A Toolkit for Employers
The United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region (UWBCKR) this summer seized another crisis opportunity –– the post-COVID shutdown gap between unfilled low-paying jobs and the number of unemployed people able to return to the service-industry workforce –– to pilot another project.
The ALICE-Friendly Workplace Project – a working title – is offering a toolkit for some local businesses to assess their hiring practices and workplace policies and adapt them to better support the needs of the employees their businesses are seeking.
Alyssa Stewart, vice president for impact and engagement, points out that with UWBCKR's long-standing relationships rooted in the United Way campaigns, it is "uniquely positioned" to communicate to the region's corporate sector the importance of new approaches that can build a sustainable workforce.
Training programs to increase workplace mobility are important, Stewart acknowledges, "but where do you use those skills if wages aren't growing or there are no pathways to local employment? We should rethink the image of our 'ideal employee' in order to fill our jobs. Rethink health insurance delays. Rethink criminal background restrictions. What's your paid time off? Attendance policy? Wages? Benefits? And these policies disproportionately impact women, single parents, and caretakers."
Nakia Baylis, senior director of data and equitable systems at UWBCKR, adds that this moment also opens the door to a deeper conversation about equity. "The data is clear. Employees should be paid not just a living wage, but a thrivable wage," she says. "It's about restoring dignity within our most marginalized communities and improving our local economy simultaneously. It is imperative that we work bidirectionally to support a new and culturally inclusive system that incentivizes employment and disincentivizes traditional public assistance for those that can work, resulting in more people participating in our local economy and more BIPOC households crossing the ALICE threshold."