Workforce and Organizational Research Center, Inc. (WORC) is a research and consulting organization that seeks to improve the quality of frontline jobs. WORC claims that “Better Jobs Mean Better Business” and that improving the quality of jobs for employees will improve outcomes for employers. ¹

WORC seeks to improve frontline jobs by implementing left-of-center concepts like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies across organizations, ² including with investors, nonprofits, employers, and consultants. ³

History and Activities

Workforce and Organizational Research Center was founded in March 2021 by Ellen G. Frank-Miller. Frank-Miller was previously an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago and later at Washington University in St. Louis. ⁴

WORC seeks to improve the quality of frontline jobs through left-of-center concepts like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG). WORC works with employers to implement DEI and ESG goals within their businesses under the believe that such changes will “attract and retain diverse candidates” and “increase underrepresented segments beyond the front line.” ⁵

WORC acts as a consultant for employers through a variety of services. The organization can craft what it calls the Worthwhile Jobs Framework, helping investors disrupt outdated and growth-limiting practices. WORC also offers Worthwhile Jobs Action Plans, which it claims can align baseline data with scientific evidence to transform jobs into engines of value. Additionally, WORC offers a Worthwhile Jobs Scorecard to assess for investors the risk of poor job quality practices as well as management’s ability to prioritize worthwhile jobs. ⁶

In order to advance employee retention, engagement, and job performance while decreasing burnout, WORC developed what they call Job Quality Maps, a visual analysis of 3,000 scientific studies demonstrating what they believe make frontline jobs more worthwhile. Through these studies, WORC claims to link job quality characteristics to the business outcomes employers care most about, such as higher individual performance and decreased turnover. The key job characteristics WORC highlighted include pay and benefits, work-life balance, representation and voice, supervision quality, and more. Using this research, WORC works with employers to craft jobs more appealing to workers and thus, in theory, better for the employers as well. The Job Quality Maps were developed with the financial support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and in partnership with the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. ⁷

Funding and Partners

Workforce and Organizational Research Center was awarded $50,000 from March 2023 to February 2024 by the Ford Foundation to “research and measure the financial materiality of better job quality.” ⁸

WORC collaborates with a variety of partners focused on improving job quality of the frontline workforce, including HCAP Partners, Siguler Guff, National Fund for Workforce Solutions, FSG, Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative, Talent Rewire, The Resurrection Project, Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources, Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance, Work for Humanity, Spur Leadership Coaching, Good Business Colorado Association, Work Life Partnership, Reimagine Retail, Connecticut Center for Advance Technology, Inc., Civic Works Center for Sustainable Careers, Centerstate Corporation for Economic Opportunity, the Health Collaborative Workforce Innovation, Evanston Scholars, Organization People Communities, Design Impact, Carbon Collective, and Task Force on Inequality-related Financial Disclosures. ⁹

WORC also promotes left-of-center organizations as resources, including Race Forward, a left-of-center organization that advocates for a variety of racial and identity-based issues, and the Local and Regional Government Alliance on Race and Equity, a national network of government devoted to left-of-center racial equity principles. ¹⁰

1. “WORC Action.” Workforce & Organizational Research Center, Inc. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/worc-action.
2. “WORC Action.” Workforce & Organizational Research Center, Inc. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/worc-action.
3. “About.” Workforce & Organizational Research Center, Inc. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/about.
4. “Ellen Frank-Miller, PhD (She/Her).” LinkedIn. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/.
5. “WORC Action.” Workforce & Organizational Research Center, Inc. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/worc-action.
6. “WORC Action.” Workforce & Organizational Research Center, Inc. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/worc-action.
7. “Job Quality Maps.” Workforce & Organizational Research Center, Inc. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/job-quality-maps.
8. “Project support to research and measure the financial materiality of better job quality.” Ford Foundation. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/workforce-organizational-research-center-inc-146324/.
9. “Partners & Projects.” Workforce & Organizational Research Center, Inc. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/partners-projects.
10. “Resources.” Workforce & Organizational Research Center, Inc. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://www.workresearchcenter.org/resources.