The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits, by Zeynep Ton, is a book about a better economic tomorrow, which is threatening to come too late for many of us.

The current standard of corporate policy has weakened our middle class, a level of society crucial to a stabilized government. The Good Jobs Strategy is a resolve for the gets-us-nowhere arguments between conservatives and liberals. Save costs and make more profits? Check. Treat people like human beings with rights and dignity and create ethical businesses that consumers need and love? Check. Do both at the same time? Check.

The author provides research proving that the best way for businesses to lower costs and boost profits is by investing in their employees. By offering employees a living wage right from the hiring with benefits and proper training, normalized work hours and a positive work environment, companies discover that retention rates soar. Employees enhance their services and production. Despite increased cost for HR at the beginning, studies show that well-trained healthy employees, able to maintain a decent home and family life, do a consistently great job at work. The author logically details how this strategy works. She is an adjunct associate professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and was previously on the faculty of the Harvard Business School. I highly recommend the book and support of such companies.