employee scheduling - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 May 2019
News

Boeing and the Importance of Encouraging Employees to Speak Up

27 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

How One Late Employee Can Hurt Your Business: Data from 25 Million Timecards

control of store owners: Employees showing up late—or sometimes not at all. Managers are aware that employee lateness and absenteeism is prevalent and expensive to their operations. Now, researchers at... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Retail

28 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

Forget Cash. Here Are Better Ways to Motivate Employees

For example, figure out flexible work schedules so employees spend less time jammed in traffic. Allow work-travelers to book direct flights—even if they cost a little more than indirect trips. Encourage... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2018
Article

Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services

By: Maria Ibanez, Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

Work-scheduling research typically prescribes task sequences implemented by managers. Yet employees often have discretion to deviate from their prescribed sequence. Using data from 2.4 million radiological diagnoses, we find that doctors prioritize similar tasks... View Details

Keywords: Discretion; Scheduling; Queue; Healthcare; Learning; Experience; Decentralization; Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Efficiency; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Decisions; Time Management; Cost vs Benefits; Health Industry

Citation

SSRN

Find at Harvard

02 Apr 2024
Research & Ideas

Employees Out Sick? Inside One Company's Creative Approach to Staying Productive

can’t control absenteeism, and you don’t know when you will receive an order for a very important buyer,” he says. “So how do you execute your strategy?” While studying a factory in India, Tamayo found one efficient way businesses can remain productive even when View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Fashion

2017
Working Paper

Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services

By: Maria Ibanez, Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

Work scheduling research typically prescribes task sequences implemented by managers. Yet employees often have discretion to deviate from their prescribed sequence. Using data from 2.4 million radiological diagnoses, we find that doctors prioritize similar tasks... View Details

Citation

SSRN

26 Feb 2019
Blog Post

Forget Cash. Here Are Better Ways to Motivate Employees

For example, figure out flexible work schedules so employees spend less time jammed in traffic. Allow work-travelers to book direct flights—even if they cost a little more than indirect trips. Encourage... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

17 Apr 2017
News

Giving employees flexibility is all the rage. But a Harvard study says it might hurt productivity

02 Apr 2010
What Do You Think?

Why Are Fewer and Fewer U.S. Employees Satisfied With Their Jobs?

focus on employees and more on business and profitability." Phil Clark posited that knowledge work that deals with intangible results and hard-to-pinpoint accomplishments "just isn't as satisfying" as work used to be. John... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

17 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Advice for the New CEO: Talk to Your Employees Early and Often

million emails and 80 million meeting invitations. Shortly after a new CEO takes over, uncertainty among employees dampens communication within a company. However, after about five months, internal chatter sharply intensifies as managers... View Details

Keywords: by Ami Albernaz

06 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Does Hybrid Work Actually Work? Insights from 30,000 Emails

ideal solution, according to a new working paper, might be a compromise: Hybrid schedules in which employees roughly split their workweeks between the home and office appear to work best. These View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

05 May 2022
HBS Seminar

Caleb Kwon, Harvard Business School

23 Jul 2015
News

Work Schedules: The False Tradeoff Between Fair and Productive

19 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Global Talent, Local Obstacles: Why Time Zones Matter in Remote Work

embracing work-from-anywhere.” Mismatched working hours makes it difficult for employees to connect, and even a one-hour schedule difference can hurt communication, introduce complexity, and potentially... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2023
Working Paper

The Real Effects of Fair Workweek Laws on Work Schedules: Evidence from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia

By: Caleb Kwon and Ananth Raman

Effective in eight jurisdictions and banned in four, Fair Workweek Laws (FWL) aim to increase the predictability and stability of work schedules. Among other requirements, these laws penalize employers for unilaterally adjusting work schedules without providing some... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Employees; Outcome or Result; Los Angeles; Chicago; Philadelphia

Citation

SSRN

Read Now

07 Apr 2022
HBS Seminar

Hummy Song, Wharton

02 Jun 2021
News

Is Working from Home Here to Say? A Look at ‘Offices’ as More Than Half of Us Adults Are Vaccinated

Paige Tsai

Paige Tsai is PhD candidate in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. Her research broadly examines the effects of job design on employees. Her current projects explore the financial and well-being effects of holding multiple jobs,... View Details

Keywords: service industry; restaurant; retailing; hotels ＆ motels

August 2012
Case

ARISE: A Destination-for-a-Day Spa

By: Michael Beer and Lynda St. Clair

A new Dallas-based health and beauty spa aims to use a highly distinctive human resource system as the foundation of its competitive strategy. By encouraging employees to act as "personal wellness coaches" (PWCs) with high commitment and broad responsibilities, the... View Details