Betsy Stevenson
Appearances
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
This is really about, are we giving you the inputs you need to be as productive as possible?
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
One problem for family-run firms is it can be hard to innovate. How do you think outside the box when you've never left the box?
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
I am an economist and professor at the University of Michigan, and I study labor markets. Are you a football fan, Betsy? I teach at the University of Michigan, so I have to just plead the fifth and refuse to answer this question.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
I served as the chief economist at the Department of Labor, and I served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors, giving advice to President Obama.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
One big thing we talked a lot about was whether we should require forms of compensation outside of wages. Like, should people be required to get paid sick days? Should we require that people get paid maternity or paternity leave? What makes a good job and what's the role of government in shaping the conditions?
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Yeah, it's hard because we all have different preferences. And I think the hope of economists who believe in market forces is everybody wants different things and they'll just be able to sort around the labor market until they find the thing that works for them.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
economists have come up with two buckets of reasons. So the first bucket is the benefits might be a complement to hard work. We actually see higher productivity because it induces more effort from workers. The second bucket is that employees might value the benefits more than it costs the employer to provide those benefits. So let's start with the first bucket, complement to hard work.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
It's why every company going back to the 50s that has office workers has coffee in the break room, right? You got to caffeinate your workers to get them to work hard. The tech sector went a little crazy with this, like, hey, let's have ping pong tables. But it really was the same idea. Well, if you're socializing at work, you'll have less of a reason to leave.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
One of the more extreme examples was some of the tech companies started providing a benefit, which is we will pay for you to freeze your eggs. Oh, no, we have these hardworking female employees wringing their hands in their early 30s thinking they better have a baby. I know what we'll do. We'll pay to freeze their eggs. And then they'll be able to keep working hard for a few more years.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Yeah, it's great because you can actually see the categories here, which are clearly a complement to high productivity. Nutrition. They're like, what you eat is going to affect how you play, so we're going to feed you. The weight room, how you train up is going to affect how you play. We're going to give you a weight room.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
This is really about, are we giving you the inputs you need to be as productive as possible? When we think about things like the treatment of families... That's bucket two, I assume? Yeah, this is something that's going to have a cost to them. But the question is, what's the value to the person receiving it? And that value might be quite high.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Looks like a lot of teams are doing a really bad job. I mean, I saw a lot of Fs.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Like maybe they're not getting the great inflation that our university students get these days, but a lot of Fs. And I think what that says is this is a job where there's a lot of cash thrown at these players and they don't think about anything else.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
I am surprised that any team is messing up when it comes to perks and benefits that would actually increase the productivity of the players. I think that's a clear mistake because those perks and benefits are probably quite cheap compared to not just pay, but compared to the benefits they yield on the playing field.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
One more victory is worth a lot of money, right? You could probably do a full renovation of your weight room.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
I'm pausing only because like sometimes people do stupid things, Stephen. So I think that's one answer is like they're just being dumb. Now, another answer is what's necessary in the weight room or the training room or nutrition in order to get the best out of your players on the field is being given.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
But players are looking for little aspects of that that don't actually have any impact on their productivity. You know, maybe they want a brighter, sunnier room. It can be hard to measure these things. Maybe if you had the brighter, sunnier room, they'd work harder in training. And if they worked harder in training, they'd do better on the playing field.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
So you should figure out how to make it brighter or sunnier. You know, I painted little poppies on the wall in my gym, and I swear I Peloton faster because I love my field of poppies.