impact on team dynamics and culture.
- Build strategic capabilities in workforce motivation using behavioural economics, especially for change initiatives and rewards management.
- Explore the intersection of HR analytics and behavioural insights to measure effectiveness and continuously improve HR interventions.
- Design employee-facing content—such as benefits explanations or training communications—using language informed by behavioural theory.
- Position yourself as a forward-thinking HR leader by developing fluency in a critical emerging area of practice.
Course Content
Module 1: Introduction to Behavioural Economics for HR
- The foundations of behavioural economics: comparing traditional vs. behavioural models
- Understanding bounded rationality, mental shortcuts, and decision-making errors
- Why HR professionals need behavioural science literacy in modern workplaces
Module 2: Cognitive Bias and Heuristics in HR
- Key biases impacting HR decisions: confirmation, availability, anchoring, and status quo
- Bias in recruitment, performance evaluations, and leadership assessment
- Practical examples of cognitive bias and HR decision frameworks
Module 3: Workplace Applications of Behavioural Science
- Mapping the employee journey through a behavioural lens
- Using behavioural economics in HR policies and practices
- Designing behavioural interventions to improve retention, wellbeing, and alignment
Module 4: Nudging and HR Decision Architecture
- The science of nudging: defaults, priming, framing, and social norms
- HR behavioural economics course for influencing employee behaviour
- Designing effective forms, feedback systems, and digital HR tools using nudge theory
Module 5: Behavioural Economics in Recruitment and Selection
- Reducing bias in job postings, candidate evaluation, and interview structures
- Psychological drivers in HR and recruitment decisions
- Case studies on behavioural job design and realistic job previews
Module 6: Learning and Development Through Behavioural Insights
- Increasing participation in training using behavioural techniques
- Behavioural frameworks in L&D and HR policies
- How habit formation, motivation theory, and identity economics shape skill uptake
Module 7: Compensation, Benefits, and Motivation Strategies
- Behavioural responses to incentives, recognition, and reward schemes
- Framing compensation and benefit information to improve employee engagement
- Designing high-impact communications based on behavioural insights for HR benefits and compensation design
Module 8: Employee Engagement and Organisational Culture
- Linking behavioural economics to trust, belonging, and cultural alignment
- Encouraging desired behaviours through environmental and social cues
- Behavioural science applications in talent management and employee relations
Module 9: HR Policy Design Using Behavioural Economics
- Behavioural auditing of HR policies for friction points and inefficiencies
- Tools for creating psychologically safe and decision-friendly HR environments
- Applying behavioural economics in HR: real-world policy re-design examples
Module 10: Behavioural HR Strategy and Data-Driven Interventions
- Measuring impact through HR analytics and behavioural metrics
- Case examples: reducing attrition, increasing diversity, and improving compliance
- Capstone: developing a behavioural intervention strategy for an HR problem in your organisation