The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the important role benefits play in workers’ lives. Paid leave, health insurance, workers’ compensation, and retirement plans cushion life events and equip workers to live safe and dignified lives. Our current system of benefits, though, leaves behind millions of workers. This event will explore how to make work-related benefits accessible to more people, including public and private sector approaches to portable and universal benefits.
Hear from a panel of leaders who have worked on innovative benefits programs for workers, covering a range of sectors and benefits. Each will speak about their efforts to expand benefits to more workers, share lessons learned, and offer insights for others interested in developing new approaches.
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Tweet Webinar Oct 13: “Toward Universal Work-Related Benefits.” Featuring Lise Anderson @WGAWest, @anmol @OmidyarNetwork, Andrew Greenblatt (IDG Benefits Fund), @palaknshah @domesticworkers, and more. Hosted by @AspenFutureWork.
Tweet Paid leave, health insurance, workers’ comp, and retirement plans equip workers to live safe and dignified lives. But our system leaves millions behind. How can we make these benefits more accessible? Join @AspenFutureWork on Oct 13 to #talkopportunity.
Tweet Let’s explore how to make work-related benefits accessible to more people, including public and private sector approaches to portable and universal benefits. RSVP now and join @AspenFutureWork on Oct 13 to #talkopportunity.
Tweet Hear from leaders who have worked on innovative benefits programs for workers, including their experiences, lessons learned, and insights for others interested in developing new approaches. Join @AspenFutureWork on Oct 13 to #talkopportunity.
Tweet I’m excited to #talkopportunity with Lise Anderson @WGAWest, @anmol @OmidyarNetwork, Andrew Greenblatt (IDG Benefits Fund), and @palaknshah @domesticworkers. Join me and @AspenFutureWork for this Oct 13 discussion on work-related benefits.
Speakers
Lise Anderson
Assistant Executive Director, Writers Guild of America West @WGAWest
Lise Anderson joined the Writers Guild of America West in 1998 as associate counsel in the Legal Department. She ran the Contracts Department from January 2001 through June 2014, when she started her current role as assistant executive director. Lise plays a key strategic role in negotiating and enforcing the Guild’s collective bargaining agreements while advising members and their representatives on the complex nuances of these deals. Lise also oversees a wide range of critical functions at the Guild and has been a trustee on the WGA-Industry Health Fund and Pension Plan since 2009.
Lise graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in English and political science. Upon graduating from USC Law School, she worked as a staff attorney for the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and later entered private practice where she represented plaintiffs in sexual harassment and employment discrimination cases.
Anmol Chaddha @anmol
Principal, Reimagining Capitalism, Omidyar Network @OmidyarNetwork
As a principal on the Reimagining Capitalism team at Omidyar Network, Anmol Chaddha will focus on increasing the power of working people.
Before joining Omidyar Network, Anmol led the Equitable Futures Lab at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, CA. He managed the California Future of Work Commission created by Governor Gavin Newsom to develop a broad agenda to promote economic equity in the state. Anmol has extensive experience in policy and social science research including economic inequality, racial inequality, low-wage work, job quality, debt, and wealth. Anmol previously worked with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where he established an initiative to improve the quality of jobs in low-wage industries, led quantitative research on racial wealth inequality, and examined the rising debt burdens of low-income families.
Anmol received a Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from Harvard University, where he was a Fellow in the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy at the Kennedy School of Government. He also received a Masters of Arts in Sociology from Harvard University and attended the University of California, Berkeley for his undergraduate degree.
Andrew Greenblatt
Executive Director, IDG Benefits Fund
Andrew Greenblatt is the founder and president of IDG Benefits Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to helping independent workers get access to benefits most employees take for granted. IDG Benefits Fund launched a multi-million-dollar program with The Black Car Fund of New York State to provide vision and telemedicine benefits to 43,000 black car drivers (Uber, Lyft, etc.) across New York in 2018. The program has since been expanded to include dental and other benefits. This program uses a unique model of using surcharges on trips to fund portable benefits for these workers. Andrew has been an adjunct assistant professor at NYU’s Wagner School. Andrew is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from SUNY Albany with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He moved to New York City “for a couple of years” in 1993 and still lives there with his wife of almost 25 years and their two children.
Palak Shah @palaknshah
Social Innovations Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance @domesticworkers
Palak Shah is the social innovations director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), the nation’s leading organization working for the power, respect, and dignity of the 2.5 million nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers in the US. She is also the founding director of NDWA Labs, the innovation arm of the domestic worker movement. Palak leads overall strategy for NDWA Labs with a focus on raising market norms and standards, partnering with the private sector, and building scalable and sustainable ventures.
Palak is a leader in the movement for workers’ rights in the new economy, a thought leader on the future of work, and a social entrepreneur. Her groundbreaking work at NDWA wrestles with the ways in which technology can be harnessed for the benefit of workers, placing them at the center of innovation and change. Palak currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy, as well as the Institute for the Future’s Equitable Futures Lab. She previously served as a two-year Beck Visiting Social Innovator at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Job Quality Fellow with the Aspen Institute.
Palak has spoken about the future of work and partnerships between social movements and the private sector at TEDx, NPR Boston’s IdeaLab, and Personal Democracy Forum.
Opportunity in America
The Economic Opportunities Program’s Opportunity in America discussion series has moved to an all-virtual format as we all do what we can to slow the spread of COVID-19. But the conversations about the changing landscape of economic opportunity in the US and implications for individuals, families, and communities across the country remain vitally important. We hope you will participate as we bring our discussions to you in virtual formats, and we look forward to your feedback.
We are grateful to Prudential Financial, Walmart.org, the Surdna Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth for their support of this series.
Learn More
The Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. Follow us on social media and join our mailing list to stay up-to-date on publications, blog posts, events, and other announcements.
