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Managing the challenges posed by the changing nature of workManaging the challenges posed by the changing nature of work   

Multiple forces of change – demographics, technology, automation, globalization – are coming together at an unprecedented pace and scale. How can leaders prepare their organization and create the workforce of the future? 

Spotlight

How Gen AI Could Change the Value of Expertise

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Matt Sigelman & Michael Fenlon
  • MAR 2025
In the near future, gen AI is likely to affect some 50 million jobs, automating away elements of some jobs and augmenting workers’ abilities in others. This shift demands a fundamental rethinking of organizational structure, how businesses approach talent management, and how individuals navigate their careers.

Navigating Opportunity: Career Information and Mobility in Low-Wage Employment

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Kerry McKittrick, Amanda Holloway, et al.
  • APRIL 2025
There is an urgent need for a system of career navigation that will help all workers and learners advance. In a new paper, we share early findings from a multi-year, mixed-methods study of career navigation among low-wage workers.

The Partnership Imperative: Community Colleges, Employers, & America's Chronic Skills Gap

By: Joseph B. Fuller & Manjari Raman
  • DEC 2022
To close America’s chronic middle skills gap, U.S. employers have to partner much more actively than in the past with local community colleges. Due to waves of disruptive automation, the nature of middle skills jobs is evolving much faster than educators’ abilities to change curriculum.

Podcast 

Upwork’s Hayden Brown on bridging volatility with contingency

  • 08 MAY 2025 | MANAGING THE FUTURE OF WORK
"Freelance by choice" can sound like a rationalization—or putting on a brave face—but has the contract labor market improved for white-collar workers, as more, particularly younger professionals, opt in? A look at the benefits for both sides of the bargain and how AI changes the calculus.
"Freelance by choice" can sound like a rationalization—or putting on a brave face—but has the contract labor market improved for white-collar workers, as more, particularly younger professionals, opt in? A look at the benefits for both sides of the bargain and how AI changes the calculus.

Featured Research 

Hidden Workers: Caregivers

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman, & Francis Hintermann
  • OCT 2024
Companies have long ignored the caregiving responsibilities of employees, compromising both performance and access to talent. With the rising burden of childcare and eldercare, it's in the best interest of employers to invest in fostering a care culture—one that attracts caregivers on the margins of the workforce and helps current employees succeed.

The American Opportunity Index

  • OCT 2024
The 2024 American Opportunity Index: The latest evaluation of how well corporate employers promote economic mobility shows that top-ranked firms are much more likely to hire workers without college degrees; pay more than twice than the lowest ranked firms for the same job; and are twice as likely to promote from within. The Index also reveals that more than half of firms promoted less and 4 in 10 hired fewer individuals without a college degree.

The Gift of Global Talent: How Migration Shapes Business, Economy & Society

By: William R. Kerr
  • MAY 2020
The global race for talent is on, with countries and businesses competing for the best and brightest. William R. Kerr combines insights and lessons from business, government, and individual decision making to explore the data and ideas that should drive the next wave of immigration policy and business practice.

Reports 

Building From the Bottom Up

By: Joseph B. Fuller & Manjari Raman

Hidden Workers: Part-Time Potential

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman, Eva Sage-Gavin, & Francis Hintermann

Building the On-Demand Workforce

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman, James Palano, Allison Bailey, Nithya Vaduganathan, Elizabeth Kaufman, Renée Laverdière, & Sibley Lovett

The Caring Company

By: Joseph B. Fuller & Manjari Raman

Faculty 

Lynda M. Applegate
Prithwiraj Choudhury
Joseph B. Fuller
Shane Greenstein
Nien-he Hsieh
William R. Kerr
Karen G. Mills
Frank Nagle
Jan W. Rivkin
Raffaella Sadun
Willy C. Shih
Christopher T. Stanton
Sandra J. Sucher
Jorge Tamayo
Mitchell B. Weiss

Cases 

Influencer-led brand building: Hairitage and the McKnights

By: William R. Kerr, Daniel O'Connor, & James Palano
  • 26 AUG 2024
Mindy McKnight leveraged social media to build a multi-million-dollar business, starting with YouTube hairstyle tutorials in 2009 and expanding into brand sponsorships, licensing, and product ownership. By 2024, she and her twin daughters had amassed over 40 million followers and launched two successful brands. As McKnight prepared to expand her brand into new stores, she faced strategic decisions on sustaining growth and adapting to an evolving social media landscape.

Chime Solutions

By: Shai Bernstein, William R. Kerr, Christopher Stanton, Raymond Kluender, & Mel Martin
  • 7 FEB 2024
Chime Solutions, a customer contact firm focused on hiring from underserved communities, faced major challenges when the COVID-19 pandemic forced nearly all employees to work remotely, disrupting its employee-focused model and increasing attrition rates. Meanwhile, the company was growing rapidly but struggled with mounting debt from maintaining facilities in multiple locations. To sustain its mission of uncovering hidden talent, Chime needed to address both its talent retention and financial stability.

Wellthy: The Economics of Caring

By: Joseph B. Fuller & Brian Trelstad
  • 28 FEB 2020 (Revised 30 JAN 2024)
In 2014, Lindsay Jurist-Rosner (MBA '09) founded Wellthy to help working professionals coordinate care for loved ones with chronic illnesses or aging parents. Wellthy's growth remained slow until she piloted a B2B product. Jurist-Rosner wondered whether Wellthy should fully pivot from B2C to B2B, how fast she should ramp up the recruitment of care coordinators, and as she looked to raise another round of capital, whether she should position Wellthy as a B Corporation.

Generative AI and the Future of Work

By: Christopher Stanton & Matt Higgins
  • 22 DEC 2023
Generative AI seemed poised to reshape the world of work, including the higher-wage, white-collar jobs typically pursued by MBA graduates. Informed by the latest research, this case explores generative AI's potential impacts on work, productivity, value creation, and the labor market.

Media Coverage 

How AI is reshaping HR

Re: Joseph Fuller
  • 21 Apr 2025
  • | 
  • Charter

The New Gender Gaps

Re: Joseph Fuller
  • 16 Apr 2025
  • | 
  • Harvard Magazine

Reskilling the Workforce With AI: Harvard Business School’s Raffaella Sadun

Re: Raffaella Sadun
  • 19 Mar 2025
  • | 
  • Me, Myself, and AI

Videos 

  • 11 Dec 2018
  • Re: William R. Kerr

William Kerr on Potential Changes to the H1-B Visa Program

William Kerr on Potential Changes to the H1-B Visa ProgramWilliam Kerr on Potential Changes to the H1-B Visa Program
  • 11 Dec 2018
  • Re: William R. Kerr
  • 24 Oct 2024
  • Re: Joseph Fuller

AI & Workforce Transformation

AI & Workforce TransformationAI & Workforce Transformation
  • 24 Oct 2024
  • Re: Joseph Fuller

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Managing the Future of Work
Manjari Raman
Program Director & Senior Researcher
Harvard Business School
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6288
Email: mraman+hbs.edu
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