As a philanthropy-serving organization uniquely focused on workforce development through our support of workforce grantmakers, Workforce Matters cares deeply about the field of workforce development, workers, learners, and all those who work daily to find innovative solutions to workforce challenges. We envision a workforce development field where funders work effectively with all workforce ecosystem stakeholders to amplify worker and learner agency and advance race-conscious and equitable workforce programs and practices, workforce policy, and employers in order to close disparities and improve outcomes for every worker in support of a vibrant economy.
In recognition of Workforce Development Month this year, we are highlighting the importance of research in advancing workforce development efforts as a field. Our Further Together conference in April 2024 featured a poster session highlighting 12 innovative research projects, all focused on advancing equity in workforce development.
We’ve selected six of the twelve posters to include in this blog, but we encourage you to explore all twelve of the research projects on the Further Together website. We hope that these projects spark your inner researcher and help you identify continued opportunities to learn through research and continue to transform our field! Happy Workforce Development Month!
Poster # 1 – Tessa Bradshaw from the Harvard Project on Workforce presented an overview of The Workforce Almanac: Defining a Workforce Development Training System. The Workforce Almanac is a first-of-its-kind initiative that aims to help us move away from a siloed conception of workforce development training provision and towards a new, integrated idea of the sector that puts the worker front and center. In the first iteration of the Workforce Almanac, almost 17,000 providers of workforce training and post-high school training opportunities have been mapped. Figure 1 provides an overview of the current context, key findings at the state and systems levels and the response to these findings.
Poster # 2 – Michelle Van Noy of Rutgers University presented research on “Building a System for Non-Degree Credential Quality: A Landscape Scan of National Organizations”. The Rutgers Education and Employment Research Center conducted a landscape scan of the non-degree credential quality ecosystem, including 66 national organizations, to map out areas of activity and future directions for development of policy and practice. Figures 2a & 2b highlights findings from this research including definitions of quality, the ways that national organizations are seeking to shape the emerging ecosystem for non-degree credential quality, and recommendations for building a more comprehensive non-degree credential quality ecosystem.
Poster # 3 – Michelle Rafferty of The National Fund for Workforce Solutions presented their research on “Career Journeys Redefined: Stories of Struggle, Resilience, and Triumph”. This research was presented to better understand the career journeys of workers most impacted by occupational segregation and job quality challenges. Narrated through journey maps, Figure 3 highlights key learnings from research conducted across six cities – Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Wichita. Participants in the study included workers in the following groups: Entry-level Black IT workers, Home Health Support Workers, Childcare Workers, Young Adult Learners, Black Construction Workers, Domestic Workers, and Manufacturing and Aviation Workers.
Poster # 4 – Megan Cuzzolino at the Next Level Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education presented research on the “Experiences of Awe and Meaning at Work”. Decades of research indicate that people find the meaningfulness of their work to be more important than any other facet of their professional circumstances, including income, job security, or opportunities for advancement. Yet it is increasingly difficult for workers to find and sustain meaningful work. This study explores a surprising antidote to these difficult circumstances: moments of awe. In a survey of 65 individuals across 26 sectors, the researchers found that experiences of awe contribute to a feeling of meaning and purpose at work and provide a sense of renewed motivation in the face of challenging professional circumstances. Figure 4 provides an overview of the research, the data, and practitioner takeaways.
Poster # 5 – Laurie Harrington of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University presented research on “The Role of Worker Voices in Advancing Workplace DEI efforts and Improving Employment Experiences for Workers of Color”. The research team fielded a national probability-based survey of 800 Black, 800 Hispanic, 600 Asian American, and 800 white workers using NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel. The survey describes how U.S. workers perceive and experience racial and ethnic inequity and discrimination in the workplace. Following the survey, researchers conducted 20 in-depth interviews with workers who had participated in the survey and said that racial and ethnic discrimination was a major problem in their workplaces to capture their stories about these experiences at work. Figure 5 highlights the findings that describe how workers think about the relationship between mobility and discrimination in their career trajectories and in what ways employee trainings, the role of chief diversity/equity officers, the design of corporate policies and the use of reporting pathways should be reimagined in the workplace.
Poster # 6 – Alex Breen of the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) presented the “Worker-Centered Benchmarking Project”. This participatory action research initiative was designed by CSW to answer two questions: 1) How do we know if workforce programs are achieving their intended impact within the communities where they operate; 2) How do we know what communities want from workforce programs or even how success is defined? To answer these questions, CSW recruited six workforce development participants and alumni to form an advisory council, serving as the project’s primary researchers. The preliminary findings can be found in Figure 6 below and have implications for both workforce development metrics and workforce program design.
