The Shift Project

7/7 - 🏛️ Policy implications: Results support PSL mandates as effective tool for establishing minimum job quality standards. Federal PSL mandate could address current patchwork of state coverage while delivering public health benefits! #PaidSickLeave #PublicHealth

6/7 - 📅 Study uniquely examines schedule instability as potential margin of adjustment—finding no increase in last-minute cancellations, on-call shifts, or reduced advance notice. Suggests firms don't shift costs to scheduling practices!

5/7 - 💼 Important finding: No evidence firms offset PSL costs through other channels of adjustment. No cuts to wages, health insurance, retirement benefits, or schedule stability. This addresses key concern about unintended consequences of mandates.

4/7 - 📈 Key findings: PSL mandates increased worker access to paid sick leave from 46% to 62% in treatment states, while control states saw minimal change (37% to 39%). Workers also 3pp less likely to work while sick when PSL laws in effect. #PublicHealth

3/7 - 🏪 Research focuses on service sector workers who typically lack PSL access but face high disease exposure through customer contact. The study uses 68,930 workers at 204 service companies to investigate implementation of 11 PSL laws from 2017-2023. #PaidSickLeave

2/7 - Research from Tyler Woods, @dschneider.bsky.social and @kristenharknett.bsky.social examines effects of state paid sick leave mandates on service sector workers using stacked diff-in-diff methods. @harvardkennedy.bsky.social @ucsfhealth.bsky.social

Estimating the Impact of State Paid Sick Leave Laws on Worker Outcomes in the U.S. Service Sector, 2017–2023 - The Shift Project Read the Full Article In the absence of a federal paid sick leave (PSL) standard, numerous U.S. states have passed […]

1/7 - 📊 New research on paid sick leave laws finds positive effects for workers and public health. Study of 68K+ service workers shows state mandates increase PSL access by 14pp and reduce working while sick by 3pp—with no negative spillovers. shift.hks.harvard.edu/estimating-t...

5/5 Currently, workplace technologies are minimally regulated in the U.S. These findings suggest that job satisfaction and retention in the service sector, specifically among older workers, could be improved by policies that reduce invasive monitoring in the workplace.

4/5 But some workplace technology actually seems to improve older workers’ experience on the job! Rewards for speed of work & the use of leaderboards at work were both associated with HIGHER job satisfaction.

3/5 How does exposure to technology affect how much older workers like their jobs? Sales tech was not shown to impact job satisfaction or retention, but exposure to surveillance tech that punishes workers for slowness was associated with a higher likelihood of intending to look for a new job.

homer simpson says to start press any key where 's the any key ? ALT: homer simpson says to start press any key where 's the any key ?

2/5 Shift data show that workers above the age of 50 are exposed to lots of technology and monitoring at work: 87% report dealing with at least one form of sales technology (like online ordering or self-checkout), and 60% say that they would be sanctioned for working too slowly.

New Technology, Older Workers: How Workplace Technology is Associated with Indicators of Job Retention - The Shift Project Read the Full Article Middle-aged and older adults who are employed in precarious, high-strain jobs may face challenges to continued […]

1/5 - The US workforce is aging, and older service sector workers already face tough conditions. Does new workplace tech help or hurt them? Our new paper explores the impact! @dschneider.bsky.social‬ ‪@kristenharknett.bsky.social‬ @leahrabrams.bsky.social‬ shift.hks.harvard.edu/new-technolo...

8/8 - 🎯 POLICY ACTION: OSHA’s new proposed federal heat standard (August 2024) covers outdoor & indoor workers! Proposed rule would require employers to protect workers when temps hit 80°F+ indoors, protecting 36M workers nationwide!
✅ Public hearing: June 16-mark your calendar!

7/8 - 📋 Employers are not doing their part: only 24% have heat policies, and 41% of workers don't know if protections exist. Often, policies shift responsibility for cooling and resting onto workers, making them choose between their health and their work.

6/8 - INDOOR workers feel trapped by heat: many stick their heads in FREEZERS or retreat to cars with AC during breaks. 88% can't control their workplace AC, and some need central CORPORATE APPROVAL just to adjust the thermostat. #WorkerSafety

5/8 - ⚠️ Indoor heat exposure has serious health consequences: 61% of workers had heat-related headaches, 58% fatigue, 43% nausea, and 17% dangerous heart rate spikes. With more heat waves, workers across all types of workplaces are at risk. 🌡️

4/8 - 🏪 The problem spans ALL service industries - it's not just the "obvious" hot spots:
While warehouses (63%) and fast-food kitchens (58%) top the list, workers at coffee shops (41%), retail stores (40%), and even pharmacies face dangerous heat exposure.

3/8 - 🔥 Heat exposure in the workplace is the norm, not the exception, even for indoor workers:
• 65% of indoor service sector workers feel overheated at work
• 45% experience temps over 80°F (OSHA's danger threshold)
This isn't just about outdoor work or kitchens anymore.

2/8- New research from @hanashepherd.bsky.social, @kristenharknett.bsky.social, Henri Jackson
@RutgersU @Kennedy_School @UCSFNurse reveals an emerging crisis in America's stores. #WorkerSafety #RetailWorkers #OSHA #ClimateChange #LaborRights #HeatSafety #WorkplaceJusticeLab #HeatWave

Heat Exposure in Indoor Service Sector Workplaces - The Shift Project Read the Full Article A new report from the Shift Project highlights the growing problem of indoor heat exposure among […]

1/8 - 🚨 BREAKING: Summer is coming! New research finds that nearly half of INDOOR retail workers are regularly exposed to dangerous heat levels at work - and most can't even control their own air conditioning.

<em>Journal of Marriage and Family</em> | NCFR Family Science Journal | Wiley Online Library Objective We assess how the distribution of parents across firms contributes to parenthood wage gaps in a low-wage US labor market and examine the role of understudied compensating differentials rel...

New paper with @CharlotteOHerr @DannyJSchneider @KristenHarknett is out in @JMF_NCFR!
"Between-firm sorting and parenthood wage gaps in the US service sector"
We provide the first estimates of how between-firm sorting drives US parenthood wage.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

7/7 - The increase in California’s fast food minimum wage has significantly boosted workers’ wages, and without adverse impacts on scheduling stability or benefits. Still, there is much more work to be done to improve job quality in the fast food industry.

6/7 - Employers could have adjusted to the minimum wage increase by cutting benefits offered to employees, but we see no change in workers’ access to benefits like health insurance and paid sick leave.

5/7 - We find no evidence that fast food employers reduced workers’ hours or schedule stability in response to the minimum wage increase. There is also no evidence that workers suffered more labor violations, like wage theft, after the increase.

4/7 - Shift data show that California fast food workers experienced an average pay raise of $2.50/hour after the minimum wage hike. Noncompliance exists, but the share of workers earning less than $20/hour dropped by 60 pp. against fast food workers in comparison states.

Early Effects of California’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage: Large Wage Increases with No Effects on Hours, Scheduling, or Benefits  - The Shift Project This report aims to illuminate the state of compliance with California’s core labor standards and the opportunities and barriers to make them real for the majority of workers they cover.

3/7 – TLDR: wages increased sharply, with no negative effects on hours, staffing, scheduling, or benefits. Read on for the details
shift.hks.harvard.edu/early-effect...

2/7 New research from @shift-project.bsky.social sheds light on the early impacts of the large increase in California’s fast food minimum wage that went into effect earlier this year. @DannyJSchneider @KristenHarknett @Kennedy_School @HarvardMWC

a cartoon of spongebob and patrick in front of a television ALT: a cartoon of spongebob and patrick in front of a television

1/7 - What happened when California raised the minimum wage for Fast Food workers to $20/hour last April? Did worst-case projections come to pass??? #fastfood #minwage #CA