The Workers Lab Reimagines How Flexible Work Can Be Quality Work With $1M Investment

New Effort Aims to Engage Workers and Cities in Development and Expansion of Tech Platform

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Workers Lab - a nonprofit investor that drives worker-centered innovation - announced today its $1M investment in an effort to demonstrate how flexible work can be quality work. The effort builds on an initial pilot of a platform in the City of Long Beach, California, which matched workers’ availability and fair rates with families seeking their services, and found promising results, which the organization seeks to replicate and expand.

“We are excited to see how this $1M investment allows us to expand and test the platform across industries in multiple locations in a way that’s informed by workers from start to finish,” said Adrian Haro, CEO at The Workers Lab. “We’re actively engaging local officials to bring this platform into their own cities and utilize it for their own flexible work needs.”

The demand for flexibility is not new and only continues to grow as we emerge from the pandemic and as costs for things like health care and childcare are putting more low-wage workers in the position of caretaker during traditional work hours. Historically, this need for flexibility has often come at the expense of adequate pay, as well as access to benefits and protections.

“The City of Long Beach is proud to partner with The Workers Lab in this effort,” said Nick Schultz, Executive Director of Pacific Gateway Workforce Development Board & Deputy Director of Economic Development for the City of Long Beach, CA. “We hope that what we’re learning can inform other cities and be the launchpad for providing quality and flexible work opportunities to workers across the country who want and need them.”

As The Workers Lab expands and tests the new platform in more cities, workers can utilize the tool to find flexible work that also provides fair pay, benefits (such as health and unemployment insurance, workers comp, and paid leave), and protections. The Workers Lab and its partners will use an adapted design sprint methodology for the test, which is an intensive, time-bound approach that engages workers in every aspect of identifying, testing, and piloting solutions to address challenges being faced by workers.

Advisors part of this effort include: Beyond Jobs, Xavier de Souza Briggs (Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro), Nick Schultz (Executive Director of Pacific Gateway Workforce Development Board & Deputy Director of Economic Development for the City of Long Beach, CA), Kris Stadelman (Founding Partner at Peerwayz and Former Executive Director of NOVA Workforce Development Board), Derek Ozkal (Senior Program Officer at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation), Elizabeth Reynoso (Associate Director of Public Sector Innovation at Living Cities), Haeyoung Yoon (Senior Policy Director at National Domestic Workers Alliance).

About The Workers Lab

The Workers Lab is a nonprofit investor that helps give new ideas for and with workers a chance to succeed. We do this by investing in new ideas others are working on through our Innovation Fund, and also through strategic investments where we identify potential new solutions that require a jump start and where our team of experts can provide unique value in partnership with others. To learn more about our mission and efforts, visit www.theworkerslab.com or find and follow us at @TheWorkersLab.