Associate Professor, SSA, University of Chicago
Susan Lambert is the co-Principal Investigator of EINet. She has conducted a series of studies on employer practices and employment conditions in low-level, hourly jobs with the goal of identifying ways to improve workers’ economic security, health, and well-being. The sites for Lambert’s research span both production and non-production industries, including retail, hospitality, financial services, transportation, and manufacturing, and both publicly-held and family-owned companies. Her research designs combine quantitative and qualitative strategies, from comparative organizational case-studies to, currently, a cluster-randomized field experiment of the causal effects of improved scheduling practices in a national retail firm. Lambert’s research has contributed to the “business case” for progressive employer practices by providing hard evidence that well-designed jobs can benefit both employees and employers.