Publications

October 2019
Teaching Note

Managing the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

This teaching note has been prepared to assist instructors with teaching HBS Case Study 818-128 "Managing the Future of Work.' This case has been designed to introduce leaders from various sectors to the Future of Work, and to give them the analytical tools and... View Details

Keywords: Future Of Work; Employment; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities

April 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Handy: The Future of Work? (A)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Kieron Stopforth

Witnessing numerous lawsuits alleging that online platform companies misclassified workers as contractors when they were actually employees, Handy’s founders faced a series of decisions. Handy was an online platform business that enabled customers to book appointments... View Details

Keywords: Employment; Working Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Compensation and Benefits; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Fairness; Service Industry; United States

05 Oct 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Don't More People Get Flu Shots at Work?

With a yearly price tag of roughly $87 billion in lost productivity and adverse health consequences, the flu is nothing to sneeze at. It’s no surprise that workplace flu vaccination clinics have gained popularity as employers try to keep... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Health

2021
Book

Global Goliaths: Multinational Corporations in the 21st Century Economy

By: C. Fritz Foley, James R. Hines Jr. and David Wessel

Globalization and multinational corporations have long seemed partners in the enterprise of economic growth: globalization-led prosperity was the goal, and giant corporations spanning the globe would help achieve it. In recent years, however, the notion that all... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Globalization; Economy; Economic Growth; Equality and Inequality; Employment; Policy

March 2009 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Denmark: Globalization and the Welfare State

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Benjamin Kramarz

This case describes how Denmark has balanced the impacts of globalization, including outsourcing and movement of labor, with its social welfare offerings. Reforms implemented during the past two decades drove down unemployment, promoted new company formation, and put... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Trade; Globalized Economies and Regions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Employment; Welfare or Wellbeing; Denmark

14 Sep 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Google Engineer Deserved to be Fired by the CEO

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Credit: Steven Zimmerman/Wikipedia Commons Google software engineer James Damore’s ten-page manifesto excoriating his employer for its diversity initiatives incited a major controversy in August about... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

12 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Regulators Ease Up on Companies Generating Political Benefits

employment rolls in the form of reduced enforcement? To test his theory, Heese gathered 30 years of data on publicly traded companies, classifying them by "employment intensity"—that is, the number of a firm's employees relative... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

19 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 19, 2019

impact of immigration on native men’s employment and occupational standing, which increased the supply of “marriageable men.” We explore alternative mechanisms—changes in sex ratios, natives’ cultural responses, and displacement effects... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 2023
Teaching Note

Timnit Gebru: 'SILENCED No More' on AI Bias and The Harms of Large Language Models

By: Tsedal Neeley and Tim Englehart

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 422-085. Dr. Timnit Gebru—a leading artificial intelligence (AI) computer scientist and co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI team—was messaging with one of her colleagues when she saw the words: “Did you resign?? Megan sent an email saying that... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Employment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning; Diversity; Prejudice and Bias; Technology Industry

23 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

This Crisis Loan Program Preserved Jobs—and Made Money

more stable career path. The firms themselves also grew stronger, and the French government eventually saved more in unemployment benefits than the program cost, according to the study, Employment Effects of Alleviating Financing... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

25 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

We May Have Taken Too Much Credit for Easing Workplace Segregation

racial diversity decreasing across businesses as a whole. “We may be overstating what progress has been made on employment integration,” the authors write. The reason for the step backward? Firm turnover is creating a racial divide. New... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

01 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

Companies, Cultures and the Transformation to the Transnational

values were reflected in the zaibatsu and other enterprise groups, which paternalistically watched over their affiliated companies. Within the organization, such values were evident in the widespread norm of lifetime employment... View Details

Keywords: by Christopher A. Bartlett & Sumantra Ghoshal

February 2017
Case

Eve Hall: The African American Investment Fund in Milwaukee

By: Steven Rogers and Alterrell Mills

The case highlights the role of minority chambers of commerce and the background of Eve Hall, a well-regarded multi-sector leader asked to revive Wisconsin's African-American chamber. This case study examines the lending options that a minority chamber of commerce... View Details

March 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Supplement

Gender and Free Speech at Google (C)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Sarah Mehta

This case reveals Google’s response to a list of employee demands aiming to combat sexual misconduct in the workplace. This case should accompany the (A) and (B) cases, “Gender and Free Speech at Google” (318-085) and (319-085). View Details

Keywords: Free Speech; Ethnicity; Gender; Race; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Labor; Employment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Technology Industry; United States; California

November 2015
Case

Upwork: Reimagining the Future of Work

By: Feng Zhu, Rory McDonald, Marco Iansiti and Aaron Smith

Upwork, the world's largest freelance talent platform, was the result of a merger between the two leading online freelancing companies in 2014, Elance and oDesk. After the merger, the company operated as Elance-oDesk and continued to manage two online... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Employment; Digital Platforms; Market Transactions; Business Processes; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Job Search