Enact Responsible Contracting at Your Workplace

Contract work is on the rise. Since 2019, the ratio of contract workers to employees has increased by 60 percent. Contract workers play integral roles in tech companies and across industries, from culinary and janitorial work to data science and machine learning.

However, these workers can often experience disparities within this two-tiered workforce. Compared to directly employed workers, contract workers are more likely to be Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, women, and nonbinary people. In first-hand interviews, contract workers described making less money, receiving fewer benefits, feeling silenced, and experiencing career immobility, often while doing the same work as their directly employed counterparts. Without responsible contracting in place, contract workers are vulnerable to abuse and discrimination and have little room for career advancement.

Implementing Responsible Contracting: An Online Course

Responsible contracting practices not only protect workers from harm, but they help your company enact DEI commitments with this diverse workforce. That’s why we collaborated with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Expanding Equity program to release a course on Responsible Contracting: Bringing Equity to Your Extended Workforce!

This on-demand, self-paced course gives you everything need to adopt responsible contracting: a background on past and present contracting dynamics, the six pillars of the Responsible Contracting Standard, and tools to get buy-in and adoption at your workplace.