Imagine a group of healthcare employers brought together by their local chamber of commerce, all facing the same frustration: “We can’t find enough qualified nurses—and the ones we hire don’t stay.” A closer look reveals the real issue isn’t recruitment, it’s job design. Schedules are unpredictable. Career pathways are unclear. New hires feel unsupported.
Sound familiar? Employers everywhere are facing some version of this challenge. The good news: job quality is something employers can control, and when they improve it, the results show where it matters most: faster hiring, lower turnover, and stronger retention.
Let’s be honest: improving job quality across a group of employers isn’t easy. It can feel overwhelming, impractical, or at odds with the bottom line. That’s exactly why we created the TPM Job Quality Resource Guide.
The U.S. Chamber Foundation developed this guide as a practical playbook for TPM practitioners—and the employers and partners they support—to move job quality from conversation to measurable change.
Talent Pipeline Management® (TPM) is a demand-driven workforce strategy that helps employers work together to define and meet their talent needs. But this guide isn’t just for TPM users—it’s for any group tackling workforce challenges that require solutions that work for both businesses and employees.
What Is an Employer Collaborative?
An employer collaborative is a partnership organized by employers, for employers, to collectively address shared workforce needs. It is supported by an employer-led organization chosen by the members. Unlike most public-private partnerships, employer collaboratives are designed to maximize responsiveness to employers—and deliver a clear return on investment.
What Is Job Quality?
Job quality means different things to different people. What matters to a working parent may differ from what a mid-career professional values.
To bring consistency to the conversation, the U.S. Chamber Foundation identified eight key features employers should consider when designing—or redesigning—jobs:
- Earnings — Wages, salary, bonuses, tips, and other compensation
- Benefits — Health insurance, paid leave, retirement, childcare support, and other supports
- Safety and Security — Physical and psychological safety, including clear workplace policies
- When and Where Work Is Performed — Predictable schedules, advance notice, and flexibility
- How Work Is Performed — Autonomy, tools, skill use, and meaningful work
- Learning, Development, and Advancement — Training, mentoring, and clear career pathways
- Employee Voice and Engagement — Opportunities for input and responsiveness from leadership
- Management and Supervision — The effectiveness and communication of frontline managers
When employers design jobs that meet worker needs across these areas, business outcomes improve—faster hiring, lower vacancy rates, reduced turnover, and greater internal mobility.
What’s in the Guide?
The guide includes three core resources:
- Resource 1: TPM Partner Orientation to Employers – Helps partners understand how employers think about job quality
- Resource 2: Employer Orientation to Job Quality – Provides research, benchmarks, and tools to build internal alignment
- Resource 3: Leveraging TPM to Address Talent Pain Points – Offers a step-by-step approach to improving job design, with case studies and exercises
What Does Employer-Driven Job Quality Look Like?
Two examples show what this looks like in practice.
When Quest Diagnostics faced high attrition in its call centers, leaders visited operations firsthand and asked frontline managers and HR staff to identify what needed fixing. Nearly 40 issues surfaced—but the team narrowed them to four priorities: step-based pay, clear career paths, stronger supervisor development, and improved workforce planning.
It wasn’t a sweeping overhaul—it was a focused set of changes tied directly to the root causes of attrition.
The Kentucky Chamber Foundation took a similar approach in the equine industry, where high turnover threatened a sector contributing $5.1 billion annually. Through TPM, they created an employee collaborative that gave frontline workers a structured, anonymous voice.
The insight: workers felt stuck in flat-wage roles with no clear advancement, and supervisors lacked management training.
The response: targeted fixes—career pathways, supervisor development, and a shift to a five-day workweek.
The result: average tenure increased from about 10 months to 18–24 months.
These examples share a common thread: employers didn’t rely on guesswork. They used data, listened to workers, and made targeted changes that benefited both employees and the business.
A Practical Path Forward
Whether you’re a TPM practitioner, an employer, or a partner organization, this guide offers a practical framework you can use in meetings, planning sessions, and day-to-day work.
Most employers want to provide high-quality jobs. The challenge isn’t intent—it’s having a clear path forward.
For those new to TPM, explore the core curriculum to learn more about the framework.
Download the full guide below.
