About the Institute
We are on a mission to identify the best practices and insights that will help employees live better lives at work and their organizations thrive.
What we do
1
Select topics that matter
2
Study them among diverse types of workers and organizations
3
Disseminate the results to reach wide audiences
Dr. Constance Noonan Hadley
Founder and Chief Scientist
Organizational Psychologist Constance (Connie) Noonan Hadley is the Founder and Chief Scientist of the Institute for Life at Work. Dr. Hadley is also a Research Associate Professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, where she conducts research and serves as Co-Director of the Human Resources Policy Institute (HRPI). In addition, Dr. Hadley serves as a regular consulting researcher at Microsoft on future-of-work projects and the Microsoft Work Trend Index.
Biography
Dr. Hadley holds a PhD in organizational behavior as well as an MA in social psychology from Harvard University, an MBA in strategic and human resource management from The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), and a BA in psychology from Princeton University. Previously, she worked in management consulting at McKinsey & Company and in marketing and operations at General Mills, Inc. She currently mentors first-generation low-income students and serves as a Trustee at McLean Hospital, a worldwide leader in behavioral and mental health.
With collaborators from around the world, Dr. Hadley researches the future of work, team dynamics, psychological safety, employee loneliness, burnout, well-being at work, inclusive cultures, and career decision-making. Her research has been published in journals and magazines including Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Human Relations, Group & Organization Management, and The Leadership Quarterly.
As subject-matter expert, Dr. Hadley’s work and commentary has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times, Fortune, Forbes, Wired, and other news outlets.
Dr. Hadley is also a well-known speaker and advisor to global organizations through the Stern Strategy Group. Her clients include members of Fortune 500 companies, professional service firms, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.
Dr. Hadley is on the Thinkers50 Radar List. This is a prestigious list of people from around the world whose ideas are making an important impact on management thinking.
“Dr. Hadley is addressing the critical needs of where and how we work; making workplaces and organisations properly equitable, safe, and productive for all”
(Stuart Crainer & Des Dearlove, Thinkers50)
About the Research Team
Dev Kumar
Research Associate
Dev holds an MBA from Boston University, along with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Psychology with a concentration in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. As a Founder and Researcher, he explores how real-time behavioral signals within teams can be captured and translated into scalable frameworks, tools, and AI-enabled solutions that drive measurable impact. His work focuses on workplace connection, psychological safety, and the conditions that make innovation possible.
LinkedIn
Supriya Sharma
Senior Research Assistant
Supriya holds an MBA and an MSBA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management. She brings over a decade of experience in the civil nuclear industry, where she worked in HR and organizational leadership roles in high-reliability environments and became deeply interested in how organizational systems shape people’s experiences at work. As a Senior Research Assistant at the Institute for Life at Work, she supports applied research on employee well-being and organizational practices, bringing a practitioner-informed perspective and strong quantitative training to the Institute’s research agenda.
Anne Seymour
Operations Manager
Anne holds a BBA in Marketing and Management from the University of Georgia. As Operations Manager and Executive Assistant to Dr. Connie Noonan Hadley, she supports the Institute’s strategic and operational priorities, advancing research initiatives and external partnerships. Her work focuses on optimizing systems, coordinating projects, and ensuring organizational alignment across the Institute’s portfolio.