Joseph Fuller

This paper looks at the impact of employers providing their workforce with a benefit that helps them manage important caregiving obligations, such as a significant health care event. It uses data provided by a company that provides case management support, Wellthy. The data from almost 100 corporate client tracks utilization of the benefit and the self-reported impact on voluntary turnover and absenteeism. Using a series of sensitivity analyses, I demonstrate that companies enjoy very high… Show more

This paper looks at the impact of employers providing their workforce with a benefit that helps them manage important caregiving obligations, such as a significant health care event. It uses data provided by a company that provides case management support, Wellthy. The data from almost 100 corporate client tracks utilization of the benefit and the self-reported impact on voluntary turnover and absenteeism. Using a series of sensitivity analyses, I demonstrate that companies enjoy very high rates of return from their investment in supporting caregivers, irrespective of the seniority or earnings level of employees. While this benefit only covers one expression of caregiving, the analysis strongly suggests that companies benefit economically and culturally from providing workers with mechanism to address pressing caregiving obligations. Show less

The American Opportunity Index measures how well America’s largest companies drive economic mobility and positive career outcomes for their employees—actions that also can help fuel business performance. It is based on independent data and is the only measure of employer quality to evaluate what really happens to workers at America’s largest employers over time.

Pathways to economic opportunity are broken in the United States, disproportionately affecting Black, Latinx, and Indigenous individuals and those from low-income backgrounds. Disrupting long-standing occupational segregation and improving outcomes for all will require a system of career navigation that gives all individuals economic agency and opportunity.


Unlocking Economic Prosperity: Career Navigation in a Time of Rapid Change dissects the evidence and practice of career… Show more

Pathways to economic opportunity are broken in the United States, disproportionately affecting Black, Latinx, and Indigenous individuals and those from low-income backgrounds. Disrupting long-standing occupational segregation and improving outcomes for all will require a system of career navigation that gives all individuals economic agency and opportunity.


Unlocking Economic Prosperity: Career Navigation in a Time of Rapid Change dissects the evidence and practice of career navigation and sets an agenda for a more equitable career navigation ecosystem. Based on an extensive literature review and consultation with experts and frontline workers, we identify the drivers of career navigation success and lay out core design principles and recommendations for the future.


At a time of rapid technological transformation, policymakers, employers, educators, intermediaries, and philanthropies must collaborate to build a system of supports and pathways that provide all individuals with the information, skills, social capital, resources, and social structures they need to advance. Show less

For a growing share of learners and workers in the United States, college is failing to live up to its economic mobility promise. The cost of college is rising, accompanied by mounting student debt, and many graduates are underemployed following college. Students face steep barriers to college enrollment and success, including time demands, access to housing and childcare, and transportation. These conditions have prompted many learners and workers to reconsider whether college is truly worth… Show more

For a growing share of learners and workers in the United States, college is failing to live up to its economic mobility promise. The cost of college is rising, accompanied by mounting student debt, and many graduates are underemployed following college. Students face steep barriers to college enrollment and success, including time demands, access to housing and childcare, and transportation. These conditions have prompted many learners and workers to reconsider whether college is truly worth the expense.

Higher education leaders are facing a moment of reckoning in which they must improve the economic returns of a college education. However, there is little clarity around which programs and initiatives best improve a student’s earnings and employment later in their career. The dearth of information reflects, at least in part, the lack of attention and resources such programs have received from the majority of post-secondary institutions.

This white paper puts “college-to-jobs” programs in focus, making the case that they should be a priority for future policy, investment, and research. It maps the field of initiatives that smooth transitions for college students to the workforce, identifying 13 “interventions” that have been deployed to improve college students’ economic outcomes.

The Playbook provides answers to a crucial question at a time of inflection for postsecondary education: what can we do to launch more college students onto successful career trajectories? Show less

Many companies blame outside factors for the trouble they’ve been having in finding and retaining frontline workers: the pandemic, the government’s stimulus checks, the intrinsic nature of low-wage work. The authors argue that in fact the real problem lies in six big mistakes companies themselves have long been making, in such basic areas as hiring, career development, and mentoring. They offer some practical suggestions for how leaders can do better, for their workers and their organizations

In the report Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent we studied workers who are often excluded by traditional hiring processes. In this follow-up, we focus on a large sub-set of hidden workers: part-time workers, who indicated in our survey that if their circumstances were different, they would prefer to work more hours. Part-time workers are heterogeneous, with a variety of attributes that prevent them from working to their full potential: caregiving responsibilities, health challenges, and partial… Show more

In the report Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent we studied workers who are often excluded by traditional hiring processes. In this follow-up, we focus on a large sub-set of hidden workers: part-time workers, who indicated in our survey that if their circumstances were different, they would prefer to work more hours. Part-time workers are heterogeneous, with a variety of attributes that prevent them from working to their full potential: caregiving responsibilities, health challenges, and partial retirement, among others. By learning about and accommodating the needs of these workers, firms can encourage part-time employees to take on more hours—and help ease the talent shortage as well as raise productivity. Show less

Original research on how companies apply risk management tools in their analysis of workforce risk. It reveals that, despite many companies assessing workforce issues as one of the major risks they face, they do not use risk management tools in their decision-making processes related to their workforces. Companies have become addicted to "just in time" hiring and most have abandoned basic workforce planning. The result? Endless surprises like "we need to quintuple our cyber security workforce!"… Show more

Original research on how companies apply risk management tools in their analysis of workforce risk. It reveals that, despite many companies assessing workforce issues as one of the major risks they face, they do not use risk management tools in their decision-making processes related to their workforces. Companies have become addicted to "just in time" hiring and most have abandoned basic workforce planning. The result? Endless surprises like "we need to quintuple our cyber security workforce!" or "we have to start uninstalling WorkDay modules because we can't hire anyone who can manage them." Given the accelerating rate of technological change and the stagnant size of the workforce, companies need to understand that risks related to workforce go beyond succession planning. Show less

This paper analyzes the results of CareerWise Colorado's apprenticeship program, using data on their early cohorts of students in the greater Denver area. We evaluate the results in terms of employment and matriculation to post-secondary educational opportunities, identify characteristics of students who both completed the program and withdrew and discuss the economic consequences for employers. The results are encouraging and suggest in-school, compensated apprenticeship programs have… Show more

This paper analyzes the results of CareerWise Colorado's apprenticeship program, using data on their early cohorts of students in the greater Denver area. We evaluate the results in terms of employment and matriculation to post-secondary educational opportunities, identify characteristics of students who both completed the program and withdrew and discuss the economic consequences for employers. The results are encouraging and suggest in-school, compensated apprenticeship programs have significant promise. Show less

A survey of America's Fortune 250 companies, ranking them on multiple variables that affect the career prospects of middle-skills workers, including access, wages and upward mobility. We compare the career histories of 3 million who started their careers at one of those companies over a five-year period. Workers were grouped by occupation-- it's irrelevant to compare new, entry level workers at pharma companies and retailers, between banks and logistics companies. The results are compelling… Show more

A survey of America's Fortune 250 companies, ranking them on multiple variables that affect the career prospects of middle-skills workers, including access, wages and upward mobility. We compare the career histories of 3 million who started their careers at one of those companies over a five-year period. Workers were grouped by occupation-- it's irrelevant to compare new, entry level workers at pharma companies and retailers, between banks and logistics companies. The results are compelling. Workers employed by companies that ranked in the top quintile made 2.5 x what workers in the bottom quintile do. They will get promoted a year fast; they are less likely to leave voluntarily. Results are available by company, as our comparison to their competitors' average performance. Most companies are taking some steps on some of the dimensions we isolate; even the best have room for improvement. Show less

This article demonstrates the growing importance of social skills in the C-Suite. We mined nearly 5000 executive search mandates given to Russell Reynolds between 2000 and 2017. We saw a marked shift in the types of skills boards of directors and executives were seeking, especially for CEOs. While operating and administrative skills receded in importance, social skills such as communications ability and the ability to interact with diverse groups gained in importance.

Two decades ago, companies began adding degree requirements to job descriptions, even though the jobs themselves hadn’t changed. After the Great Recession, many organizations began trying to back away from those requirements. To learn how the effort is going, the authors studied more than 50 million recent job announcements. The bottom line: Many companies are moving away from degree requirements and toward skills-based hiring, especially in middle-skill jobs, which good for both workers and… Show more

Two decades ago, companies began adding degree requirements to job descriptions, even though the jobs themselves hadn’t changed. After the Great Recession, many organizations began trying to back away from those requirements. To learn how the effort is going, the authors studied more than 50 million recent job announcements. The bottom line: Many companies are moving away from degree requirements and toward skills-based hiring, especially in middle-skill jobs, which good for both workers and employers. But more work remains to be done. Show less

A first of its kind study on the factors that contribute to low-wage workers getting stuck in poverty-trap jobs over the long-term. By contrasting the experience of workers who have either been promoted or gotten raises that elevate them above 200% of the poverty line with the experience of workers who remain in jobs below that threshold, we have isolated the specific practices in the workplace that influence those outcomes. We also surveyed employers to understand their attitudes about their… Show more

A first of its kind study on the factors that contribute to low-wage workers getting stuck in poverty-trap jobs over the long-term. By contrasting the experience of workers who have either been promoted or gotten raises that elevate them above 200% of the poverty line with the experience of workers who remain in jobs below that threshold, we have isolated the specific practices in the workplace that influence those outcomes. We also surveyed employers to understand their attitudes about their low-wage workforce, their understanding of those workers' needs and their approaches for helping workers advance. Several findings:
1) Employers accept eye-watering levels of turnover in these positions as inevitable. They structure work to be simple, since it will often have to be done by relatively inexperienced, less productive workers. The result? Low wages. The hidden costs of such turnover are very high, but employers simply accept them and continue the rote implementation of practices that create the turnover.
2) Too few employers understand what low-wage workers are seeking from their employer. Most would prefer to stay at their place of work if there were advancement opportunities.
3) As the U.S. workforce stagnates, workers will become more selective. Companies that find ways to dampen turnover by investing in low-wage workers will gain a significant advantage.
4) Companies seeking to improve their performance on DEI would be advised to look at their incumbent low-wage workers as a talent pool. Low-wage workers skew heavily to people of color and women. If you want a growing pipeline of diverse talent, invest in your existing workers. That will be much more efficient than playing the spot market for talent. Show less

Increased reliance on technology and changing demographics have shaped the way that companies hire. Hiring processes are designed to find “perfect” candidates in an efficient manner, but in doing so systematically exclude several categories of qualified workers, including caregivers, veterans, the formerly incarcerated, those with disabilities, etc. These workers are “hidden” by traditional hiring processes. Companies who have hired one or more of these groups of hidden workers report that… Show more

Increased reliance on technology and changing demographics have shaped the way that companies hire. Hiring processes are designed to find “perfect” candidates in an efficient manner, but in doing so systematically exclude several categories of qualified workers, including caregivers, veterans, the formerly incarcerated, those with disabilities, etc. These workers are “hidden” by traditional hiring processes. Companies who have hired one or more of these groups of hidden workers report that these workers are more loyal and perform better on several key metrics compared to traditional sources of talent. With many companies facing a talent shortage, hiring these hidden workers may be the solution. Show less

We use a unique corpus of job descriptions for C-suite positions to document skills requirements
in top managerial occupations across a large sample of firms. A novel algorithm maps the text of
each executive search into six separate skill clusters reflecting cognitive, interpersonal, and
operational dimensions. The data show an increasing relevance of social skills in top managerial
occupations, and a greater emphasis on social skills in larger and more information intensive… Show more

We use a unique corpus of job descriptions for C-suite positions to document skills requirements
in top managerial occupations across a large sample of firms. A novel algorithm maps the text of
each executive search into six separate skill clusters reflecting cognitive, interpersonal, and
operational dimensions. The data show an increasing relevance of social skills in top managerial
occupations, and a greater emphasis on social skills in larger and more information intensive
organizations. The results suggest the need for training, search and governance mechanisms able
to facilitate the match between firms and top executives along multiple and imperfectly
observable skills. Show less

Companies can transform their talent model–and business strategy–by using digital talent platforms to access highly skilled freelancers.

The Caring Company

Our research finds that 75% U.S. workers have caregiving responsibilities, most of whom indicate those responsibilities negatively affect their productivity. But, only 24% of employers think caregiving affects worker performance.
The Caring Company reveals this dramatic misalignment in America’s care economy. We surveyed 1500 employees and 300 HR leaders and found:
• 52% of employers do not measure
• Only 24% of employers responded that caregiving… Show more

The Caring Company

Our research finds that 75% U.S. workers have caregiving responsibilities, most of whom indicate those responsibilities negatively affect their productivity. But, only 24% of employers think caregiving affects worker performance.
The Caring Company reveals this dramatic misalignment in America’s care economy. We surveyed 1500 employees and 300 HR leaders and found:
• 52% of employers do not measure
• Only 24% of employers responded that caregiving influenced workers’ performance; however,
• Over 80% of employees with caregiving responsibilities admitted that caregiving affected their productivity.

Despite these views, employers indicated that behaviors associated with caregiving obligations impede employees’ careers. Employers identified unplanned absences and missed days of work (33%), late arrival at work (28%) and early departure from work (17%) as the most destructive.

We also found that:
• Caregiving contributed greatly to the churn of younger employees
• Events beyond maternity cause churn.
• Turnover was caused by unaffordable costs (53%), the inability to find trustworthy and qualified help (44%) and the inability to meet work responsibilities due to the increased caregiving responsibilities (40%) – all areas where employers could provide guidance, infrastructure or support.

We recommend business leaders:

1. View the issue of caregiving through a lens of talent management, rather than exclusively as an expensive benefit.
2. Accept that the tension between work and caregiving expresses itself both financially and culturally within the firm.
3. Demonstrate commitment by acknowledging care concerns and by investing in innovative solutions.
4. Conduct a regular care census to identify the magnitude and nature of workforce care needs, evaluate the relevance of its existing benefits package and explore the plausibility of expanding it or developing customized solutions
Show less

In the United States, apprentices are employed in just 27 occupations, mostly in skilled, physical trades. An analysis of job postings data shows that extending apprenticeships to more occupations provides an opportunity to expand employment and close the middle skills gap in America. Employers can expand apprenticeships as pathways to at least 21 other occupations that don’t require a bachelor’s degree, such as shipping clerks and tax preparers, as well as another 26 occupations that commonly… Show more

In the United States, apprentices are employed in just 27 occupations, mostly in skilled, physical trades. An analysis of job postings data shows that extending apprenticeships to more occupations provides an opportunity to expand employment and close the middle skills gap in America. Employers can expand apprenticeships as pathways to at least 21 other occupations that don’t require a bachelor’s degree, such as shipping clerks and tax preparers, as well as another 26 occupations that commonly require a costly four-year degree but have requisite skills that can be attained without a one, including claims adjusters and computer user support specialists. With these changes, the number of Americans that could be employed through work-based apprentice training could be increased from 410,000 to 3.3 million, boosting employer production and reducing costs to young Americans entering the workforce. Show less

An extensive research study into the propensity of companies to raise the degree requirements for job applicants. Companies are increasingly demanding college degrees for middle skills positions that did not historically have such a requirement. More than 6 million jobs were being affected by this phenomenon in 2017. Perversely, employers acknowledge that this upcredentialling raises their costs while most observe no material difference in the productivity of workers with degrees and those… Show more

An extensive research study into the propensity of companies to raise the degree requirements for job applicants. Companies are increasingly demanding college degrees for middle skills positions that did not historically have such a requirement. More than 6 million jobs were being affected by this phenomenon in 2017. Perversely, employers acknowledge that this upcredentialling raises their costs while most observe no material difference in the productivity of workers with degrees and those without them. Show less

I have extended my research into the future of work has extended into career paths. America has an underdeveloped care economy. We have a small, disorganized, informal sector geared to providing care for children, the infirmed, the elderly. That limits the attractiveness and affordability of choices for providing care available to workers. Many will elect to leave the workforce, curtail their career ambitions or move to less demanding work in light of the unavailability of options. The… Show more

I have extended my research into the future of work has extended into career paths. America has an underdeveloped care economy. We have a small, disorganized, informal sector geared to providing care for children, the infirmed, the elderly. That limits the attractiveness and affordability of choices for providing care available to workers. Many will elect to leave the workforce, curtail their career ambitions or move to less demanding work in light of the unavailability of options. The demographics of the labor force with women now constituting a majority of graduates in most post-secondary programs suggest employers need to rethink career paths and benefits packages to attract and retain talent. Show less

The Trump Administration should consider some reforms to make post-secondary education a better investment for students and parents. That requires broadening federal grants and loans to incorporate programs that are more work/skills related and giving students access to relevant information to inform their choices.

The debate on college affordability misses the appoint. The economic problem isn't the ability to pay tuition, it's the ability to get a job that pays sufficiently to satisfy the debt. Too many students study topics that don't lead to college-level jobs.

Investing in the skills of incumbent workers is a better means for meeting talent needs than playing the spot market for labor.

Video of a round table discussion on the skills gap

Companies will need to rethink their value proposition to attract top talent in the future. GE's decision to move to Boston is an early example

The erosion of America's skills base represents a growing danger to competitiveness.

Free trade agreements cost the U.S. far fewer quality jobs than our inability to impart relevant skills to aspiring workers.

Employers need to take the lead in addressing America's skills shortage and educators need to support them in that.

America requires an integrated approach to sustaining its competitiveness and sustaining the economic vibrancy that will lead to broad-based, shared prosperity

Report on the skills gap in the United States and prospective solutions

Employers should cultivate talent management pipelines to ensure future access to critical skills