Zeynep Ton, an MIT professor of business operations and co-founder/President of the Good Jobs Institute, specializes in good jobs, and in this thoroughly practical book she persuasively and robustly lays out both the why and the how. 

You can’t afford low pay. One obvious part of a good job, of course, is good pay, and Ton argues that good pay doesn’t mean pay benchmarked to the market, if the market is systematically underpaying people. “Nothing else you do will make up for low pay,” writes Ton. Good pay means pay that allows even the lowest-paid workers to be free to the kinds of worries, stressors, and vulnerabilities that harm their ability (cognitively and logistically) to do their best work.  

Furthermore, “If you are thinking, ‘But some people may not be worth $15 an hour,’ … you are not alone… But… a worker’s worth is not fixed. Ability itself is affected by low pay... The important question is not whether a particular worker is worth $15 an hour or whether a particular job is worth $15 an hour, but rather whether that person’s work — the job — has been designed to contribute $15 an hour.” 

Good jobs are about operations. But where The Case for Good Jobs most shines is in its discussions of operations. “People often see the title of my earlier book — The Good Jobs Strategy — and assume it’s an HR book,” Ton writes. “But the secret sauce of the good jobs strategy is operations.” “Invest in people” lies at the heart of Ton’s “good jobs system,” with that investment referring to compensation, benefits, and professional development as well. But “Invest in people” is flanked by “four operational choices” that make that investment pay off.

Focus and simplify. Do fewer things — only what’s most important — and your employees will be less overwhelmed and more able to focus on providing the highest value. 

Standardize and empower. Make the jobs easier and more standardized such that employees can have a fuller understanding of the big picture of the business, and then empower them to use that knowledge to make choices on their own (e.g., offering customers a discount) without constantly needing to check with management. 

Cross-train. Give employees the skills and perspectives needed both to perform well and to have a career path forward. 

Operate with slack. Smooth out work schedules, provide everyone enough (predictable) hours, and manage the flow of due dates and deliverables so that people aren’t operating at full capacity, with all the fragility full capacity entails. 

Eating the elephant. Another strength of Ton’s book, relative to many workplace-oriented works, is the level of attention she gives to the transitional phase. You can’t create a good jobs system out of a very different status quo overnight. Ton: “As one executive aptly put it, ‘How do you eat the elephant?’ Well, one bite at a time, but where you take the first bite makes a difference.”  

For example, it’s extremely risky to raise pay and expectations both sharply and instantaneously, with the pay held out as a reason for sudden changes to performance — especially not before you first address the non-pay-related reasons they’re struggling. As Ton puts it, “You can’t hang lead weights on people and then offer them a bonus for the high jump.”   

Rather, Ton explains, the best starting places are subtractions — the “focus and simplify” operational choice. Subtracting costly but low-value workflows can be more doable, when you look for opportunities, than you might think, and making jobs less overwhelming can be a high-leverage place to start a virtuous cycle that drives higher productivity toward higher revenue, higher ability to pay, better employee engagement, more employee empowerment, and off to the races. 

There is much more in this book, including plentiful examples from real businesses driving incredible results with a good jobs system, discussions of how to make the case and align the leadership and management layers of an organization, and further ideas for planning implementation. This book is an excellent resource for leaders and talent managers of nonprofits and businesses alike. 

In "The Case for Good Jobs," author Zeynep Ton champions the idea of providing good jobs with fair pay, dignity, and growth opportunities, arguing that this approach is not only ethical, but also a smart business strategy. Ton offers practical guidance on implementing a "good jobs system" and, perhaps surprisingly, suggests that "subtractions" are the ideal starting point during the transition process.

Reading Edge: The Case for Good Jobs

Chris Harrison is Director, Business Operations at Leading Edge, ensuring that the work of Leading Edge is systematic and data-driven. He joined Leading Edge in January 2021 following six years at Educators for Excellence, where he served as the National Senior Manager of Data. Prior to his tenure at E4E, Chris was a State Data Director for Obama's 2012 campaign and worked as the Technology Director for the Democratic Party of Georgia. Chris finds his passion in working with people to make the world a better place. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Director, Business Operations

Chris Harrison

Chris Harrison is Director of Business Operations at Leading Edge.