About the Breakroom Rating

Everyone deserves a good job - and every employer is capable of creating them.

So we’ve created the Breakroom Rating - a way of measuring the quality of jobs.

It’s been designed from interviews with hundreds of employees and employers about what really matters to them at work.

How the Breakroom Rating works

A good job provides four things:

  • Pays a fair wage
  • Provides regular hours with flexibility when you need it
  • Guarantees proper benefits
  • Creates a supportive workplace

We use these categories to create the Breakroom Rating: a score from 1 to 10.

When someone takes the Breakroom Quiz they get a Breakroom Score for their job, so they can see how it compares to other frontline jobs.

We combine everyone’s scores to give each employer its Breakroom Rating.

Here’s what we use the Breakroom Rating to measure and why:

A good job pays a fair wage

  • You get paid for all the work that you do, no doing overtime for free
  • You get a fair share of any customer service charge or tips
  • You get paid on time and accurately

A good job provides regular hours with flexibility

  • You get enough hours from your job and you don't worry about whether you'll get the same week to week. This includes getting a guaranteed minimum number of hours in a contract, if you want it.
  • The hours you typically work aren't very different from the hours you are contracted to work. If you consistently work a lot of extra hours, those should be guaranteed.
  • You get a fair and reasonable amount of choice about which shifts you work
  • It's easy to change your shifts if you need to - either to accommodate planned absences or for emergencies
  • You get plenty of notice about when you're working
  • Your shifts shouldn't be changed by your employer after you've been given your schedule without your say so. If they are, you should still be paid for what you'd originally been scheduled for

A good job guarantees proper benefits

  • You get paid breaks - and you get to actually take them!
  • It's easy to take holiday when you need and want it
  • If you can’t work because you’re sick, you get paid at your regular rate, not just the legal minimum of sick pay

A good job creates a supportive workplace

  • You receive enough training through your hiring and on-boarding process to do your job safely and well
  • You’re kept safe at work
  • There are opportunities for you to progress in the company, if you want them
  • It's easy to fit your job around other responsibilities in life: kids, study and other caring roles
  • You enjoy working with your immediate team and you’re not always stressed
  • Your immediate manager treats you with the respect you deserve
  • There's a supportive relationship between the people working on the frontline serving customers and the people who own the company or work in headquarters. You should feel like you're kept well-informed about how the company is doing as a whole, that you're trusted, listened to and cared about. You’re not just a number

If you’re an employee or an employer, you can contribute to making the Breakroom Rating better by dropping us a line and sending us your feedback.