From the Road to the Boardroom

This summer, ICS research assistants contributed to a broad range of studies examining how workers are paid, treated, and valued across very different corners of the economy — from delivery drivers navigating gig and contract work, to hospital and health system compensation structures, to the executive suites where compensation consulting firms shape pay at the top. Together, these projects reflect ICS's ongoing commitment to understanding compensation issues across the full spectrum of the workforce.

Last-mile delivery compensation: As part of an NSF-funded study, the research team invited delivery drivers across Buffalo and Central Florida to share their experiences through a survey — covering wages, working conditions, and management practices at Amazon, FedEx, USPS, and UPS. Our students and staff handed out postcards inviting drivers to complete the 25-minute survey on their own time with $25 compensation for participating. The result: 3,100+ drivers invited and 723 survey responses collected this summer alone.

Health care compensation: Other RAs turned their attention to compensation structures within the health care industry, building research materials and contact lists to support ongoing work in this space.

The compensation consulting industry: A third strand of research traced how today's executive compensation advisory landscape came to be — following the mergers, acquisitions, and organizational shifts among the firms that now shape executive pay across corporate America.

Here's what our research assistants had to say about their summer.

Rachel Zhang, BS '27

"This summer, I contributed to three major ICS research initiatives focused on last-mile delivery workers, health care compensation, and the evolution of the compensation consulting industry. I collected firsthand worker insights through field outreach, interviews, and transformed research into survey materials, industry roundtable resources, and a contacts list.

I most enjoyed conducting follow-up interviews with workers whose experiences reshaped my understanding of the delivery industry. I also loved getting to know my research team and exploring Buffalo and Orlando."

Elvis Coy, BS '27

"This summer, I traced the lineage and evolution of leading executive compensation consulting firms, with a focus on the mergers, acquisitions, and organizational transitions that shaped the industry. Through this work, I learned how today's executive compensation advisory landscape emerged and the connections among its major firms."

Lindsey Galligan, BS '28

"This summer, I immersed myself in the compensation consulting industry by building a professional network that includes ILRies working in the field. I also constructed firm profiles that map out the industry landscape. I loved learning how compensation intersects with so many different industries! I also really enjoyed working closely with the ICS team— we collaborate very well together, and I'm looking forward to what's to come this semester, including the relaunch of the Cornell Compensation Club (C3)!!"

Isabella Florendo, A&S '29

"This summer, I had the opportunity to work on the Last Mile Delivery Project where we collected first-hand data from 3,100+ delivery drivers at Amazon, FedEx, USPS, and UPS across Buffalo and Central Florida, building a dataset to compare wages, working conditions, and management practices. This helped us discover differences in drivers' experiences across the big companies.

I learned how complex and how much work goes on behind the scenes to get a package delivered to someone's door — and most especially the different challenges drivers face per company that connect to the US consumerism culture."

Benjamin Vigueras Martinez, MS, ILR '26

"During the summer, I mainly focused on primary data collection. We supported the dissemination of a survey designed to gather information directly from workers about their employment arrangements, working conditions, compensation, and experiences in the last-mile delivery industry. We managed to get 723 responses!

My favorite part about this experience was getting to talk to some of the workers and understand their motivations. I also enjoyed getting to know the rest of the research team — working with them was fun."

Fieldwork, in Photos

Some of the summer's fieldwork took RAs out to residential streets and parking lots across Buffalo and Central Florida, inviting delivery drivers to take part in the last-mile delivery study.

[Photo A: Rachel approaches a parked FedEx Express van on a residential street to hand the driver a survey invitation postcard.]

[Photo B: Ben hands a survey postcard to an Amazon flex driver stopped at a red light, one of many roadside outreach moments from the summer.]

And of course, the season wrapped up with a celebration back on campus — a Summer RA lunch and Fall Kickoff bringing the ICS RA team together at 133 Statler Drive. 

[Photo C: The ICS summer research assistants celebrated a successful end of busy summer of fieldwork. From the left to the right Temporary Research Support Mindy Pan, PhD Student Suyong Hwang, Professor and Academic Director, Diane Burton, undergraduate RAs, Rachel Zhang, Lindsey Galligan, and Elvis Coy, and PhD student, Simon Gim]. Additional assistants who contributed to the summer research and missed from the photo include Isabella Florendo, A&S '29, Benjamin Vigueras Martinez, MS, ILR '26, and Celine Chauviere, BS '26.

Thank you to all of our Summer 2026 research assistants for their curiosity and hard work across such a wide range of compensation research — from the road to the hospital to the boardroom. Their contributions are helping build a deeper, more complete picture of how pay and working conditions shape people's lives across the American workforce.