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- March 2020 (Revised June 2020)
- Case
Social Salary Setting at Spiber
By: Ashley Whillans and John Beshears
Can a “set your own salary” system boost employee happiness and motivation? Spiber made synthetic silk built from proteins mimicking the proteins found in spider silk, the world’s toughest known material by weight. Kazuhide Sekiyama and Junichi Sugahara established... View Details
Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Happiness; Negotiation Tactics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Biotechnology Industry; Japan; United States
Whillans, Ashley, and John Beshears. "Social Salary Setting at Spiber." Harvard Business School Case 920-050, March 2020. (Revised June 2020.)
- 08 Aug 2023
- Research & Ideas
The Rise of Employee Analytics: Productivity Dream or Micromanagement Nightmare?
organizations is also driving the trend, generating “digital trace data”—records of employee behavior captured on devices central to performing jobs everywhere, from the office to the factory floor to the job or delivery site. Spurred by... View Details
Keywords: by Ben Rand
- 05 Nov 2024
- Research & Ideas
AI Can Help Leaders Communicate, But Can't Make Employees Listen
If a chatbot can Slack convincingly in the boss’s voice, will employees follow orders once they realize the CEO is actually a machine? A novel two-part study finds that an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot trained to write like a... View Details
- January–February 2015
- Article
Social Comparisons and Deception Across Workplace Hierarchies: Field and Experimental Evidence
By: Benjamin Edelman and Ian Larkin
We examine how unfavorable social comparisons differentially spur employees of varying hierarchical levels to engage in deception. Drawing on literatures in social psychology and workplace self-esteem, we theorize that negative comparisons with peers could cause either... View Details
Edelman, Benjamin, and Ian Larkin. "Social Comparisons and Deception Across Workplace Hierarchies: Field and Experimental Evidence." Organization Science 26, no. 1 (January–February 2015): 78–98.
- 28 Jan 2019
- Research & Ideas
Forget Cash. Here Are Better Ways to Motivate Employees
is not expensive for a company to do and makes the act of appreciation in the workplace habitual and easy, Whillans says. “It also builds social connections in a workplace, which helps people feel more fulfilled at work.” Make the... View Details
Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman
- June 2010 (Revised August 2010)
- Case
State Grid: Corporate Social Responsibility
By: Christopher Marquis, Nancy Dai, Dongning Yang and Hong Wu
In October 2009, State Grid, the largest utility company in the world, and a pioneer and leader in CSR practices in China, was planning its 2009 CSR Report and long-term CSR implementation. Some of the specific challenges faced at the time include: How could the... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Management Systems; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Accountability; Behavior; Change Management; Global Range; Employees; Utilities Industry; China
Marquis, Christopher, Nancy Dai, Dongning Yang, and Hong Wu. "State Grid: Corporate Social Responsibility." Harvard Business School Case 410-141, June 2010. (Revised August 2010.)
- 2023
- Working Paper
The Effects of Inconsistent Work Schedules on Employee Lateness and Absenteeism
By: Caleb Kwon and Ananth Raman
Problem Definition: Employee lateness and absenteeism pose challenges for businesses, particularly in the retail industry, where punctuality is vital for optimal store operations and customer service. This paper relates employee lateness and absenteeism with... View Details
Kwon, Caleb, and Ananth Raman. "The Effects of Inconsistent Work Schedules on Employee Lateness and Absenteeism." Working Paper, August 2023.
- 08 Aug 2023
- Research & Ideas
Black Employees Not Only Earn Less, But Deal with Bad Bosses and Poor Conditions
levels,” Zhang says. “But especially younger generations are increasingly concerned with other elements in the workplace, and they are even willing to sacrifice wages for these other amenities.” Black employees get fewer workplace perks... View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding
- 2025
- Working Paper
Home Sweet Home: How Much Do Employees Value Remote Work?
By: Zoë B. Cullen, Bobak Pakzad-Hurson and Ricardo Perez-Truglia
We estimate the value employees place on remote work using revealed preferences in a high-stakes, real-world context, focusing on U.S. tech workers. On average, employees are willing to accept a 25% pay cut for partly or fully remote roles. Our estimates are three to... View Details
Cullen, Zoë B., Bobak Pakzad-Hurson, and Ricardo Perez-Truglia. "Home Sweet Home: How Much Do Employees Value Remote Work?" NBER Working Paper Series, No. 33383, January 2025.
- 28 Feb 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Importance of ‘Don’t’ in Inducing Ethical Employee Behavior
In trying to encourage good moral conduct, it's common for a company to come up with a list of don'ts—wording policies such that they focus on unethical behavior employees should avoid rather than on ethical acts they should strive to... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 30 Apr 2024
- Book
When Managers Set Unrealistic Expectations, Employees Cut Ethical Corners
management and organisational practices. By this time, social science research had already shown that people’s behaviour is shaped as much by situational and contextual factors as by individual character. The 1963 Milgram experiments by... View Details
Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman
- 02 Jun 2014
- Research & Ideas
Secrets to a Successful Social Media Strategy
Why are people so drawn to social media? The question long haunted Mikolaj "Misiek" Piskorski and eventually led to his new book, A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 04 Mar 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
The Dirty Laundry of Employee Award Programs: Evidence from the Field
- 21 Nov 2023
- Research & Ideas
Employee Negativity Is Like Wildfire. Manage It Before It Spreads.
explores how emotions intensify within groups and uncovers ways that leaders can reorient the negative feelings of employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders to help them work toward a positive purpose. For example, if employees are... View Details
Keywords: by Kristen Senz
- 10 May 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
The Impact of Forward-Looking Metrics on Employee Decision Making
- 17 Jan 2019
- Research & Ideas
Why Business Should Support Employees Who Are Caregivers
Companies face a growing yet largely undetected threat to their worker productivity, employee retention and, ultimately, competitive advantage: the needs of employees who are caregivers. The aging... View Details
- 29 Nov 2021
- Research & Ideas
How Bonuses Get Employees to Choose Work Over Family
choose to spend time with—work colleagues or family—based on how their pay is structured, in particular whether they get bonuses for a job well done or earn fixed salaries regardless of performance. In fact, employees who received... View Details
Keywords: by Rachel Kim Raczka
- 2013
- Working Paper
The Dirty Laundry of Employee Award Programs: Evidence from the Field
By: Timothy Gubler, Ian I. Larkin and Lamar Pierce
Many scholars and practitioners have recently argued that corporate awards are a "free" way to motivate employees. We use field data from an attendance award program implemented at one of five industrial laundry plants to show that awards can carry significant... View Details
Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Service Delivery; Performance Productivity; Failure; Service Industry
Gubler, Timothy, Ian I. Larkin, and Lamar Pierce. "The Dirty Laundry of Employee Award Programs: Evidence from the Field." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-069, February 2013.
- November 2000
- Background Note
Note on Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and Phantom Stock Plans
By: Dwight B. Crane and Indra Reinbergs
Provides a brief overview of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and phantom stock plans for owners of closely held companies. ESOPs can be used as a tool of corporate financing, and can provide employees with ownership interests. Phantom stock plans can reward... View Details
Keywords: Financing and Loans; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Motivation and Incentives; Management Teams; Corporate Governance; Ownership Stake; Taxation
Crane, Dwight B., and Indra Reinbergs. "Note on Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and Phantom Stock Plans." Harvard Business School Background Note 201-034, November 2000.
- 08 Jan 2014
- What Do You Think?
Do Productivity Increases Contribute to Social Inequality?
Summing Up Does Social Equality Improve Productivity? Inequality in our society is an important and growing issue. It prompted a debate among respondents to this month's column about the causes, specifically the role played by innovation... View Details
Keywords: by James Heskett