ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on what employers can do to contribute to a new social contract at work. One of the key concepts of the new social contract for labor that we propose is the high-road company. This chapter outlines the characteristics of high- and low-road employers and presents evidence that a high-road business strategy benefits both workers and employers. Far from being an altruistic model that helps workers at the cost of profits, the high-road strategy leads to less overturn among employees. Research shows that a stable, well-trained workforce is a great asset to an employer. We look at several types of companies that embrace high-road principles, including Employee Stock Ownership Programs and cooperatives, and present several case studies of what happened when companies took the high road.
