overtime pay - Publications - Faculty & Research

2023
Working Paper

Too Many Managers: The Strategic Use of Titles to Avoid Overtime Payments

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and N. Bugra Ozel

We find widespread evidence of firms appearing to avoid paying overtime wages by exploiting a federal law that allows them to do so for employees termed as “managers” and paid a salary above a pre-defined dollar threshold. We show that listings for salaried positions... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Organizational Design; Job Design and Levels; Compensation and Benefits

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07 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Supervisor of Sandwiches? More Companies Inflate Titles to Avoid Extra Pay

research out of Harvard Business School. In fact, these are just a handful of suspect titles companies are using to classify hourly workers as supervisors and avoid paying an estimated $4 billion in overtime... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

28 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

Forget Cash. Here Are Better Ways to Motivate Employees

incentives for future work. Decades of research does confirm that financial incentives can boost effort and performance. But there’s a downside; when an employee’s pay is contingent on performance, they can become obsessed with... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

Instead, when the company wouldn’t pay them for their lunch hour, they intentionally scheduled deliveries to show up midday, when there wasn’t anyone working to receive them, sabotaging the project. “Top management have to be willing to... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

stakeholders and good workplace practices. They are better prepared to deal with and mitigate crisis, like the current coronavirus pandemic. If there were ever a time to “think outside the building” and be more aware of the wider system, it’s now. Operating in silos... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

01 Nov 2019
What Do You Think?

Should Non-Compete Clauses Be Abolished?

Rubio supports the notion. But his proposal would cover only those making less than $23,360 per year (those eligible for overtime pay under federal law). In reality, how many employers are going to try to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

08 Jul 2015
What Do You Think?

Do Americans Work Too Much and Think About Work Too Little?

our thinking about work outmoded? What do you think? Original Article This question popped up in my mind last month after President Obama, exercising his authority under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, announced a change in labor rules to extend View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

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