Here are the flyer details:
AIAA Hampton Roads Section, LEAP, and A2W Present
2022-2023 Pizza Lecture Series
The Power of Proximity to Coworkers: Training for Tomorrow or Productivity Today?
with
Dr. Natalia Emanuel
DATE & TIME: May 25th, 2023
Pizza at 11:00 am
Talk from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm
Request pizza by May 24th, 3:30 pm – Buy Pizza!
LOCATION: NACA Room, B2102
Our AV system has had some failures so attending the event in person is highly encouraged.
Virtual via AIAA Zoom – Zoom Registration
Contact Matt Galles at aiaa.hrs.vicechair@gmail.com with any questions.
Abstract: In an increasingly digital world, how does sitting near coworkers affect collaboration, on-the-job training, and output? We study software engineers at a Fortune 500 firm, whose main campus has two buildings several blocks apart. When offices were open, engineers working in the same building as all their teammates received 23 percent more online feedback on their computer code than engineers with distant teammates. After offices closed for COVID-19, this advantage shrank by 17 percentage points. Sitting near coworkers increases how much junior engineers learn from their senior colleagues — not only in person but also online. Proximity particularly increases feedback to female engineers and young engineers, who are more likely to quit the firm when proximity is lost. However, sitting together reduces senior engineers’ programming output, suggesting a trade-off between short-term productivity and long-run human-capital development. Even pre-COVID, gaining one distant teammate reduced online feedback among coworkers sitting together: thus, remote-work policies may impact even workers who choose to go into the office.<o:p></o:p>
Biography: Dr. Natalia Emanuel is a research economist at New York Federal Reserve Bank. She received her PhD in economics from Harvard in 2021, after which she completed a postdoc at Princeton's Industrial Relations Section. Prior to doctoral study, she received a BA in economics at Yale and an MSC in Evidence-Based Social Policy from Oxford, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar. Her research focuses on workplace policies that help firms and workers thrive, and governmental policies such as child welfare and criminal justice policies. <o:p></o:p>
Discussion opportunity!
This seminar is being cohosted with NASA’s LEAP and A2W employee resource groups. Dr. Emanuel has available time slots for discussions on Thursday morning before 10 am. If you are interested in participating in discussions regarding her and her colleague’s work on the white paper “The Power of Proximity”, please email aiaa.hrs.vicechair@gmail.com.