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This resource exists to help small businesses and other employers in Colorado understand how to best help and support their employees toward successful employment. It is for owners and leaders who want to engage in shifting the way they do business, toward a people-centric view. It is well-documented that this approach (sometimes referred to as the "service profit chain" or the "good jobs strategy" and exemplified by Southwest Airlines and others) leads to sustained business performance over the long-term. We're working with employers who want to provide good jobs, want their employees to thrive, and are asking, "How do I do this, and what is next?"

We've organized the information in 6 rows to highlight the top 6 domains to successful long-term employment of employees with lower wages. These domains are:
-Physical and Mental Health
-Financial Wellness
-Social Skills and Stress Management
-Childcare
-Transportation
-Housing

We encourage employers to review within each domain, from left-to-right:
-the barriers related to the domain,
-the reasons why those barriers exist,
-the challenges to employees overcoming those barriers without support,
-the negative results of the barriers staying unsupported,
-the relative importance and ability for an employer to influence long-term employment outcomes within that domain,
-the variety of options for an employer to address those barriers and to assess where they currently stand along a continuum of support, and
-the outcomes associated with overcoming the barriers related to that domain.

We provide 5 "levels" of opportunities for employers to engage and support along each domain, with each level representing a greater level of commitment and involvement in helping employees overcome barriers. For example, the first level emphasizes compliance with existing laws and regulations, curiosity, assessment, and understanding employees' needs. Unsurprisingly, we have seen that employers who achieve higher levels of engagement along these domains tend to have greater employee engagement, satisfaction, retention, and productivity. These supports and their outcomes lead to increased trust within teams, better relationships across the organization, better decision-making up-and-down the organization's hierarchy, higher quality-of-service, better customer relationships, greater profitability, and eventually, community impact.

These supports help build a strong people-first culture and a strong brand within the community.

We believe that collectively, employers have a tremendous opportunity to influence their employees' ability to thrive in- and outside-of the workplace as employees, coworkers, supervisors, friends, partners, parents, children, caregivers, community members, and citizens.

We encourage employers to start with simple action steps. Determine which ones are most important and valuable for your employees, and the ones that are easiest to implement (most bang for the buck/time). Begin at level 1 and continue working toward becoming a People-First Employer.
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