Over the last few years, workers across the country in various industries have stepped forward to share their perspectives on what is broken at work and in our economy. From wages to safety to fundamental issues of respect, workers want a greater say in the workplace and how our economy is structured. These voices have the potential to transform job quality, improve business performance, and lay the groundwork for a more just and sustainable economy.
While the potential of workers’ ideas to transform workplaces remains significant, many companies have yet to recognize their employees as their most valuable assets. Too often, workers find themselves in roles where their contributions are undervalued and their voices are silenced or ignored. In our work at the Economic Opportunities Program, we have seen this transformative potential of workers time and again. When workers are given the opportunity to provide input and ideas, they become active participants in shaping the conditions of their labor and the trajectory of their firms and industries. Workers’ ideas and perspectives not only contribute to creating good jobs that support their well-being, but also drive productivity and innovation, and provide invaluable insights into improving operational efficiencies and enhancing product quality. This idea is of course, not new. Toyota has long held in its philosophy that the “wisdom of workers” is key to their success. Today, we need to tap into this wisdom more than ever if we are to tackle the challenges of job quality and race and gender equity. And if we are successful in building worker voice in the workplace, we might also help strengthen our democracy.
This month’s Job Quality Newsletter explores the power of worker’s voice — the essential mechanism enabling employees to express ideas and concerns, which empowers organizations to gather insights, address risks, improve performance, and create better jobs. From practical tools to an insightful playbook and a highly anticipated webinar, join us in discovering how worker voice can drive change across our workplaces and economy.
Webinar July 24 – Tapping into Worker Voice to Improve Job Quality
Workforce intermediaries are uniquely positioned to help workers and businesses achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Employers want a workforce development approach that will address their most critical pain points, while workers seek opportunities to advance their economic security. In recent years, a wave of organizations have worked to take a “both-and” approach. Join us on Zoom on Wednesday, July 24, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern time for our next event, “Tapping into Worker Voice to Improve Job Quality: Lessons from the Talent Pipeline Management Network.” We’ll hear from two members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Talent Pipeline Management network — the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Foundation Workforce Center and the Kalamazoo Literacy Council — about how they have tapped into worker voice and worked with employers to drive improvements in job quality.
Playbook – How to Build a Thriving Company Through Worker Empowerment
In their flagship playbook, “The Shared Power Advantage: How to build a thriving company where workers have a seat at the table,” the Aspen Business Roundtable on Organized Labor and Charter offer essential strategies for business leaders navigating the evolving landscape of workplace democracy. By prioritizing worker empowerment, amplifying worker voice, and promoting constructive engagement with labor unions, this playbook equips leaders to build thriving companies where employees have a meaningful seat at the decision-making table.
Event Recording – Can the Future of Democracy Be Found at Work?
In this conversation at the Institute’s 2024 Ideas Festival, panelists discuss how supporting good jobs, promoting civic engagement, and advancing democratic practices in the workplace can contribute to strengthening our democracy. In addition to myself, speakers include my colleague Liba Wenig Rubenstein, director of the Aspen Business Roundtable on Organized Labor; Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta and chair of the Roundtable; Natalie Foster, president and co-founder of the Economic Security Project and a senior fellow with our Future of Work Initiative; Carolyn Cawley, president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation; and Deepti Doshi, co-director of New Public.
Tools – Worker Voice and Employer Engagement
EOP staff frequently conduct focus groups and interviews with frontline workers to learn about their experiences at work and ideas for improvement to help employees and businesses thrive. In recent years, many workforce leaders have expressed interest in learning how to conduct their own worker-focused research and have asked for tools to build worker input into the design and delivery of programs and services. In response, we developed this guide to leading worker focus groups and this tool for conducting worker surveys, which together can facilitate meaningful engagement and foster job quality improvements.
Learn more about each below:
- Centering Worker Voice in Employer Engagement and Program Design: A Guide for Leading Worker Focus Groups for Workforce Organizations
- Centering Worker Voice in Employer Engagement and Program Design: A Tool for Conducting Worker Surveys for Workforce Organizations
Publication – Job Design, Quality Jobs, and Participatory Decision Making
The idea of tapping into workers’ wisdom is not a new one. Although the concept of worker voice has been popularized in recent years, participatory decision making (PDM), the extent to which employers involve workers in decision making, has a long and established history in the US. In this brief, “The Importance of Participatory Decision Making in Designing Quality Jobs,” my colleague Maxwell Johnson and I explore the history of PDM, how it contributes to better jobs and improved business outcomes, and how it is used to address an array of challenges — with a special focus on how employee-owned companies, in particular, can unleash workers’ creativity and innovation.
Worker Voice on the Ground – What Job Quality Fellows Are Doing
In this blog, “Giving a Voice – and Support – to American Workers,” MIT’s Barbara Dyer and Thomas Kochan explore the challenges faced by workers at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated longstanding historical trends of job insecurity and wage stagnation. Spotlighting the work of the Institute’s Job Quality Fellows — including Linda Nguyen, Amanda Ream, Tanya Wallace-Gobern, Milinda Ysasi, and Justine Zinkin — Dyer and Kochan highlight innovative efforts and strategies to enhance job quality and empower workers in today’s evolving labor landscape.
Read the blog and learn more about the fellows
Additional reading:
“When all working people have agency over their jobs and work lives, we can together create a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy economy.”
—Jess Kutch, Job Quality Fellow, Class of 2017-18
