Job Quality Toolkit aims to move dialogue on quality jobs and retaining workers

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program at NIST recently released the Job Quality Toolkit which outlines eight “drivers of job quality.” The toolkit aims to enhance the discussion around job quality, becoming an “actionable tool… to improve the quality of every job,” which will improve employee recruitment and retention.

The authors note that by identifying the core drivers of job quality, employers can increase levels of satisfaction and engagement, leading to improved performance, productivity, and revenues. However, they caution these drivers should not be treated as a checklist, as some strategies and/or actions will not be applicable to all organizations. Even organizations with high levels of perceived job quality can benefit from the toolkit, as the drivers are intended to be routinely reviewed to ensure workplaces are keeping up with the dynamic needs of their employees.

The Job Quality Toolkit was produced by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor and approximately 60 industry representatives. The drivers of job quality were developed after a robust literature review on both domestic and international workers’ perceptions of job quality, combined with the input and insight of many job quality experts from academia, think tanks, advocacy groups, nonprofits, employers, and labor unions.

Detailed information for each of the eight drivers can be found at the following links: Recruitment & hiring; Benefits; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility (DEIA); Empowerment & Representation; Job Security & Working Conditions; Organizational Culture; Pay; and Skills & Career Advancement.

The authors are looking for feedback on the toolkit and employer’s experiences using it, with the goal of revising and improving future iterations. Feedback regarding the toolkit should be emailed to jobquality@doc.gov