Fourteen faculty teams at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have been awarded three-year grants from the school for research projects that address the world’s grand challenges and reimagine learning in support of the University of Maryland’s vision and the Smith School’s strategic plan.

A new year brings a fresh start, a full slate of 365 days to work on improving oneself in one way or another. Ten Smith professors are sharing their New Year’s resolutions: Tejwansh (Tej) Singh Anand, Clinical Professor of Practice and the Academic Director for the MS in Information Systems Programs “Find innovative ways to propel myself and my students Fearlessly Forward.”

The United States is moving to ban noncompete agreements in labor contracts, and research from Maryland Smith management professor Evan Starr is behind the push.

Congress has just passed a bipartisan bill to limit nondisclosure agreements. The Speak Out Act, having cleared both the Senate and House, is expected to be signed into law by President Biden. And, as Axios reports, it “comes slightly more than five years after the resurgence of #MeToo captured the nation's attention and demonstrates that social movement's long reach.”

Though ‘increased worker leverage from a tight labor market’ frequently is part of the national narrative surrounding the COVID-era economy, a study recently announced by the U.S. Treasury asserts anti-competitive labor practices have forced down wages and worsened working conditions, costing workers 15 to 25 percent of what they might otherwise earn.

It wasn’t the most talked-about hearing on Capitol Hill this week, but for workers across the economy, the topic was vital. Evan Starr, assistant professor of management and organization at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, testified Tuesday before the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, about competition in labor markets.

Amazon does it. So do Jimmy John’s and many other companies. They require new employees to sign noncompete clauses, a practice now being pushed on low-income workers, limiting their freedom in the labor market. In a recent set of projects, Evan Starr, assistant professor of management and organization at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, surveyed some 11,500 workers about their experiences with noncompetes, which companies often hide among routine forms new employees sign during the hiring process.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — The White House has announced it will confront an issue that might be producing inefficiencies in the labor market and suppressing workers' wages: The overuse — and abuse — of noncompete clauses, which prevent people from moving from one company to another in the same field.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — When you accepted your current job, did you sign a noncompete agreement? "Noncompetes" can lurk among all the routine forms you sign during the hiring process, but they can come back to bite you. Long common in fields such as engineering, and for executives, they are now being pushed on low-income workers, limiting their freedom in the labor market.