Workers - Publications - Faculty & Research

Process-improvement ideas often come from frontline workers who speak up by voicing concerns about problems and by taking charge to resolve them. We hypothesize that organization-wide process-improvement campaigns encourage both forms of speaking up, especially voicing... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Employees; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Business Processes; Performance Improvement

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18 Jan 2019
News

A third of US workers have left a job due to caregiving responsibilities

Web

America's Digital Divide: Where Workers Are Falling Behind | Working Knowledge

Data and Technology America's Digital Divide: Where Workers Are Falling Behind Featuring Shane M. Greenstein and Raffaella Sadun . By Danna Lorch on February 10, 2025 . With rural areas significantly lagging behind cities in computer use, research by Raffaella Sadun ,... View Details

05 Feb 2023
News

What Workplaces Gain When Younger Workers Take Sabbaticals

07 Nov 2011
News

Bower Says Companies Should Bring Back Worker Training

21 Jun 2021
News

As Boston Offices Become Busier, Workers Want Flexibility

01 Sep 2018
News

An SUV Built for African Roads—by African Workers

Photos courtesy of Mobius Motors Driving in Kenya can be a rough ride, over bumpy dirt roads and potholed urban streets, made worse by dust, heat, and torrential rain. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to own a vehicle that will stand up to those conditions. Because so... View Details

Keywords: Amy Yee

2022
Working Paper

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Satisfaction of Workers in Low-Wage Jobs

By: Elizabeth R. Johnson and Ashley V. Whillans

How did job satisfaction change during the pandemic for workers in low-wage jobs, and how did workers’ experiences compare to those in professional jobs? Using nationally representative survey data, we show that the pandemic increased the dissatisfaction of workers in... View Details

Keywords: Low-Wage Jobs; COVID-19 Pandemic; Pay; Job Satisfaction; Income Inequality; Stereotypes; Satisfaction; Compensation and Benefits; Working Conditions

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March 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Alaska Airlines: Empowering Frontline Workers to Make It Right

By: Ranjay Gulati, Andrew O'Connell and Caroline de Lacvivier

This case documents the ongoing efforts by Alaska Airlines to enhance its efforts to become more customer centric by empowering its employees using a service framework. It explores how the airline starts with a completely hands-off approach to empowerment in which... View Details

Keywords: Employee Empowerment; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Integration; Air Transportation Industry

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November–December 2024
Article

Loss of Peers and Individual Worker Performance: Evidence From H-1B Visa Denials

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Kirk Doran, Astrid Marinoni and Chungeun Yoon

We study how restrictive immigration policies that result in the unexpected loss of co-workers affect the performance of skilled migrants employed in organizations. Specifically, we examine the impact of the loss of team members on their co-workers’ performance in... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Performance Productivity; Employees; Human Capital; Ethnicity; Groups and Teams

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