Improve the workplace in the future | MIT News

Whitney Zhang ’21 believes that the importance of assessing workers must be carried out wherever they are suitable for organizing charts.

Zhang is a doctoral student in the Department of Economics at MIT. She explores how technical and management decisions can make workers within the pay range affect workers.

“I’ve been interested in economics, economic impacts and related social issues for a long time,” Zhang said. “I want to apply my math skills to understand how policies and their impacts can be improved.”

Zhang is interested in how to improve workers’ conditions. She believes it is important to build relationships with policy makers with an emphasis on evidence-driven policy approach, while always remembering to place these policies on the policies that may affect. “We have to remember those who are affected by business operations and legislation,” she said.

She also realizes the complex confusion that political, social status and financial obligations organizations and their employees must navigate.

“Although I’m working on workers, it’s important to consider the entire complex ecosystem when addressing these challenges, including corporate incentives and the global economic situation,” she said.

The intersection of technology and labor policy

Zhang began to study employee productivity, artificial intelligence, and economic and labor market phenomena related to early stages of doctoral students, and often worked with doctoral students in the department.

Collaboration with doctoral students in economics shakked noy has drawn a 2023 study that studies Chatgpt as a tool to improve productivity. Their research found that this greatly improves workers’ productivity in writing tasks, initially for workers who initially perform the tasks worst.

“This is one of the earliest evidence on the productivity impact of generating AI and helps provide specific data on the impact of these types of tools on the workplace and labor market,” Zhang said.

In other ongoing research (“Determinants of irregular workers’ timelines”) Zhang is using payroll provider data to examine schedule unpredictability, investigating why companies adopt unpredictable schedules and how these schedules affect the quality of life of low-paying employees.

The dispatch project with Nathan Lazarus, a PhD student in economics at MIT, was motivated in part by existing sociological evidence, suggesting that unpredictable schedules for low-wage workers are associated with poor sleep and well-being. “We have seen a relationship between higher turnover and inadequate schedules, which shows workers preferring these schedules,” Zhang said.

At an academic roundtable, Zhang presented her results to Starbucks employees involved in the program and staffing. Participants wanted to learn more about the impact of different program practices on workers and their productivity. “These issues may reveal useful information from small businesses, large companies and others,” she said.

By conducting this study, Zhang hopes to better understand whether scheduling regulations can improve the quality of life of affected employees, while also considering potential unintended consequences. “Why are these schedules set in the way they are set?” she asked. “Does businesses using such a schedule need to increase regulation?”

Another project conducted by MIT economics doctoral student Arjun Ramani examines the link between offshore, remote work and related results. “Did the technical and management practices that make remote work possible further promote offshoring?” she asked. “Does organizations see huge gains in terms of efficiency? What impact does it have on us and offshore workers?”

Her work is funded through the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and the Washington Center for Fair Growth.

Put people in the center

Zhang observed that various human economics can bring together higher education. She followed the dual enrollment repertoire of high school, completing college-level courses with students from various population identities. “I like to focus on my work,” she said. “Training classes with diverse students, including veterans and mothers, including returning to school to complete their studies has made me even more curious about socio-economic issues and policies related to them.”

She later participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) at the MIT. She also completed an internship with the World Bank, worked as a summer analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and served as an assistant to a diversified faculty cohort, including MIT economists David Autor, Jon Gruber and Nina Roussille. Autor is the primary consultant for her PhD research and she cites the important influence of her supervisor.

“The (automatic) course, 14.03 (microeconomics and public policy), reinforces the connection between theory and practice,” she said. “I think the class shows that questions economics can answer are revelatory.”

PhD research reveals interesting avenues for Zhang, as does her relationship with her student peers and other faculty members. For example, she uses teacher connections to access hourly wage data to support her schedule and staff impact work. “Usually, economists have administrative data on income, but not hours,” she said.

Zhang is committed to improving the lives of others, which extends to her work outside the classroom. She is a tutor for the Chinatown Community Center University Visit Program in Boston and a member of the MIT Graduate Scholarship Group. When she doesn’t like spicy soup or paddling on Charles, she takes advantage of the opportunity to unzip art in W20 Arts Studios.

“I want to create time for myself outside of research and classrooms,” she said.

Zhang cites the benefits of MIT’s focus on cross-cooperation and encourages students to explore other disciplines. As an undergraduate student, Zhang trains in computer science and teaching her coding skills is crucial to her data work. Contact engineering also made her more interested in questions about how technology and workers interact.

Working with other scholars in the department improved Zhang’s inquiry. “I have become that kind of comprehensive student and professional who can identify and quantify impacts, which is invaluable for future projects,” she said. Zhang believes that exposure to different academic and research areas will help increase access to ideas and information.