How We Updated the 2024 Ranking Methodology to Better Reflect Gig Workers’ Access to Key Benefits and Policies
In our 2024 Rankings of America’s Most JUST Companies, we remain committed to capturing companies’ commitment to all of their stakeholders. We also recognize the importance of addressing the whole of each stakeholder, which in a practical application can mean the entirety of a company’s workforce – including workers who aren’t legally or technically considered employees.
Prior to last year’s 2023 Rankings, we employed an “Under Review” designation for companies that meet two criteria: business models that center gig workers and self-identification as members of the Flex Association. This amounted to three companies in our Russell 1000 universe: Uber, Lyft, and Doordash.
Beginning with last year’s 2023 Rankings, we reached out to the same qualifying companies to more accurately capture the experience for gig workers and to ensure that these companies’ scores are more reflective of their entire workforce. In our outreach to Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, we requested public company sources with information about the share of gig workers in their workforce population and the benefits/policies that are accessible to them. Using the information provided, we proportionately discounted the scores of these companies across our Workers stakeholder data points when there was no evidence that gig workers are covered by the benefits or workplace policies that are tracked in our model.
We recognize that our work in capturing the workplace experience of the many Americans who work in the gig economy, or more broadly as contractors, remains in progress, but we believe that continuing this approach is a step in the right direction. Our team will work to further refine our methodology to ensure that we best capture companies’ commitment to all their workers.