As employers across the country struggle to fill millions of open jobs, Jewish Vocational Service in Boston (JVS), one of New England’s largest providers of adult education and workforce development services, has begun licensing to workforce organizations nationally JVS’s unique “job quality” survey tool that helps employers compete more effectively for available talent.

Based on JVS’s decades of work with hundreds of employers and thousands of job seekers, the JVS Job Quality Benchmarking Index (“JQBI”) helps employers determine how they compare to other local companies and organizations on key factors including salary, benefits, work schedules, the availability of a career ladder, and a supportive workplace environment, including commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

By showing employers where they rank relative to peers on specific job titles, the JVS JQBI highlights how employers can adjust pay scales, benefits, and workplace practices to become more attractive to job prospects and provide better jobs for local residents.

Beyond putting the index to work in Greater Boston, JVS has begun signing licensing agreements to allow other workforce development organizations around the United States to use the JQBI to help employers in their jurisdictions better compete to fill thousands of jobs.

The first three groups to license the JQBI from JVS are: Brighton Center in Newport, Ky., serving Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio; the CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity in Syracuse, N.Y.; and WorkLife Partnership in Denver, Colo.

Talia Frye, vice president of Brighton Center, the first of the three groups to license the JQBI and the one farthest along in deploying it, said, “No one has put together as effective and innovative a tool as JVS has with this index. It is unique in the field of workforce development. It was clear to our Brighton Center team how much input from workers JVS used to craft the JQBI, and at the same time, how attuned the tool is to the needs of both businesses and workers.”

Brighton Center is using the JQBI to help employers in high-priority sectors for job recruitment in its service area: manufacturing, supply chain, healthcare, and hospitality sector companies. These companies are seeking to hire food service workers, home health aides, custodians, machine operators and other highly, sought-after entry-level roles.

In addition to licensing its proprietary survey and data-collection system, JVS is providing professional consulting services to Brighton Center and other licensees to optimize their use of the JQBI, analyze data, and maximize its benefits.

“We’re proud to partner with organizations like JVS that are leading the way to ensure employers invest in the success of immigrants and refugees so that they can build the careers they desire,” said Monica Munn, managing director of philanthropy at WES.

“Our partnership with WES will assist us in leveraging our customized Job Quality Benchmarking Index to positively influence employer practice, leading to better employment outcomes for immigrants and refugees,” said Mandy Townsend, Vice President of Employer Engagement for JVS Boston. “In some markets, the JQBI has revealed that employers are offering far below competitive market salaries. In others, it shows that improving non-salary measures, like flexible hours or a clearer career-advancement path, may be the most important steps an employer can take to staff unfilled positions.”

The 50-question survey typically requires no more than 20 minutes for an employer to fill out. Besides the valuable competitive intelligence it provides employers about how they rank relative to competitors on key measures of weighed by potential workers, the JQBI helps:

• Provide more detailed information to job seekers about employers offering the combinations of salary, benefits, and workplace support and flexibility most important to them
• Identify for workforce-development agencies with limited resources, the most cost-effective path to steer clients to the employers offering the highest-quality employment opportunities
• Generate authoritative, up-to-date workplace data for area policymakers about pay, benefits, and workplace practices and the impact and effectiveness of local government policies and mandates.

Mandy Townsend, Vice President of Employer Engagement for JVS Boston, said, “Based on feedback from workers, employers, and other stakeholders in the Greater Boston area, we’ve been refining and improving the Job Quality Benchmarking Index, for the past three years. We will continue to collect more real-world feedback from other parts of the country, as it will assist us in optimizing the JQBI and its benefits to help agencies serve both workers and employers more effectively.”

About JVS Boston

Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonsectarian organization founded in 1938. JVS serves more than 16,000 individuals annually and is one of the largest community-based providers of adult education and workforce development services in New England. JVS’s mission is to empower individuals from diverse communities to find employment and build careers, while partnering with employers to hire, develop, and retain productive workforces. In support of this mission, JVS provides a wide range of adult education, vocational training, job readiness, career counseling, and job placement services, as well as related supportive services.

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