Brief Archives - Page 2 of 4 - 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/

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.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s “Artificial Intelligence and Worker Well-being: Principles and Best Practices for Developers and Employers” provides a roadmap for workplace AI use that centers job quality and worker voice in the rollout and use of new technologies. This resource is highly relevant for employers and AI developers seeking a framework to ethically design and deploy AI. It outlines eight core principles: centering worker empowerment; ethically developing AI, establishing AI governance and human oversight, ensuring transparency in AI use, protecting labor and employment rights, using AI to enable workers, supporting workers impacted by AI, and ensuring responsible use of worker data.The principles aim to help organizations counteract risks like algorithmic discrimination and job displacement, while using AI for purposes such as augmentation of work tasks and improving worker safety.

For all readers, this document offers a shared set of guidelines for promoting an inclusive, worker-centered approach to AI adoption. The best practices emphasize transparency about AI use, human oversight for significant employment decisions (like hiring, promotion, and discipline), and the responsible use of worker data.

The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy guide, “Advancing Disabled Workers,” provides strategies for employers to support the professional growth, development, and career advancement of employees with disabilities. Key recommendations include equitably offering learning opportunities and professional development to all employees, as well as ensuring that training is accessible and supplemented with mentorship. In order to be able to measure inclusion goals, employers must create an environment where workers feel comfortable with disclosing their disabilities. This also allows for the creation of clear and appropriate performance expectations and enable managers to provide usable, relevant feedback during performance reviews. Finally, employers should continuously track and report progress toward disability inclusion goals, hold specific individuals or teams accountable, and ensure that the voices of disabled workers are included in these efforts.

This issue brief reviews the history and current state of job design, highlights the benefits workers and businesses receive when jobs are designed with worker well-being in mind, and notes emerging issues and practices in job design related to technology, work-based learning, and employee ownership. We hope this brief sparks new thinking and conversations about how we can all encourage and contribute to designing work and workplaces that promote quality jobs.

This resource guide from the DOL’s Good Jobs Initiative explains key agreements used to organize construction projects, promote good jobs, and include community needs in federal—and other—projects. The guide covers Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), Community Workforce Agreements (CWAs), and Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs).

A PLA is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement that standardizes the terms of employment, binding all contractors and subcontractors to provisions that include no-strike, no-lockout clauses and grievance procedures, as well as any other agreements the parties make, such as pay standards or preferential local hiring.

A CWA is a specific type of PLA that adds community-oriented commitments related to topics such as equitable workforce development, social justice, and support for small businesses.

A CBA is a contract between employers/developers and community organizations, often including unions, that focuses on broader community priorities such as affordable housing or pollution reduction.

The Good Jobs Principles, developed by the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Labor, establish a comprehensive framework for defining and advancing job quality. The framework is built on eight principles: recruitment and hiring of qualified applicants, especially from underserved communities; providing benefits that promote economic security; ensuring diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA); supporting empowerment and representation through unions and worker input; guaranteeing job security and working conditions that are safe, healthy, and fair; cultivating a positive organizational culture; offering pay that is a stable, predictable living wage; and providing skills and career advancement opportunities.