Future of Work

Apr 28

Remote Work • Workplace Monitoring • Gamification

The world of work has been rapidly changing, accelerated by developments in technology and the constraints imposed by COVID-19. Organizations and workers are now faced with decisions about whether to develop in-person, remote or hybrid work policies. Embedded in these policies are questions of how working synchronously or asynchronously affects employees and organizations and of how to monitor workers without demotivating them or impinging on their ability to voice complaints. These choices must be taken seriously by labor and managers alike, given their potential to affect job satisfaction, turnover, productivity, management strategy, and worker voice. In particular, I focus on how changes to work monitoring, synchronization, and location are likely to reshape the future of work. Specifically, I have investigated: how workers in the same factory respond differently to quantification of their work depending on the complexity of their tasks; how recording music synchronously versus asynchronously affects performance of men and women; and how remote work impacts worker voice.