Living Wage For US (LW4US) offers more than living wage benchmarks and certification. We also provide valuable research, tools and guidance so that employers have the tools and support they need to move forward toward a living wage for all workers in the most cost-effective ways possible. Our goal is to make living wage payment a decision that benefits employers, workers and communities.

LW4US has assessed the living wage gaps of dozens of employers across the U.S. Providing each with valuable analysis of how their total remuneration, inclusive of benefits, compares to a living wage in each geography in which they operate. Thus far this work has spurred wage and benefits increases amounting to over $100,000,000 for workers in one year of operation. The resulting increases have had significant benefits to employers as well in terms of recruitment, retention, and productivity.

LW4US has implemented this analysis with a first in field, online total remuneration assessment tool. This allows precise identification of living wage gaps and suggestions for benefits that might provide extremely cost effective pathways for living wage gaps to be bridged.

The beta tool currently in use has received extremely positive feedback, but is only available on a cost per employer basis as it requires extensive engagement from LW4US staff. Additionally, the user interface requires manual data input that can seem daunting for large employers who haven’t yet experienced the tool and would feel more comfortable with options to upload whole sets of data. These challenges prevent LW4US from sharing the tool with the broad range of organizations that have presented new use cases.

We are redesigning the tool to advance the living wage movement. The tool shall:

1. Allow employers to assess how their total remuneration package compares to a living wage without price barriers to use;

2. automate many of the aspects of living wage certification to allow servicing of a large number of employers;

3. remove marginal cost of use for each new employer, thus allowing supply chain and funder use;

4. create a user-friendly experience with embedded guidance that allows less time investment by staff for living wage assessment and certification;

5. reduce the amount of time an employer must invest to complete a living wage assessment through excel uploads of data and potential integration with HR systems;

6. allow for quick adjustment to basic elements at low cost (new back-end data uploads, corrections to formulas for calculation, updates to text and layout, etc.);

7. Allow for easy visualization and tracking of data inclusive of changes over time and Impacts;

8. Provide a future proof tool that could be expanded globally.

A Visual of the Total System Integration Under Design:

Benefits

We expect the redesign of this tool to create extensive benefit to employers, workers, communities, and our entire society. It is designed to remove the barriers and create the incentives to make living wage payment achievable for all and profitable for business.

The tool has built in tracking measures so that the business case can be supported by large quantities of aggregated data. Thus giving employers the confidence to understand how, with the right benefits, they can pay a living wage and why the investment will pay off long term.

1. Creates a pathway for employers worldwide to easily assess and measure progress toward living wages for themselves and all of their value chains that they would like to engage;

2. Enables scaling of LW4US certification and advocacy toward living wage to achieve a world where every family can afford a decent standard of living and every worker is fairly compensated without prejudice;

3. Cuts costs – both labor time involved in each assessment currently as well as costs of maintaining and marginal usage fees for system use, thus enabling licensing of the tool for hundreds of suppliers to a company without any marginal cost for each company, encouraging further uptake;

4. Provides greater maneuverability for future growth as it will be designed to easily adjust to future global living wage benchmark data, expanding beyond the U.S.;

5. Allows employers to assess how their total remuneration package compares to a living wage and understand how to close gaps with the most impactful and cost effective benefits;

6. Automates many of the aspects of living wage certification to allow servicing of a large number of employers with minimal time investment from employers;

7. Creates a user-friendly experience with embedded guidance that allows less time investment by staff for living wage assessment and certification;

8. Allows data sharing between companies for a range of reporting uses without violating legal regulations;

9. Significantly reduces the amount of time an employer must invest to complete a living wage assessment through excel uploads of data and integration with HR systems;

10. Allows for easy visualization and tracking of data inclusive of changes over time and Impacts.

Different user groups will have different ways of interacting with this tool. So we need your help in providing feedback on its design. We have formed a number of focus groups for some key users and invite you to register today! If you don’t see a group for you and want to provide input, simply email us at info@livingwageforus.org and we will schedule some time to talk.

Small/Medium Size Employers

Th Feb 16 – 10 PST/1 EST – https://bit.ly/1Aregistration

Tu Feb 28 – 8 PST/11 EST – https://bit.ly/2Aregistration

Large National/Multinational Employers

Tu Feb 21 – 10 PST/1 EST – https://bit.ly/1Bregistration

M Mar 6 – 8 PST/11 EST – https://bit.ly/2Bregistration

Investors

Th Feb 23 – 8 PST/11 EST – https://bit.ly/1Cregistration

Foundations and Nonprofit Funders

Tu Mar 7 – 10 PST/1 EST – https://bit.ly/2Cregistration

Multinational Suppliers

We Mar 8 – 10 PST/1 EST – https://bit.ly/S1registration

Living Wage For US (referenced as For US)will receive $25k in funding, introductions to subject-matter experts, access to a peer support community, and mental health resources.

—

Sleepy Hollow, NY. September 15, 2021 — Uncharted announced today its cohort of ten early-stage social ventures for the Economic Inequality Initiative, a six-month accelerator supporting solutions addressing economic inequality in the U.S. Among them is For US, an early-stage non-profit national living wage certification system using the For US Standard. For US will receive $25k in unrestricted funding, access to a peer support community, and introductions to subject-matter experts like Ai-jen Poo, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Edgar Villanueva, Founder and Principal of the Decolonizing Wealth Project. 

The economic divide in the U.S. is sharp and rising. In the decades since the great recession, middle-and-lower classes saw their collective wealth shrink by over 20%, disproportionately affecting women, people of color, and young people. “Economic inequality is the biggest problem of our generation,” said Banks Benitez, Uncharted’s CEO. “Generational problems require new and long-term ways of thinking, of building power, and of creating change. We’re honored to work alongside the entrepreneurs and activists leading the way.”

“We are so excited to be a part of the first Economic Inequality Initiative and see the support they provide as perfectly timed to help us gear up for our formal nationwide launch November 15th” said Michelle Murray, founder and CEO of Living Wage For US. “The connections and support within our peer group and beyond will really help us scale and drive the impact we want to see in the US, where ensuring a decent quality of living for workers provides benefit for workers, for employers, for communities and for US!”

For US was one of ten participants selected from a pool of 344 applications from early-stage ventures across the U.S. The ten selected ventures are closing wealth gaps in the U.S. through education, housing, small business assistance, financial literacy, and policy advocacy.

ABOUT For US and the Living Wage Standard

For US certifies U.S. employers that pay their workers and contractors a living wage based on real costs of living. More than that, we create a community to support employers in understanding how to pay living wages in a way that benefits workers, employers, and communities.  We engage consumers and other interested stakeholders through social media, telling the positive stories of those whose lives are affected by higher wages and building the business case for living wage payment. We use research to navigate the impacts of policy changes on how workers can achieve a decent living, creating a space where solid research leads to strong action. We join in solidarity with all of you who believe that hard work should ensure a decent living, and celebrate the employers, investors, and organizations who are leading the way. 

Formally launching during living wage week November 15, 2021, we are already working with employers across all industries in the US to make living wage payment understandable and achievable. Overcoming the barriers and creating the incentives to enable employers to pay living wages, affording a decent quality of life for working families.

ABOUT UNCHARTED

Uncharted is a social impact accelerator that supports early-stage ventures tackling economic inequality in America. Our programs are fixed-term, cohort-based, and mentorship-driven. They are open to social ventures, nonprofits, movement builders, advocacy organizations, coalitions, and hybrid models.

Our results are exponential—for every $1 in funding we receive, our ventures generate $8.12 within two years, funding that they attribute directly to Uncharted’s support. For over 10 years, we’ve backed early-stage ventures with audacious goals. Equipping them to challenge the status quo is what we do best.

MEDIA CONTACT

Michelle Murray