The Next Big Idea: Portable Benefits for Independent Workers

With the changing nature of work in America, the 20th century formula for providing protections and benefits to workers is falling behind 21st century innovation, and we must develop new ideas that can meet the long-term needs of workers and businesses alike. This event will explore how we might adapt the social contract for workers in America in the wake of sweeping economic shifts.

The event will feature a series of panel discussions with key voices in the conversation around independent workers, in the on-demand economy and beyond. Senator Mark Warner, honorary co-chair of the Future of Work Initiative, will join the discussion. The event will be hosted by Bruce Reed and John Bridgeland, co-chairs of the Future of Work Initiative, and Maureen Conway, Executive Director of the Economic Opportunities Program. The event’s panels will also feature a number of signatories of the November 10, 2015 letter to lawmakers agreeing to principles on portable benefits for independent workers, including business representatives, worker advocates, and thought leaders.

The Future of Work Initiative is a year-long nonpartisan effort to identify concrete ways to strengthen the social contract in the midst of sweeping changes in the 21st-century workplace and workforce. The Initiative will focus on two challenges in particular: first, how best to advance and protect the economic interests of Americans in the rapidly growing economy of shared goods and services; and second, how best to inspire a 21st-century capitalism for a 21st-century workforce by incenting employers to help workers get ahead.

The Economic Opportunities Program (EOP) is a policy program at the Aspen Institute whose primary mission is to advance promising strategies and policies to help low- and moderate-income Americans succeed in today's dynamic economy. Led from the Institute's headquarters in Washington, DC, EOP is composed of three related initiatives: the Microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning, and Dissemination (FIELD), Skills for America's Future, and the Workforce Strategies Initiative (AspenWSI). Learn more at as.pn/eop.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.