To cope with the economic pressures of inflation and rising costs of living, it has become increasingly common for individuals to rely on multiple jobs. This trend has been further fueled by the growing availability of remote work, gig opportunities, and part-time positions, which have made earning extra income more accessible than ever. While these flexible work arrangements have been shown to boost productivity and drive operational performance, their impact on employees remains less explored — in particular, little is known about how managing multiple jobs shapes employees’ lives outside of work and influences their overall wellbeing. We combine survey data and transaction-level analysis from 90,548 customers of a nationwide bank to examine how employees live their lives outside of work. Specifically, we investigate whether people with multiple jobs spend their labor income differently than those earning the same total income from a single job.
Paige Tsai
Doctoral Student
Doctoral Student
Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, Paige completed an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School, an A.B. in Psychology from Princeton University, and held positions at Dropbox, Uber, and IDEO in San Francisco.
Employee turnover remains one of the most persistent challenges across industries, with the leisure and hospitality sector experiencing some of the highest quit rates in the United States. This issue is particularly pronounced in restaurants, where the average tenure of a restaurant worker is approximately 110 days and nearly 75% of restaurant employees leave within one year. This high turnover comes at a steep cost — estimated at $5,684 per departing employee in 2006, factoring in recruitment, hiring, training, lost productivity, and operational disruptions. Although prior work has focused on how the overall desirability of a schedule affects workers, the impact of a schedule’s desirability relative to that of coworkers has not been explored. In this research, we examine the extent to which the relative fairness of schedules — a facet of operations management that can be readily observed and compared by employees — influences employee turnover.
Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, Paige completed an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School, an A.B. in Psychology from Princeton University, and held positions at Dropbox, Uber, and IDEO in San Francisco.
- Featured Work
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To cope with the economic pressures of inflation and rising costs of living, it has become increasingly common for individuals to rely on multiple jobs. This trend has been further fueled by the growing availability of remote work, gig opportunities, and part-time positions, which have made earning extra income more accessible than ever. While these flexible work arrangements have been shown to boost productivity and drive operational performance, their impact on employees remains less explored — in particular, little is known about how managing multiple jobs shapes employees’ lives outside of work and influences their overall wellbeing. We combine survey data and transaction-level analysis from 90,548 customers of a nationwide bank to examine how employees live their lives outside of work. Specifically, we investigate whether people with multiple jobs spend their labor income differently than those earning the same total income from a single job.
Employee turnover remains one of the most persistent challenges across industries, with the leisure and hospitality sector experiencing some of the highest quit rates in the United States. This issue is particularly pronounced in restaurants, where the average tenure of a restaurant worker is approximately 110 days and nearly 75% of restaurant employees leave within one year. This high turnover comes at a steep cost — estimated at $5,684 per departing employee in 2006, factoring in recruitment, hiring, training, lost productivity, and operational disruptions. Although prior work has focused on how the overall desirability of a schedule affects workers, the impact of a schedule’s desirability relative to that of coworkers has not been explored. In this research, we examine the extent to which the relative fairness of schedules — a facet of operations management that can be readily observed and compared by employees — influences employee turnover.
- Working Papers
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- Tsai, Paige, and Ryan W. Buell. "The Hidden Costs of Working Multiple Jobs: Implications for Spending Behavior and Wellbeing." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-036, January 2025. (Revised March 2025.) View Details
- Teaching
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This course enables students to develop the skills and concepts needed to ensure the ongoing contribution of a firm's operations to its competitive position. It helps them to understand the complex processes underlying the development and manufacture of products as well as the creation and delivery of services.
Topics encompass:
- Process analysis
- Cross-functional and cross-firm integration
- Product development
- Information technology
- Technology and operations strategy
Paige served as the Head Teaching Fellow for the Technology and Operations Management MBA Required Curriculum course in 2024 and as a junior Teaching Fellow in 2023, supporting more than 900 first-year MBA students each year. In these roles, she developed problem set and review session materials, led weekly review sessions, and held regular office hours. - Additional Information
- Area of Study
- Areas of Interest