Abstract: We present a natural field experiment on promoting pay equity through simple modifications to the salary review process in a large technology firm, involving 623 middle managers and 8,951 employees. Our treatments provided a gender-blind reallocation of the salary increase budget available to middle managers, aimed at promoting pay equity, along with different variants of corresponding decision guidance. All treatments substantially reduced the gender gap in salary increases, far exceeding a purely mechanical effect of the budget reallocation. Moreover, the treatments do not appear to have undermined warranted performance differentiation in salary increases.

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of impending termination on employee behavior, using comprehensive data from 3,340 employees of a retail chain. Employees who were dismissed exhibit a sharp increase in absenteeism around the time they were given notice. In contrast, employees who resigned show only a moderate increase in absenteeism toward the end of their employment relationship, which is, however, not particularly pronounced around the time they gave notice. The conclusion of a mutual termination agreement between the employer and the employee even tends to be followed by a decrease in absenteeism.

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between absenteeism and firm performance using detailed operating metrics from 1,387 stores of a retail chain over a 36-month period. Contrary to the prevailing view that absenteeism is strictly detrimental to firm performance, this study provides evidence that presenteeism–working despite illness–entails hidden costs. The relationship between absenteeism and sales is non-monotonic, exhibiting an inverted U-shape. In particular, a moderate level of absenteeism of about 4 percent is associated with higher sales than perfect attendance. Furthermore, leveraging public health data, this study shows that sales and service quality deteriorate when actual absenteeism is lower than predicted by the acute regional spread of respiratory disease. This implies that presenteeism adversely affects firm performance. Absenteeism management strategies should therefore not myopically target perfect attendance, but rather a level of absenteeism that aligns with employee health.