Rigorous and Relevant Employment Research
The research conducted by IWER scholars is motivated by important real-world questions and challenges that will help shape work’s future. Our faculty members' research projects address a wide range of timely topics, from identifying sources of income inequality to reducing bias in organizational processes.
“If you organize work so that people are doing the same simple, repetitive thing day after day, they are less likely to be learning and developing human capital than if you have a job rotation where people move across multiple tasks within a workplace.”Read More
New Research by IWER Faculty
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Institute for Work and Employment Research How Job Tasks Can Contribute to Higher Pay for Frontline Workers
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Institute for Work and Employment Research Bringing Worker Voice Into Generative AI
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Institute for Work and Employment Research How The Family and Medical Leave Act Helped Women’s Careers
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Institute for Work and Employment Research Gendered Language in Job Postings Has Little Effect on Applicant Behavior, New Research Finds
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Institute for Work and Employment Research How Norwegian Businesses Respond to Increases in Unionization
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Institute for Work and Employment Research Shedding New Light on Contract Employment in the U.S.
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Current IWER Faculty Projects
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Worker Well-Being
Professor Erin L. Kelly studies ways to redesign work to benefit both employees and firms. She has been leading a study that seeks to improve job quality in warehouses as well as workers’ health and well-being. Her work also investigates how work-family challenges can be managed.
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Reducing Bias in Organizations
Professor Emilio J. Castilla researches people management processes within organizations. His projects include studying the impact of people analytics and other technological advances on key employment outcomes.
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Inequality and Economic Mobility
Professor Nathan Wilmers studies wage inequality and economic mobility. He investigates topics such as the effects of how work is organized, and the tasks and skills involved in jobs, on workers' economic mobility.
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Labor Markets
Professor Anna Stansbury studies labor markets, with a particular focus on market power. Her work includes quantifying the micro- and macroeconomic effects of unionization and investigating firms’ incentives to comply with labor and employment law.
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Skills Training and Contract Employment
Professor Paul Osterman has conducted extensive research on skills development. He is currently studying the implications of contract employment and freelance work for worker well-being and organizational performance.
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Worker Voice
Professor Thomas A. Kochan focuses on worker voice. He is currently exploring how to bring the voice of the workforce into the development of generative artificial intelligence applications.
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Conflict Management
Professor Mary P. Rowe’s work explores topics related to negotiation and conflict management, including the organizational ombuds profession, harassment and bullying, micro-inequities and micro-affirmations, and the role of bystanders in organizations.
Inequality and Worker Activism
Recent Publications by IWER Faculty
Díaz-Linhart, Yaminette, Thomas Kochan, Arrow Minster, Dongwoo Park, and Duanyi Yang. British Journal of Industrial Relations. Forthcoming.
Stansbury, Anna. ILR Review Vol. 78, No. 1 (2025): 190-216.
Cilke, Taylor and Mary Rowe. CREST Security Review, October 2024.
Kochan, Thomas and John S. Ahlquist. Harvard Business Review, October 7, 2024.
Kochan, Thomas. CommonWealth Beacon, October 2, 2024.
Stansbury, Anna. The Hill, September 12, 2024.
Kochan, Thomas. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 2024.
Kochan, Thomas. Boston Globe, August 2024.
Osterman, Paul. Review of Our Least Important Asset: Why the Relentless Focus on Finance and Accounting Is Bad for Business and Employees, by Peter Cappelli. ILR Review, August 2024.
Kelly, Erin L., Kirsten F. Siebach, Grace DeHorn, and Megan Lovejoy. PLoS ONE Vol. 19, No. 7 (2024): e0305334.
