How Meritocracy Can Backfire--and 5 Steps to Address That: Highlights of the new book "The Meritocracy Paradox" by MIT Sloan Professor Emilio J. Castilla, Co-Director of @mitiwer.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/4ybsd3xj

Congratulations to Tom Kochan @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social & Adam Seth Litwin and Ariel Avgar, both of @cornellilr.bsky.social! They have won an @equitablegrowth.bsky.social grant to study the effects of worker input on #AI strategies at @KaiserPermanente: tinyurl.com/mrybem8x

For their project, #EGgrantee(s) Adam Seth Litwin & Ariel Avgar of @cornellilr.bsky.social sky.social, along with Thomas Kochan of @mitiwer.bsky.social will use a case study to assess whether jointly negotiated AI strategies improve job quality and patient care. equitablegrowth.org/grants/bring...

At the blog I wrote about a new paper by @natewilmers.bsky.social , @zparolin.bsky.social , and @lukaslehner.bsky.social . We're living in a novel era of inequality discordance. What's going on?! asocial.substack.com/p/inequality...

Are decredentialed jobs a route to upward mobility? Prominent employers, from Microsoft to the State of Maryland, are increasingly dropping college degree requirements when hiring. Does this provide upward mobility for workers without a college degree? Matching job postings to h #sociology link

This paper from @tomlyttelton.bsky.social and @natewilmers.bsky.social is amazing. It shows that removing educational requirements can have big impacts for workers...except that employers don't really hire those workers below the normal education level anyway.

"Leaders cannot simply copy and paste their talent practices from others. They need diagnostic tools to assess their own organizations, identify their unique challenges, and adapt solutions & processes strategically..."—Emilio Castilla @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/yc462b38

Congratulations to Emilio J. Castilla, Co-Director of @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social! He has been named to the shortlist for the 2025 Thinkers50 Talent Award for his new book "The Meritocracy Paradox: Where Talent Management Strategies Go Wrong and How to Fix Them": tinyurl.com/3mt777d3

What is a workplace health and well-being committee--and why do you need one? Learn more in this new article from @mitsloan.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/4w2bubd7

IWER's August 2025 newsletter is now available online. The title of this issue is "'The Meritocracy Paradox' and More: New Works from IWER Researchers.” Read the August newsletter here: tinyurl.com/yk7bbc9p

‪New research from @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social & @hsph.harvard.edu finds that workplace health and well-being committees (HaWCs) can result in lower turnover & improvements in workers’ mental health. Read our new guide for managers about starting a HaWC program: tinyurl.com/yvs46sap

New in the @columbiaup.bsky.social blog: Professor Emilio J. Castilla of @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social, explains some key findings from his new book “The Meritocracy Paradox: Where Talent Management Strategies Go Wrong and How to Fix Them”: tinyurl.com/5dtrfnm6

“The Meritocracy Paradox: Where Talent Management Strategies Go Wrong and How to Fix Them,” a new book by @mitsloan.bsky.social Professor Emilio J. Castilla @mitiwer.bsky.social, will be published soon by @columbiaup.bsky.social & is now available for preorder: tinyurl.com/56cvrzan

Check out our new MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research compendium highlighting research on work and well-being : tinyurl.com/3wpwuydy

You might not think that forming a committee where frontline workers can share work-related health & well-being concerns would have all that much effect on a workplace. But it can. That’s what @elkelly.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social & colleagues found in a recent study: tinyurl.com/y4pej88v

There’s a succession dispute at the Mass.-based family-owned supermarket chain Market Basket, according to @bostonglobe.com. What would help? A mediator, advises Tom Kochan @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social. The situation needs “fewer lawyers,” according to Kochan: tinyurl.com/yhczt6mp

The Spring 2025 newsletter of the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research is now available online. The theme of this issue is "Exploring the Connections Between Work and Well-Being." Read it here: tinyurl.com/3uw29wsj

Virtual registration is still open for the "Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power" conference! Featuring an all-star lineup of labor economists, this one-day event also honors career of Dr. Michael Reich. 📅 June 6, 2025 | 8am - 5pm 🔗 Register today: irle.berkeley.edu/events/minim...

In a new essay for @equitablegrowth.bsky.social, @elkelly.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social reflects on America's job-quality crisis, how it fuels anger & fear that right-wing populist politicians capitalize on, and how to improve working conditions: tinyurl.com/2k2v35xz

"The crisis of poor job quality has encouraged right-wing populist leaders to pitch divisive rhetoric to struggling workers and their families..." @elkelly.bsky.social on drivers of poor job quality and concrete policy responses to address them 👇 #EssaySeries equitablegrowth.org/americas-job...

Our #EssaySeries on "The Rise of Populism and the Future of Economic Policy" is now live! It explores economic factors contributing to the rising support for authoritarian populism, as well as any potential policy solutions. Learn more & see all essays here. ⬇️ equitablegrowth.org/insights-exp...

Meritocracy has become an increasingly popular term recently. But Emilio Castilla @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social explains that his research suggests that saying an organization is meritocratic can increase the odds of bias in people-related decisions. tinyurl.com/muuna2j4

"College graduates this year are facing a very uncertain labor market," Tom Kochan of @mitiwer.bsky.social told Newsweek. "With employers not clear on whether the economy is going to go into a recession…the uncertainty is going to create a softer labor market…." tinyurl.com/mpt44yc7

A research team led by @elkelly.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social found that forming a committee where workers in e-commerce warehouses could share workplace health and well-being concerns significantly reduced employee turnover and improved employees’ mental health. tinyurl.com/y4pej88v

Why do #migrant workers in #China not complain against #labor violations? Duanyi Yang @cornellilr.bsky.social shows that most of these workers do not interpret labor violations as such because of their close local and ties with the employers. doi.org/10.1177/0019...

"There are more Americans working at Walmart than in all U.S. auto factories combined….The future of the middle class depends much more on the jobs that already surround us—service jobs—than on manufacturing jobs." —MIT Sloan Professor Zeynep Ton, in Harvard Business Review: tinyurl.com/2y2bxwj8

Cuts at NIOSH, a federal agency focused on workplace health and safety, could make workers across the U.S. less safe, slow research about how to prevent worker illness and injury, and shrink the pipeline of experts in occupational health and safety. hsph.harvard.edu/news/niosh-c...

Congratulations to MIT faculty members Susan Silbey and Lotte Bailyn! Silbey and Bailyn, who are both affiliated with @mitiwer.bsky.social, have just been named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, along with four other MIT scholars: tinyurl.com/4n52yrdd

I’m thrilled this is out! Job seekers are often hired into their contacts’ workplaces. We show that contacts’ informal networks in their workplace help job seekers get hired, but optimal networks look different in these settings.

Making Sense of Diverging Trends in Personal and Household Income Inequality: New findings from Zachary Parolin, @lukaslehner.bsky.social & @mitiwer.bsky.social's @natewilmers.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/264pe64r

Research by @natewilmers.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social & Maxim Massenkoff found Americans are most likely to be near people from different economic classes in affordable sit-down restaurants. This finding “popped out of our data,” Wilmers said in new @nytimes.com article: tinyurl.com/mwh2pdf8

In a @charterworks.com interview (behind a paywall), @elkelly.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social discusses her new research: Establishing a health & well-being committee as a form of worker voice “reduced turnover significantly” in the warehouses studied: tinyurl.com/yc5cz4ys

“The best leaders actively welcome information about concerns & good ideas, knowing that all leadership is somewhat insulated. They want to know about problems & good ideas so they don’t lose out.”-- Mary Rowe of @mitiwer.bsky.social & a former ombuds, in new MIT Sloan article: tinyurl.com/5fz96tcm

“My research was cited to diminish DEI. Actually, we should stay the course”: New opinion column in the Des Moines Register by Tom Kochan @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/mv5zny5s

In a recent @financialtimes.com article, Emilio Castilla @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social cautions that companies' attempts at meritocracy “may have unintended negative consequences for organisations & their employees if not carefully designed & implemented:” www.ft.com/content/87cd...

Michael Piore of MIT Economics, MIT Political Science & @mitiwer.bsky.social, on innovation: “If we looked in a different direction, we would find different technologies. The direction in which we choose to look...it seems to me, should be the welfare of society”: tinyurl.com/7ebxdh9a

Thanks for having me on the podcast!

"How do you transition from a life that's centered around your work…to one that isn’t?” That, Lotte Bailyn @mitsloan.bsky.social explained at a recent presentation, is the research question that motivated a new book she coauthored on the process of retiring:https://tinyurl.com/bd73ncne

Learn about recent research by @yaminette.bsky.social & Tom Kochan of @mitiwer.bsky.social, Arrow Minster, @psdwsomuch.bsky.social, & Duanyi Yang on measuring the connection between worker voice and job quality: tinyurl.com/47mv44me

Read our new compendium of research on worker voice from @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloan.bsky.social : tinyurl.com/3pf6zd9x

📢 Research Funding Opportunity! In partnership with Schmidt Sciences, we are seeking proposals from early career scholars conducting innovative field experiments on the labor economics of frontier AI. Expressions of interest due March 31. Learn more: shapingwork.mit.edu/call-for-pro... #EconSky

I am hiring a predoc at MIT to start this summer! We will work on various topics in labor economics - unions, minimum wages, imperfect competition, etc. Please apply and share ! #predoc @mitiwer.bsky.social #EconSky apply.interfolio.com/163492

Congratulations to @georgeward.bsky.social! George, who earned his PhD @mitiwer.bsky.social @mitsloanphd.bsky.social in 2022, and his coauthor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve have been named to the @thinkers50.com Radar Class of 2025 for their work on well-being in the workplace: tinyurl.com/5n67z3fj

Analyzing the distinct adjustment paths of US labor markets (places) and US workers (people) to increased Chinese import competition during the 2000s, from David Autor, David Dorn, Gordon H. Hanson, Maggie R. Jones, and Bradley Setzler https://www.nber.org/papers/w33424

A new edition of the @mitiwer.bsky.social newsletter is now available online. The theme is "Building an Economy that Works for Everyone." Read it here: mailchi.mp/mit/building...

Highlights of research from Eunmi Mun; Shawna Vican; & @elkelly.bsky.social @mitiwer.bsky.social on the effects of the Family and Medical Leave Act on women's career advancement: mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-t...

“Voice gap,” which measures a worker’s perceived gap between desired and actual influence at work, significantly impacts job-related outcomes, such as job satisfaction, according to new research by #CornellILR's Duanyi Yang. Read more: www.ilr.cornell.edu/news/researc...

The Upjohn Institute and the Russell Sage Foundation jointly support dissertation research on employment-related topics in any discipline, with particular interest in policy-relevant research pertaining to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Apply by Feb. 4.

Congratulations to @mitsloan.bsky.social's Professor Roberto Fernandez! news.mit.edu/2025/more-th...