SHRM Foundation's Thriving Together initiative is dedicated to creating supportive workplace conditions where employers and employees can thrive. A thriving organization provides employees with what they need and want: quality jobs - ones that feature fair and predictable wages, family-sustaining benefits, and safe and accessible work environments.
This website is a hub for resources that help employers create and sustain quality jobs. Quality jobs don’t just support workers—they strengthen businesses and communities. By improving job conditions, offering fair compensation, and removing barriers to access, employers can boost retention, enhance workplace culture, and tap into a broader talent pool. Quality jobs lead to stronger local economies and healthier, more resilient communities.
This page contains resources in four categories:
These tools are designed to help employers evaluate job quality, understand the business impact, and implement proven strategies for improvement.
Job Quality Assessments
Free Resource
Good Job Score Assessment Tool
A tool to assess job quality across leadership, purpose, growth, and fairness. Through a questionnaire, companies measure employee perceptions and gain insights to improve workplace conditions.
Free Resource
Opportunity Navigator
A resource to help businesses become "Opportunity Employers" by promoting economic inclusion. It offers a guided quiz to identify areas for improvement and connects organizations to resources supporting inclusive hiring and employee development, providing actionable steps to build diverse workplaces.
Resource
Working Metrics
A platform to help businesses improve decision-making by providing insights into job quality and workforce diversity. It offers tools to evaluate compensation, benefits, and inclusion, along with company scorecards and industry benchmarks. The service is subscription-based.
Resource
Baldrige Excellence Framework
A framework to help organizations improve performance in leadership, strategy, customers, and operations. It provides criteria for assessing and achieving excellence, driving competitiveness and sustainability.
ROI Calculators
Free Resource
Moms First Childcare Benefit ROI Calculator
This calculator helps businesses assess the financial impact of investing in child care benefits. It shows how these investments can enhance workforce productivity, benefiting companies both economically and socially.
Resource
HR Locker Employee ROI Calculator
This calculator helps businesses measure ROI by evaluating factors like productivity, training costs, absenteeism, and turnover. It provides insights into the financial impact of employee engagement and performance, helping companies optimize human capital management and quantify employee value.
Resource
Talkspace Mental Health ROI Calculator
This calculator helps employers estimate the financial return of offering mental health support to employees. By factoring in reduced absenteeism, increased productivity, and improved retention, this tool demonstrates how investing in employee well-being can lead to measurable business savings and a healthier, more resilient workforce.
Resource
Culture Amp Employee Experience ROI Calculator
This resource will help qualify the financial benefits of enhancing company culture, such as reduced attrition, improved managerial efficiency, and increased HR productivity.
Resource
SHRM Turnover Cost Calculation Spreadsheet
This spreadsheet calculates the total cost of turnover per employee, helping businesses assess the financial impact of replacing workers versus investing in retention strategies.
Free Resource
Guardian Mental Wellness Benefits Productivity and Retention Calculator
This calculator helps businesses assess the impact of mental wellness benefits. It estimates cost savings from improved productivity, reduced turnover, and health plan savings, showing how mental health support can enhance business performance and employee retention.
Wage Calculators
Free Resource
Living Wage Calculator
This calculator helps estimate the wage a full-time worker needs to cover basic family expenses in their area. It provides living wage data for counties, metro areas, and states, covering 12 different family types.
Free Resource
The Center for Women’s Welfare Self-Sufficiency Standard Calculator
This calculator estimates the income a household needs to meet basic needs without public or private assistance. Based on family composition and location, it helps employers, policymakers, and advocates understand what it truly takes for workers to achieve financial stability and make informed wage and benefit decisions.
Free Resource
Pacific Community Ventures Employee Compensation: How to Get Started
The toolkit guides businesses on setting competitive wages and meeting "living wage" standards. It offers actionable steps, including wage benchmarks, addressing wage compression, and setting clear goals for improving pay over time.
Case Studies & Research
Free Resource
SHRM Foundation Research Report: Making the Case for Quality Jobs to Employers
This research report examines how the SHRM Foundation, in partnership with Topos Partnership, explored effective ways to promote quality job practices to employers. The study found that while HR professionals support fair wages, inclusive benefits, and skills-first hiring, resource constraints and cultural barriers remain—yet framing job quality as essential to organizational success can boost engagement and drive improvements.
Free Resource
Good Jobs Institute Case Studies
These case studies highlight successful implementations of the Good Jobs Strategy, focusing on improved employee engagement and business success. Examples include Quest Diagnostics and Mud Bay, showing how investing in employees leads to long-term benefits for companies.
Free Resource
Workforce and Organizational Research Center Case Study on Reducing Turnover and Expanding Operations through Creative Compensation and Apprenticeships
This case study details how Central Iowa Vapors (CIV) Plus reduced turnover and expanded operations through innovative compensation strategies, including performance-based bonuses. These efforts led to revenue growth, improved employee retention, and a significant increase in earnings in 2022.
Free Resource
Jobs for the Future Field Examples of Impact Employer Practices
These peer examples provide insights on becoming an Impact Employer by supporting economic opportunity for workers. They include practical case studies of employers implementing Impact Employer practices, helping your company kickstart talent management planning and improve employee outcomes.
Free Resource
Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream
This case study highlights how a business used Moms' First ROI Calculator to yield a 125% return on investment. ROI Calculators can be used to understand returns to the business from childcare.
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