job design – OM in the News

Furniture Glut in Silicon Valley

One man’s loss is another man’s gain.

The rise of remote work, an economic slowdown, and tighter access to capital have forced tech companies to retreat or disappear. The situation is especially dire in the San Francisco area where prime office space has been vacated. Once destined to the landfill, the barely-used furniture is now finding new homes thanks to resellers capitalizing on the excesses of a certain corporate culture and oversized operations.

Video Spotlight: Is Herman Miller […]

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2023-03-18T16:54:05+00:00March 19, 2023|Tags: carbon footprint, competitivness, forecasting, job design, location, product design, strategic capacity management, sustainability, value analysis|

The Auto Industry Courts Laid-Off Tech Workers

Tech workers are needed now to help build the cars of the future.

The layoffs by Google, Meta, Amazon, and other tech giants have been a boon for the auto industry. Indeed, a variety of software skills are required to develop new concepts and build tomorrow’s cars. Because auto makers’ recruiting efforts face some stiff competition from other sectors, they are creating an attractive workplace for techies.

Video Spotlight: The Future of Driving? | Coding the Car | […]

By Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.|2023-02-02T23:05:38+00:00February 12, 2023|Tags: automation, competitivness, flexible-manufacturing, job design, product design, productivity, robots, technology|

Reduced Work Week and Productivity

A recent global study by nonprofit 4 Day Week Global found that participants in a 32-hour reduced work week experiment were very pleased with the results.

Employees were paid their normal 40-hour pay, but they only had to work 32 hours each week. While not all participants responded in the follow-up survey, employees who did rated the experience very highly, as did the companies they worked for.

Video Spotlight:

Should we move to a four-day workweek? (Aug 5, […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-01-04T06:40:05+00:00January 4, 2023|Tags: efficiency, job design, productivity, working conditions|

Chick-fil-A’s Three-Day Workweek

A Chick-fil-A restaurant in Miami has gone to a 3-day workweek.

As Chick-fil-A restaurants are not open on Sundays, they have created 2 groups—referred to as pods. Each pod works 3 consecutive 13- to 14-hour days, and then has 4 days off. They also have one seven-day stretch of time off per month, and rotate weekends off.

In addition to the employees that are in the pods, they have other employees that follow more traditional schedules.

The 3-day workweek appeals to many workers. While […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-11-27T21:13:20+00:00November 27, 2022|Tags: job design, lean operations, productivity, scheduling, waste reduction, work force scheduling|