This tool is designed to guide workforce practitioners through the development and growth of industry partnerships that bring together employers, service providers, and workers. While industry partnerships may form to address talent needs, as the National Fund notes, these partnerships can become an important avenue for addressing job quality and workplace inequities over time. The toolkit includes an assessment to help strengthen partnerships as well as guidance and resources related to five areas: employer and industry engagement, stakeholder engagement, data-informed strategy and continuous learning, operational capacity, and racial equity and inclusion. Workforce and economic development professionals may find the toolkit useful for embedding job quality in industry partnership approaches.

This assessment is a tool to help employers (primarily >150 employees) benchmark their talent management strategies against those other employers are undertaking and to determine where to focus practice change efforts. The topics covered in the survey include recruiting, hiring, retention, advancement, and more. A separate resource section also provides a variety of business-facing tools. Practitioners who work with businesses could direct them to this tool and even walk them through it.

This PDF provides a helpful model for assessing business practices. Employers are asked questions about the quality of their jobs through factors such as diversity, benefits (e.g., paid leave), health support, and flexible scheduling. Although some questions are specific to New Mexico’s policies, this application may be used as a model for organizations interested in assessing job quality for current and potential employer partners. This tool could also be used internally for employers who would like to assess their own practices.

This detailed assessment is a tool to help employers generate a report about their social and environment impact, including impact on workers, and to benchmark against peer companies. It includes measures of job quality, including compensation, benefits, safety, and worker ownership. Practitioners who work with businesses could direct them to this tool or even walk them through it.

The US Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI) is intended to reflect job quality in the United States, using data on weekly wages and hours for high wage jobs versus low wage jobs. Released each month on the same day as the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ US Employment Situation Report, it captures a distinct view of labor market health and offers monthly tracking of the composition of high quality to low quality jobs, using pay as a proxy for overall job quality. Historical data also documents a shift from jobs in manufacturing to services, as well as a shift within services from higher to low quality jobs.

This brief synthesizes existing knowledge on the landscape of benefits available to workers in the United States and the impacts of those benefits. It begins by defining workplace benefits and providing a brief history of their use. It then explores the connection between workplace benefits and job quality, mapping known impacts against key components of job quality. Finally, it reflects on opportunities for improvements in job quality and for future research.

This report examines findings from phase two of the Gig Worker Learning Project, an effort of The Workers Lab and the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program. The purpose of this effort is to understand more about gig work and workers directly from gig workers themselves – motivations to do gig work; challenges being faced; and solutions that would impact gig workers personally, their families, and their work. The first phase of the Gig Worker Learning Project produced an analysis of existing research and recommendations. The phase two findings presented in this latest report emerged from participatory research which included more than a dozen focus groups and several participatory analysis sessions led by an incredibly diverse set of workers. It marks the beginning of The Workers Lab’s plan to help build greater advocacy for gig workers nationally.

In late 2023, Lee Health, one of the largest public health systems in Florida, began a virtual nursing pilot designed to understand the opportunities and implications of shifting this vital role into a virtual environment. I sat down with three Lee Health leaders responsible for the design and implementation of the virtual nursing pilot — Kim Gault, MSN, RN, business system analyst for virtual health and telemedicine; Max Rousseau, supervisor of virtual health and telemedicine; and Jonathan Witenko, system director, virtual health and telemedicine — to learn more about why this was a priority for the organization, the considerations they made, and the outcomes they’re seeking. This conversation took place over two interviews and has been edited for clarity.

This interview with Mowa Haile, President of Sky Blue Builders and CEO of Apex Underground, discusses his experience and observations on the conversions of those companies to employee ownership through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

Working people want more power over the terms and conditions of their work. Instead of viewing this shift as a threat or incursion, enlightened employers will find the opportunity in it. The same mechanisms that make a workplace more democratic, collaborative, and fair also can support and expand existing company priorities, from improving products and adopting new technologies to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. While some business leaders have opted for the same tired tactics to undermine worker empowerment in favor of top-down control, a raft of innovations in worker voice, worker representation, and collaborations with labor unions offer an alternative path forward.

To help organizations apply these ideas, the Aspen Business Roundtable on Organized Labor and Charter, a media company focused on the future of work, have partnered to produce “The Shared Power Advantage: How to build a thriving company where workers have a seat at the table.” The playbook includes strategies for leaders hoping to strengthen their workplaces by empowering their employees.