Angela Briggs-Paige, Head of People and Culture at Opportunity@Work
More than 70 million workers in the U.S. with in-demand skills and experience are overlooked for higher-wage jobs because they don’t have a bachelor’s degree – that’s half the workforce. Not that long ago, these workers, now known as STARs for Skilled Through Alternative Routes, provided companies with a reliable pipeline of skilled talent. In exchange, companies provided a pathway to upward economic mobility for STARs. Together, STARs and companies built a thriving economy where both sides prospered.
Today, companies are stuck on a talent treadmill, desperate to build a reliable pipeline of skilled workers and STARs are looking for economic mobility. Two allies separated by an insidious and invisible barrier. Now the enemy has a name. The paper ceiling. Workers with experience, skills, and diverse perspectives are being held back by a silent barrier. It’s time to tear the paper ceiling and see the world beyond it.
But the paper ceiling is not a force of nature beyond our control. It is the sum of institutional and individual choices that prioritized hiring shortcuts over real skills. Now, a movement has begun. Workers and companies uniting to create a new and more equitable future of work in which skills matter more than what’s on paper. A future that is back in balance, when both STARs and employers can thrive again. A future that starts by working together to tear the paper ceiling and see the STARs beyond it.