Partial profile · Book Profile — full narrative profile planned
The Good Jobs Strategy How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits
A management scholar shows that companies—even low-cost retailers—can offer good jobs while delivering low prices, great service, and strong profits by combining heavy investment in employees with four disciplined operational choices.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
The Good Jobs Strategy dismantles the widely held belief that bad jobs are a necessary cost of doing business in low-margin service industries. Drawing on more than a decade of field research inside retail stores, MIT Sloan professor Zeynep Ton documents how 'model retailers' like Costco, QuikTrip, Mercadona, and Trader Joe's pay well, train deeply, and staff generously—yet outperform competitors on prices, service, and financial returns. The secret is a virtuous cycle: high investment in people is made profitable by four operational choices (offer less, standardize and empower, cross-train, and operate with slack), each of which reduces waste and increases labor productivity while putting employees at the center of the company's success. For managers, executives, and entrepreneurs convinced they must cut labor to survive, and for investors and citizens who think good jobs are mere altruism, the book offers a concrete, evidence-based blueprint for creating value for employees, customers, and investors all at the same time.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A manager, executive, or entrepreneur who wants to run a profitable business and also offer good jobs but believes controlling costs forces a trade-off.
- The problem
- Thin margins and intense cost pressure make it seem impossible to pay well, staff adequately, and still keep prices low and profits strong. They feel trapped in a stressful trench-warfare of cutting labor while battling operational and service problems, and guilty or resigned about the bad jobs they provide.
- The plan
- Invest heavily in employees—pay, benefits, stable schedules, training, and respect—and set high expectations.
- Offer less: reduce product variety and promotions to cut complexity and cost.
- Standardize routine tasks while empowering employees on judgment-based decisions.
- Cross-train employees to handle variability without unstable schedules.
- Operate with slack to prevent errors and enable continuous improvement.
- The payoff
- Employees earn a living, find dignity and meaning, and stay for careers. · Customers enjoy low prices, good service, and personal connection. · Investors receive superior long-term returns and growth.
See our guide
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Additional reading
- The Service Profit Chain · James Heskett, W. Earl Sasser Jr., and Leonard Schlesinger
This book provides the foundational argument that satisfied employees are crucial for delivering good customer service, which in turn drives customer loyalty and profits. It supports the 'virtuous cycle' concept.
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People · Stephen Covey
The book heavily influenced Mercadona's CEO, Juan Roig, and helped him develop the strong values and principles that guided the company's transformation to the Good Jobs Strategy.
- Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System · Steven Spear and Kent Bowen
This Harvard Business Review article is cited to explain how standardization is a foundation of the Toyota Production System, which successfully combines discipline with employee involvement, a key parallel to the 'Standardize and Empower' choice.