Dr. Kim de Laat
Assistant Professor | Organization and Human Behaviour
Kim de Laat is an Assistant Professor of Organization and Human Behaviour at the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, University of Waterloo. As a sociologist specializing in work and culture, her research explores inequality and uncertainty within creative and knowledge-based organizations. Dr. de Laat investigates the dynamics of who performs work, when and where it is carried out, and under what conditions, focusing particularly on remote and hybrid work arrangements and their implications for gender inequality.
Her scholarship has appeared in leading journals, including Cultural Sociology, New Technology, Work and Employment, Poetics, Socio-Economic Review, Work, Employment and Society, and Work and Occupations. Her recent article appearing in ILR Review, “Remote Work and Post-Bureaucracy: Unintended Consequences of Work Design for Gender Inequality” was a 2024 Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award Nominee for Excellence in Work-Family Research. She serves on the editorial board of Poetics and actively engages with broader audiences through public scholarship published in outlets such as the Globe & Mail and Policy Options.
Dr. de Laat currently serves as Principal Investigator on the SSHRC-funded Insight Development Grant, “Hybrid Work Arrangements and Cognitive Labour: Implications for Gender Inequality at Work and Home.” Additionally, she is co-investigator on the SSHRC-funded Partnership Grant, “What is the Best Policy Mix for Diverse Canadian Families with Young Children? Re-imagining Family Policies,” led by Andrea Doucet.
Professor de Laat is passionate about guiding students to find joy and meaning in social scientific inquiry and is committed to helping them realize their full intellectual and professional potential. She holds Sole-Supervisory Privilege Status and enthusiastically welcomes collaborations with University of Waterloo MA and PhD students whose research interests intersect with issues of work and inequality.
An up-to-date list of her publications is available on Google Scholar and ResearchGate.