The Good Work Framework

The World Economic Forum's Good Work Framework establishes five objectives to improve job quality: promoting fairness in wages and technology, providing flexibility and protection, delivering health and well-being, driving diversity, equity and inclusion, and fostering a learning culture. It argues that these standards are necessary to mitigate risks from technological change, the green transition, and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, while providing economic and social returns for businesses and societies.

• The evolution of work is being driven by four primary trends: technological change (the Fourth Industrial Revolution), social and demographic transformations, climate change and the green transition, and the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Climate change poses direct risks to worker health and productivity; for example, an increase of 1.5C in global temperatures is estimated by the ILO to reduce the working day by 5% in South Asia.
• The 'green transition' necessitates a 'just transition' to ensure that workers displaced from unsustainable sectors are supported and replaced by high-quality jobs.
• The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated inequalities in work flexibility, as remote work options were primarily available to high-income, highly skilled workers; in the US and EU, only 37% of jobs could be performed entirely from home.
• There is a significant global gap in access to mental health safety nets compared to physical health services, particularly in lower, lower-middle, and upper-middle income economies.
• The pandemic disproportionately affected women and disadvantaged groups; the ILO estimates that 4.2% of women lost their jobs due to the pandemic, compared to 3% of men.
• Rapid automation and digitalization are creating a critical need for reskilling; the World Economic Forum's 2020 Future of Jobs Report estimates that skills required for existing jobs will change by 40% on average between 2020 and 2025.
• The Good Work Framework identifies five core goals for employers: ensuring a living wage for all, enabling flexibility where possible, safeguarding total well-being, ensuring the workforce profile reflects the operating market, and providing accessible upskilling and reskilling.
• Non-standard employment, affecting over a billion people globally, often lacks the security and benefits of traditional employment, creating a need for portable benefits and new social security solutions.
• Institutional investors in the United States are increasingly prioritizing the 'Social' (S) component of ESG; the percentage of investors viewing it as very important rose to 69% between 2019 and 2020, surpassing environmental concerns.

APA

World Economic Forum (2022). The Good Work Framework. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Good_Work_Framework_2022.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. The Good Work Framework. 2022. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Good_Work_Framework_2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=The Good Work Framework |date=May 2022 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Good_Work_Framework_2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2022good, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{The Good Work Framework}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Good_Work_Framework_2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }