Earlier today, Michael Gritton, Executive Director of KentuckianaWorks, presented the team at Masonic Homes Kentucky with the Workforce Investor Badge, a new award for Louisville region employers that are making concerted efforts to invest in their frontline workers.
“Masonic Homes Kentucky is a shining example of a local employer that listens to the needs of its workers and offers them strong, fulfilling career pathways,” said Gritton, who runs the 7-county Louisville region’s workforce development board. “We’ve seen that when organizations embrace the principles of quality jobs, everyone benefits from improved employee wellness and retention. The Workforce Investor Badge is our way of recognizing Masonic Home Kentucky’s efforts and encouraging others to embrace this way of doing business.”
With support from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, KentuckianaWorks has partnered with local employers to help them explore and adopt evidence-based workplace policies and practices that reduce employee turnover and burnout and increase engagement. Masonic Homes Kentucky, a long-time nonprofit leader in aging care and partner in this job quality project, implemented multiple policies to better support its workforce, including offering employees bus passes and phone plans.
“It’s very important to work at a place that shows that they care for their employees,” said Sherita Parr, a Housekeeping Supervisor at Masonic Homes Kentucky. “That bus card helped me for the first year to get back and forth from work.”
“Our employees deliver remarkable service to our residents every day. Then, they go home and take care of their families. We want to help our employees by hopefully removing some of the worry and financial stress associated with basic needs like reliable transportation and phone service. Taking care of our employees is the right thing to do,” said Chief Executive Officer J Scott Judy, Masonic Homes Kentucky.
The Workforce Investor Badge was developed in partnership with Canopy Kentucky and is an acknowledgement that an organization is serious about offering high-quality employment. While there is no one-size-fits-all definition of what makes a high-quality job, KentuckianaWorks relies on the National Fund for Workforce Solutions’ Job Design Framework and the U.S. Labor and Commerce Departments’ Good Job Principles as guides.
“We are grateful to Masonic Homes Kentucky for allowing us to showcase the many benefits of looking critically at frontline roles and how they might better serve the individuals who hold them,” added Aleece Smith, who leads KentuckianaWorks’ job quality initiatives as the organization’s Director of Inclusion and Sector Strategies.
What’s behind the badge’s coffee pour imagery?
Coffee is a common workplace ritual that encourages taking a break to build community and practice kindness. The pouring is meant to evoke the concept of “bucket filling.” In this context, the bucket-fillers are employers, managers, and other colleagues who act in a way that fills an employee's metaphorical bucket by offering the resources and support they need.
To learn more about the Workforce Investor Badge, visit kentuckianaworks.org/badge.
