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Workers and the Workplace

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Demand for educated, versatile workers who can interpret complex information and adapt to innovation is higher than ever. RAND pursues research that helps people, organizations, and governments understand how workers can remain engaged and productive in a changing global economy. Studies address workforce development, gender equity in the workplace, working conditions, and workplace wellness programs.

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Rage Against the Machine? How AI Could Affect the Future of Work
Understanding how technology and artificial intelligence have—and have not—affected jobs in the past can provide insights on the future of the American workforce. What is the relationship between occupational exposure and technologies, wages, and employment related to artificial intelligence?
Oct 11, 2023
Research Brief
Financial Incentives for Businesses Can Increase Employment of People with Criminal Records
Connecting individuals with criminal histories to jobs benefits both them and society, but employers are hesitant to hire them. Modest direct financial incentives such as tax credits could motivate employers to hire more people with prior convictions.
Oct 2, 2023

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Report
Strategies to Diversify the K–12 Teacher Workforce
All students—especially those of color—benefit academically and socially from having teachers who are people of color. Ways to recruit and retain more diverse teachers include lowering the cost of becoming a teacher, increasing the diversity of the applicant pool, and building positive collegial relationships and inclusive school environments.
Sep 19, 2022
Report
Support to the DoD Cyber Workforce Zero-Based Review: Developing a Repeatable Process for Conducting ZBRs Within DoD
The zero-based review (ZBR) process described in this report constitutes a transparent, repeatable process with which the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) can conduct future ZBRs across the DoD cyber enterprise.
Sep 19, 2022
Journal Article
Technology and Data Implications for the Public Health Workforce
The article identifies where the technology and data sectors can contribute skills, expertise, and assets in support of innovative workforce models and augment the development of public health workforce competencies.
Sep 14, 2022
News Release
Landmark Women's Reproductive Health Survey Shows Need for Improvements in DoD Reproductive Health Care
Improvements to reproductive health care services provided by the U.S. Department of Defense would allow DoD to better meet the needs of female service members and address the high rate of unintended pregnancies among active-duty service women.
Sep 13, 2022
Commentary
How the Dobbs v. Jackson Ruling Could Affect U.S. National Security
Women are an integral part of the U.S. military and DoD civilian workforce. Limiting their access to legal abortion services will affect their health and could decrease force readiness. It could also raise health care, child care, and education costs, and affect recruitment and retention.
Sep 13, 2022
Report
Criminal History Record Information Sharing with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency: Education and Training Materials for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Partners
This report presents materials to facilitate more effective and efficient criminal history record information sharing with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, which performs federal background investigations.
Sep 7, 2022
Tool
Addressing Disparities in the U.S. Military
Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in military career success and representation are a long-standing problem. To help inform efforts to address this, researchers created the Military Demographic Equity Machine tool.
Sep 6, 2022
Research Brief
Helping Caregivers Thrive? An Evaluation of a Direct Care Worker Retention Program
The 12-month program, Transformational Healthcare Readiness through Innovative Vocational Education, took a multipronged approach to addressing employment barriers for entry-level health care workers across three health systems from 2019 to 2021.
Sep 6, 2022
Report
An Evaluation of a Multisite, Health Systems–Based Direct Care Worker Retention Program: Key Findings and Recommendations
A mixed-methods evaluation of a program to help stem the loss of newly hired entry-level caregivers found no positive effect on retention or financial sustainability.
Sep 6, 2022
Blog
Back to School, Vaccinating Kids, Space Security: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the well-being of America's educators, the effort to vaccinate kids and teens, security in outer space, and more.
Sep 2, 2022
Commentary
Removing Barriers to Diversity and Inclusion in the Military
Efforts to improve representation and remove barriers for personnel with protected characteristics are seen as essential steps for modern militaries, but have not gone without controversy. The UK Armed Forces could take a more-strategic approach to leveraging diversity to elevate it as a strategic enabler of military fighting power in the contemporary threat environment.
Aug 29, 2022
Blog
Diversity in the Military, Telemedicine Abortion, China and Taiwan: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the benefits of increasing and maintaining diversity in the armed forces, the challenges of telemedicine abortion, whether Indo-Pacific countries are backing China or Taiwan, and more.
Aug 26, 2022
Essay
How Educators Are Faring in the COVID Era
Teachers and principals are twice as likely as other workers to experience frequent job-related stress. They report higher rates of depression and burnout, and much lower rates of resilience. What can school districts do to better support them?
Aug 25, 2022
News Release
Fewer FEMA Employees Experienced Workplace Harassment or Discrimination in 2021 than 2019; More Progress Needed
The risk of FEMA employees experiencing harassment or discrimination in 2021 was significantly less than in 2019, but one in five employees still experienced at least one civil rights violation during the preceding year.
Aug 24, 2022
Journal Article
Explaining Heterogeneity in Use of Non-wage Benefits: The Role of Worker and Firm Characteristics in Disability Accommodations
Using administrative data in Oregon, we document significant dispersion in accommodation rates across workers and firms. We decompose the variance in accommodation use, finding that firm characteristics explain 29% of this variance.
Aug 24, 2022
Report
Harassment and Discrimination at FEMA Is Declining, but More Progress Is Needed
About one in five FEMA employees surveyed experienced at least one gender-based/sexual or race/ethnicity–based civil rights violation in the past year. This is an improvement since 2019, but how can FEMA further its efforts to develop and maintain a workplace in which all employees are treated with professionalism and respect?
Aug 24, 2022
Report
Diversity Can Enhance Military Effectiveness
Embracing diversity in the military could bring significant operational and strategic advantages. For example, diversity is important in developing effective, ethical, and trustworthy AI systems. How can the UK and U.S. armed forces remove barriers to inclusion and attract more diverse workforces?
Aug 23, 2022
Report
National Guard Youth ChalleNGe: Program Progress in 2020–2021
The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program serves young people experiencing difficulty in traditional high school. This report documents program trends in 2020–2021 and presents analyses on the Job ChalleNGe program.
Aug 22, 2022
Blog
Homelessness in L.A., Russia's Military Woes, Educator Morale: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on breaking the cycle of incarceration and homelessness, Russia’s ongoing military struggles, NATO expansion, and more.
Aug 19, 2022
Journal Article
Association Among Trust in Health Care Providers, Friends, and Family, and Vaccine Hesitancy
Parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children trust various types of individuals along different dimensions of trust.
Aug 17, 2022

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Lisa M. Harrington

Senior Operations Researcher

Lisa Harrington is a senior operations researcher at the RAND Corporation. She has functional and analytical experience in military promotions, recruiting and retention, accessions, career field structures, compensation, education and training, and manpower requirements. While at RAND, her…
Michael Dworsky

Senior Economist

Michael (Misha) Dworsky is a senior economist at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. His research interests are in health economics, labor economics, public finance, and the economics of insurance. His work at RAND focuses on workers’ compensation, health…

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