A Stitch in Time: Work Complexity and the Divergent Effects of Employee Monitoring on Productivity

Directors Debate Series: Alan Benson is an Assistant Professor in the Work & Organizations Group at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota– Twin Cities. He received his PhD from the Institute for Work and Employment Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where his dissertation advisors were David Autor (MIT Economics) and Paul Osterman (MIT Sloan). He received his Bachelor’s degree from the ILR School at Cornell University. He is also on the Graduate Faculty of Minnesota’s Department of Applied Economics and the Minnesota Population Center (MPC), and is a member of the Social Media and Business Analytics Collaborative (SOBACO). His research is in personnel economics, a branch of labor economics that concerns employment issues within firms. He works with companies to analyze their compensation plans, incentives, and staffing practices for the primary purpose of improving organizational performance. He’s done research with business-to-business salespeople, retail salespeople, police, firefighters, nurses, and manufacturing workers, and his research has been covered by national news outlets like the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, NBC News, PBS Newshour, LA Times, Deseret, the Baltimore Sun, and others. His current projects examine the effects of monitoring on productivity, job transfer policies, promotions from sales to sales management, how workers evaluate employers’ reputations, and how managers screen job candidates.

The CIRHR Director's Debate is a new series of public talks given once a term aimed at students and alumni of the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources program and those interested in real-world HR and Labour Relations issues. Information about speakers and their presentations is available from the CIRHR Library after the event.