Worker Advocacy Archives - Page 5 of 27 - Job Quality Center of Excellence

In this fact sheet, released at the 2024 Employee Ownershipo Ideas Forum, the authors provide some updated statistics regarding ESOPs in rural counties with a focus on closely-held corporations where rural ESOPs are most prevalent.

This fact sheet, released at the 2024 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, summarizes some of the latest research on employee ownership with a focus on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).

This fact sheet, released at the 2024 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, examines what message types, business characteristics, and business owner characteristics influence responsiveness about employee ownership as a succession plan.

The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy guide, “Retaining and Supporting Disabled Workers,” outlines practical steps for employers to build an inclusive workplace where workers with disabilities have the support and working conditions they need to thrive. Key strategies include creating an inclusive workplace culture that promotes flexibility in time and place (like flexible lunch breaks for medication or swapping tasks) and actively works to overcome bias and stigma, especially around mental health conditions. Employers must fulfill their obligation to provide reasonable accommodations, which often carry low or no cost, and offer sufficient leave, to ensure workers don’t have to choose between their job and medical needs. The guide also emphasizes that a good job must be a safe and healthy job, requiring employers to involve disabled employees in creating accessible emergency plans, ensure workplace technology conforms to accessibility standards, and provide targeted safety training.

This is part of a collection of resources created by the Department of Labor and other federal agencies, relating to job quality and implementing good jobs priorities through federal investments and beyond. Many of these resources are no longer publicly available on government websites, though they were all at one point public and shared with the intent of preserving these resources for public use.

Please note that we cannot guarantee that information contained in these resources related to specific programs, policies, and processes remains accurate, though many best practices and examples remain useful. In addition, many of these resources link out to government websites that do not exist anymore. You may be able to find these linked resources in the archive itself by searching the Overview document. For more resources, please visit the Data Rescue Project website, at https://www.datarescueproject.org/

This piece provides an overview of job quality challenges affecting LGBTQ+ workers, including economic need, discrimination, and barriers to career advancement. The piece also contextualizes these challenges in the current landscape of anti-LGBTQ+ policies being passed in the United States.

In this event, Benjamin Lorr, author of “The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket,” traces the history and evolution of the modern-day supermarket, exposes the grocery supply chain, and reveals the often exploited and underpaid labor that goes into making sure shelves are stocked. Lorr paints a vivid picture of how agricultural and meat processing workers, fisherman, truck drivers, and grocery store workers, among others, often endure poverty and sometimes worse as they work to feed our country.

Recent research by UpSkill America and the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) has found that only 25% of the HR leaders who took part in a December 2023 i4cp survey perceived workforce development as a strength of their organization, and just 9% of more than 100 private and public company board directors surveyed indicated they were very confident in their company’s ability to effectively upskill its employees for the future. Read the brief to learn more about next practices in upskilling, including internal training, apprenticeship, and tuition assistance that will help any organization to be more productive and resilient for the future.

In this event, Natalie Foster, author of “The Guarantee: Inside the Fight for America’s Next Economy,” asks us to imagine a new economic framework that casts aside the failures of the trickle-down approach and builds economic security and well-being from the bottom up. Foster, who serves as president and co-founder of the Economic Security Project and as a senior fellow with the Institute’s Future of Work Initiative, describes a bold vision in which housing, health care, higher education, dignified work, family care, and an opportunity to build generational wealth are guaranteed for all by our government.

This is a collection of resources created by the Department of Labor and other federal agencies, relating to job quality and implementing good jobs priorities through federal investments and beyond. Many of these resources are no longer publicly available on government websites, though they were all at one point public and shared with the intent of preserving these resources for public use.

The Overview document provides a list of all resources contained in this archive and links out to these documents in the folder; this document will be the easiest starting point to search for relevant resources.

The 2024 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum brought together members of Congress and their staff, government officials, practitioners, researchers, think tanks, philanthropy, investors, and the leaders of employee-owned companies to learn about and discuss the latest in policy, research, finance, and practice. The theme was “Employee Ownership on the Ground,” which brought innovative employee share ownership initiatives and speakers from around the country to DC to highlight how this bipartisan approach to improving jobs, wealth creation, and business performance is helping create more equitable economies in states, cities, and rural communities.