Workers

Our top articles this year included how America’s largest companies addressed racial equity, climate change, and the war in Ukraine.

Looking ahead to 2023, we would do well to not just engage those who we think we disagree with, but understand where they’re coming from and find common ground. 

We illustrate how inflation reduces the purchasing power of wages and causes pay cuts for workers over time.

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?

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.

Despite an uptick in positive impressions of just business behavior during the pandemic, Americans are now less likely to think companies are following through.

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.

JUST Capital has partnered with Revelio Labs to provide more robust estimates of corporate wage data, a key component of job quality, across America’s largest companies.

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.

Despite rhetoric that the country is incredibly polarized, there is broad consensus across all demographic and political cohorts that workers should be corporate America’s top priority.

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.

In the face of the backlash against ESG and stakeholder capitalism, have companies eased off in their actions to become more just? Our latest corporate engagement data suggests not. 

Ahead of Labor Day, let’s take stock of where things stand for the American worker. 

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. 

Americans are hesitant to agree that the nation’s largest companies are truly moving away from the shareholder-centric model.

Despite widespread support for increased disclosure, when we analyzed the state of human capital disclosure among America’s 1000 largest public companies, we found that overall they are currently lagging.

The ESG blowback is here, and it’s real.

The pressures inflation heaps on business does not mean stakeholder value creation needs to take a back seat. On the contrary, it can be a time for just companies to shine.

Amid new and compounding challenges to Americans’ health and well-being, we’re highlighting the top 100 companies that are stepping up for workers and their families, and communities across the U.S.

The American public is navigating tough times. As prices are going up, wages aren’t keeping up. And the reality is that job growth is very different from quality job growth

While the public believes that ensuring pay equity is an integral part of achieving racial equity, over half of the companies we tracked in the 2022 Corporate Racial Equity Tracker continue to lack disclosure around this issue.

Companies seeking to do right by their stakeholders will have their mettle tested in the weeks and months to come. Let’s start with wages…

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade – a decision that will demand critical leadership not only from the public sector, but from the private sector as well. To understand how the landscape will shift for the American workforce, we will be tracking how America’s largest companies respond to the ruling.