JC Tretter ’13 talks in an interview about broken bones, ruffling feathers, a bum knee, almost quitting football, constant eating, the fun of pro football, what’s next (not lawyering, fyi) and Cornell places he loves.
ILR School Events
See all eventseCornell Keynote — Progress toward gender equity in most industries — especially in leadership — continues to be disappointingly slow. While there are many blockers of progress, one particular hiring practice stands out: In informal hiring situations, managers will often devise a shortlist of potential hires. The informality of that shortlist — and the familiarity with candidates — reproduces implicit and systemic bias by its very informality. In short, hiring managers know people who look and think like them, and they are the people who typically get shortlisted and hired. Managers then end up missing out on the best talent available to them. New research by Professor Brian Lucas and a team at Cornell’s ILR School finds that when you make your shortlist longer to include more women, you reduce the risk of overlooking strong female candidates who may be better suited for the role than typical male shortlisters. Why deprive your organization of the best, most-qualified talent? Make your shortlist longer and you’ll not only make smarter hiring decisions, but you’ll also be helping to reduce systemic and implicit bias in your workplace. Minimal effort, maximal return.
Guo Xu, Berkeley Beyond the War: Public Service and the Transmission of Gender Norms This paper combines personnel records of the U.S. federal government with census data to study how shocks to the gender composition of an organization can persistently shift the gender norms of its workers. We exploit city-by-department variation in the sudden expansion of female clerical employment driven by America’s entrance into World War I, and find that daughters of civil servants exposed to female co-workers are more likely to work later in life, command higher income, and have fewer children. The effects are driven by exposed fathers and daughters in their teenage years at the time of exposure. We also show that cities exposed to a larger increase in female federal workers saw persistently higher female labor force participation in the public sector, as well as modest increases in private sector labor force participation. Collectively, the results are thus consistent with both the vertical and horizontal transmission of gender norms, and highlight how increasing gender representation within an organization can have broader labor market implications.
Future of Work Fellowships
The ILR Future of Work fellowship program supports postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students who work with our world-leading faculty on innovative and impactful research projects.
This fellowship program is designed to promote the benefits of strong collaboration between newer researchers and resident faculty members in studying impactful topics related to the future of work. Fellows and their faculty sponsors alike are enabled to address challenging research questions and break out of any stereotypes or default thinking around the future of work.
Assistant Professor Justin Bloesch, whose research covers labor economics and macroeconomics, joined the ILR faculty in the fall.
ILRies Change
the Future of Work.
The Martin P. Catherwood Library is the most comprehensive resource on labor and employment in North America, offering expert research support through reference services, instruction, online guides and access to premier collections.