Overview

Employer practices such as hiring, scheduling, promotion, supervision, and on-the-job training determine workers’ day-to-day reality and long-term prospects in the labor market. The growing prevalence of independent contractors and contingent workers underscores the continued fissuring of employer-employee relationships.

Working Knowledge

Female Retail Assistant Checks Stock on tablet
Employer practices Last updated on April 23, 2024
Research Summary

A Win-Win for Business and Workers: Evidence from a Predictable Scheduling Intervention at Gap, Inc.

Given shifts in attitudes and legislation around irregular work hours, this study explores the effects of changes in scheduling practices on employee and business outcomes, finding benefits for both parties.

Oluwasekemi Odumosu

Last updated on April 23, 2024
Employer practices March 26, 2024
Research Summary

Consequences of Workplace Incivilities toward Women in Low-Wage Jobs

In honor of Women’s History Month, this research summary highlights the consequences of women’s exposure to misconduct in low-wage jobs, with the incivilities causing most of the targets to experience work-related anxiety and greater likelihood of job loss.

Oluwasekemi Odumosu

March 26, 2024
technicians talking near solar panels
Employer practices March 19, 2024
Article

Employers and Policymakers Can Help Build a Greener Workforce

As the US labor market begins to cool, it is important that the new work opportunities created by the Inflation Reduction Act are protected and expanded.

Joe Peck

March 19, 2024
Employer practices February 27, 2024
Article

How Companies Can Modernize Their Approach to CSR: Strategies for a Successful Company, Workforce, and Society

This piece offers strategies to navigate the evolving landscape of corporate social responsibility in light of societal demands for more human-centered interventions.

Oluwasekemi Odumosu

February 27, 2024

Research

Employer practices Brief Last updated on September 19, 2024

Extreme Heat at Work

This report offers the first nationally representative estimates of how outdoor and indoor workers are affected by extreme heat, highlighting that low-wage workers, defined as adults earning less than $15 an hour, face greater risks than higher-wage earners.

Lisa Clemans-Cope, Dulce Gonzalez, Sara McTarnaghan, Michael Karpman

WorkRise Research

Last updated on September 19, 2024
Employer practices Report Last updated on May 21, 2024

IKEA Self-Scheduling Intervention: Baseline Report

Widespread unpredictability in work scheduling leads to decreased job satisfaction, higher turnover rates, economic instability, and compromised worker health. To address these challenges, IKEA partnered with The Shift Project to develop a Self-Scheduling Intervention for its hourly workers to give them greater control over their shifts. They selected intervention and comparison stores to measure its impact on worker and business outcomes, and over four years, held weekly meetings to strategize and analyze data. This report contextualizes self-scheduling research, delves into pre-intervention conditions, introduces new features, outlines the research design, and explores future directions.

Grantee Research

Last updated on May 21, 2024
Employer practices Report December 13, 2023

Temporary Staffing Industry Testing Report

The temporary staffing industry is a $186 billion sector. The National Legal Advocacy Network team used matched-pair testing in Harris County, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, to generate evidence on potentially unlawful employment practices in this industry and found widespread racial and gender discrimination in access to work. These tests showed that agencies offered fewer job opportunities, lower wages, and less frequent follow-ups to workers who were women and/or Black than they did to Latinx workers and men.

Grantee Research

December 13, 2023
Employer practices Executive Summary October 18, 2023

Who Has Access to Paid Sick and Safe Leave?

A new report by Family Values at Work and World Policy Analysis Center charts access to paid sick and safe leave in the US and identifies the most equitable policies in effect.

Grantee Research

October 18, 2023
Employer practices Executive Summary June 26, 2023

A Workplace Divided: Survey Research and Stakeholder Engagement to Advance Equitable Workplaces

A national survey by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University explores workers' perceptions of discrimination and unfair treatment based on race and ethnicity. The survey reveals significant percentages of Asian-American, Black, and Latino workers experience discrimination in private-sector and government workplaces. Black workers are more likely to view workplace discrimination as a significant problem than white workers, with Black female workers reporting the highest levels of discrimination. The study highlights the impact of discrimination on career advancement and the need for government and employer interventions to promote workplace equity.

Carl E. Van Horn, Ronald Quincy, Jessica Starace, Anton House

Grantee Research

June 26, 2023


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