Workers & Wages

Our Chief Strategy Officer, Alison Omens, writes on the signal Walmart’s move to raise wages for its frontline workers sends to corporate America.

JUST Capital co-founder and chair Paul Tudor Jones led a panel about ESG and stakeholder capitalism with former Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, Grameen CEO Andrea Jung, and Interactive Brokers former founding CEO and current chair Thomas Peterffy.

Years ago when we were launching JUST, I remember the CEO of a large bank told me in no uncertain terms that there was “no chance” companies would ever be transparent about wages. Has that changed?

While Americans want companies to prioritize a living wage and pay transparency, only a handful publicly announce minimum wage increases resulting in real wage gains for their workers.

As painful as they can be, layoffs don’t have to be unjust. Here’s how:

I’ve spent much of the week talking to business leaders about what Tuesday’s election results could mean for corporate stakeholder leadership. The answer – like the outcome of a few key races – is not yet clear.

As COP27 begins and fossil fuel companies take in massive profits, we took a look at how the top performing energy companies in our Rankings compare to the lowest performing.

Our Chief Strategy Officer Alison Omens lays out a framework companies can use to invest in workers right now, shares what some of the largest U.S. employers we’ve spoken to think of it, and how we’re helping them take action.

We spoke to investor and AOL cofounder Steve Case on why people, both in workforces and communities, are key to corporate success.

In the first of our JUST Jobs Explained series, we break down how to calculate a living wage, how its components are dependent on location and family size, and why businesses can improve their operations with this information.

In the face of economic uncertainty, we gathered corporate and nonprofit leaders to discuss why now’s the time to invest in workers and create JUST Jobs.

On September 28, JUST Capital convened corporate and nonprofit leaders for an Insights to Impact virtual event – Defining a JUST Job for Today’s Economy.

Across every demographic group we surveyed, whether political affiliation, race, gender, age, or income group, Americans are united in wanting companies to prioritize workers and pay a fair, living wage.

The JUST Jobs program will build on in-depth survey research on what Americans across all demographics value most in jobs today and robust job quality frameworks, with the goal of strengthening businesses, the economy, and the livelihoods of people around the country.

Republicans, Independents, and Democrats alike agree that it’s a company’s responsibility to pay its frontline workers enough to make ends meet.

It’s a story that captures almost every aspect of the business zeitgeist in America today – workers’ quest for fair pay, good jobs, and better conditions; unions; community support and survival; COVID; health and safety; climate change; ESG; shareholder activism; the corporate profit imperative; and, of course (inevitably), politics. 

We heard from Mastercard Chief Inclusion Officer, Randall Tucker, on how the company made diversity a priority for its 25,000 global employees.

American Electric Power DEI managers Kimberly Hughes and Alyvia Johnson share key lessons from the energy company’s journey to increase equity and career mobility.

With support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, JUST Capital has highlighted the top 100 companies in the Russell 1000 prioritizing DEI, career development, local employee pipelines, fair pay, and quality worker benefits.

Bank of America Chief Diversity & Inclusion and Talent Acquisition Officer, Cynthia Bowman, shares how the company’s taking a data-driven DEI approach to tackle systemic barriers to hiring and mobility.

HBS’s George Serafeim discusses his new book, “Purpose and Profit,” and what debates around Tesla and Danone can teach us about sustainability and ESG.

The companies topping our 2022 Workforce Equity and Mobility Ranking outpace the Russell 1000 in setting specific DEI targets, implementing fair chance hiring, cultivating apprenticeships, and offering paid training and tuition reimbursement.

Our new polling research finds large majorities of Americans believe companies should be taking care of their workforces during high inflation.

We’ve collected key takeaways from the U.S. Department of Labor and Families and Workers Fund’s Good Jobs Summit, where public and private sector leaders discussed how job quality needs to be paramount in this tight labor market.

An unusual thing happened this week: a company was rewarded, not punished, by the market for raising wages.