Good Business Lab

Good Business Lab (www.goodbusinesslab.org) is an independent, non-profit research and innovation lab that uses rigorous academic research methods to develop scalable, market-ready interventions capable of providing dual benefits to workers and businesses. We design and trial interventions, using frontier research methods, to understand different programs’ impacts on workers and businesses. The founders of the lab are Ach Adhvaryu -an assistant professor at the University of Michigan (http://www.achadhvaryu.com/), Anant Ahuja – head of Organisation Development at Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd. and Anant Nyshadham – an assistant professor at Boston College (http://www.anantnyshadham.com/).

We have conducted several studies at Shahi in the past five years to help understand how private business interests in India can be aligned with the welfare interests of workers. For example in one study they found that the net return to the firm from training women workers in life skills (such as financial literacy, communication and problem solving) is 250%, 9 months after program completion. This program called P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement), which was implemented by Gap Inc., has been scaled at a global level covering 40,000 women garment workers in 12 countries.

Going forward, research will be conducted on how to retain migrant workers by pairing them with experienced workers from their region (through a system called ‘the buddy system’), improvement in productivity by training of supervisors in soft skills, unlocking female labor force participation in rural India and how the setting up of a rural training center affects local economic conditions. To ensure the smooth implementation of all research projects, the lab is looking for a field assistant, details of which are given below.

Location: Bengaluru, India

Length of Commitment: at least 1 year

Remuneration: 2-3 lacs p.a. (can vary depending on experience and qualifications)

Start Date: ASAP (applications being accepted on a rolling basis)

The Field Assistant will work closely with academic researchers, the research implementation team, data manager and other field staff to help implement various projects.

Key responsibilities include (but not limited to):

• Conducting and coordinating field surveys and making regular field visits (can be to rural areas) to ensure that survey is being conducted properly
• Coordinating with the Organizational Development (OD) team at Shahi and the research team to ensure smooth implementation of all projects
• Work with the field team on preparatory work for the upcoming projects.
• Maintain and track field reports in google documents and spreadsheets.
• Maintaining relations with survey partners and other additional duties as and when needed.

Educational Qualifications/Requirements:

• Bachelors/Master’s in Economics, Social Work or any related field
• Ability to work in a team, manage multiple projects on the ground and be self-motivated
• Ability to work long hours and should be open for travelling (in and
• around Bangalore)
• Basic experience in Microsoft Word and MS Excel.
• Ability to converse in Kannada/Hindi/Odia