Archives

October 9, 2026

UpSkill America, and Economic Opportunities Program

Haley Glover

Senior Director, UpSkill America

For many manufacturers, building a capable leadership pipeline is a persistent and familiar problem. Turnover pushes people into roles before they are ready. External hires struggle to stick. And the institutional knowledge that makes an organization distinctive is hard to pass on at scale.

This case study examines how MillerKnoll built structured pathways for manufacturing associates address these business problems. The programs they created allow associates to grow into operations leadership and office-based roles. Through Bridge, Propel, and Career Academy, participants gain hands-on experience, dedicated coaching, clear expectations, and access to real opportunities across the company.

MillerKnoll Developing Operations Leaders from Within and Beyond A Case Study in Structured Talent Development Download

Download Publication (PDF)

About UpSkill America

UpSkill America, an initiative of the Economic Opportunities Program, supports employers and workforce organizations to expand and improve high-quality educational and career advancement opportunities for America’s front-line workers.

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.

Join Our Mailing List

To receive occasional emails about our work — including new publications, commentary, events, fellowships, and more — join our mailing list.

For news and updates every day, connect with us on the social media platform of your choice.

Publications

MillerKnoll: Developing Operations Leaders from Within and Beyond — A Case Study in Structured Talent Development

Bridge, Propel, and Career Academy are built on a practical philosophy: that MillerKnoll has great talent already inside the organization. Finding that talent, developing it, and aligning it to the right opportunities is key to its success. T

October 9, 2026

Haley Glover

Publications

A Typology of State-Supported Work-Connected Learning Programs

States invest in work-connected learning through dozens of distinct funding streams, grant programs, and agency initiatives, often developed independently over time by different administrations and agencies pursuing different goals.

October 8, 2026

Haley Glover

Blog Posts

The Workforce of the Future Starts with Adult Basic Education

To create a future-ready workforce system, we must move beyond outdated credentials and analog processes to one that is skills-first, transparent, data-driven, and aligned with the evolving needs of workers, educators, and employers.

September 16, 2026

Haley Glover
Sharon Bonney

Publications

Foundational Skills: Early Insights from Employers and Providers

This publication examines how fragmented skills, credentialing, and workforce data systems limit the potential of skills-based hiring and advancement, and outlines a shared vision for building the interoperable infrastructure needed to create a connected skills ecosystem that benefits workers, employers, educators, and governments.

September 14, 2026

Chelsea Miller

Podcasts Videos

How Tax Policy Can Help Employers Expand Access to Learning

In this interview, Chelsea Miller of Upskill America speaks with Nick Greif of InStride about how employers can design education benefits that are more accessible, strategic, and aligned with workforce goals.

September 8, 2026

Chelsea Miller

Blog Posts

Adult Working Learners Vote With Their Feet: What Employers Are Learning About Foundational Skills

Putting people at the center of the systems we are building means accepting that career paths are rarely linear. It requires us to build infrastructure that accommodates life transitions, recognizes informal learning, and values a worker’s agency over their own data.

September 1, 2026

Chelsea Miller

Podcasts Videos

The Impact of Foundational Skills on Workforce Success

This is the final event in our Job Quality in Practice series. In this conversation, hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on May 7, 2026, we hear from the Institute’s Job Quality Fellows who are embedding job quality into their work across a range of contexts and strategies — from employee ownership models that give workers a direct financial stake in their company’s success, to apprenticeship programs that create structured pathways to higher-wage careers, to worker advisory committees that bring employee voice into business decision-making.

August 25, 2026

Blog Posts