About Us

Why a Centre for Dignified Work in the City?

The City of London is a key part of the UK economy, providing more than half a million jobs and generating billions of economic output each year. It has one of the youngest and most skilled workforces in the country.

Yet the City’s success relies on tens of thousands of ‘hidden workers’: the cleaners, security guards, hospitality workers, couriers, construction workers and many others. Too many of these workers do not enjoy fair pay or dignified working conditions and a growing number live in poverty and hardship.

We are establishing a new institution here in the heart of the City: the Joseph Centre for Dignified Work will work to reweave relationships of trust, recognition and dialogue between the worker, business, and civic communities.

Our vision is that through these relationships and dialogue we can together deliver dignified working conditions to all workers as well as supporting businesses to achieve new standards for social responsibility and ethical purpose. Our vision is a City that works for everyone, securing the common good for all.

What does the Centre work on?

As a new centre, we recognize that our work will evolve, but we have started by identifying four outcomes:

Fair pay throughout the City, including supporting the Living Wage campaign.
Social mobility for all, ensuring opportunities are as widely available as possible.
Ethical local supply chains, helping companies ensure their procurement of goods and services aligns with their values and the highest ESG standards.
Stronger partnerships with workers, collaborating with business to find imaginative and sustainable ways to engage workers in corporate decision making.

Our current work focuses on listening to workers and businesses in the City of London about these issues.

Who runs the Centre?

The Centre's Director is Josh Harris, who also serves as Priest-in-Charge of St Katharine Cree. Prior to his appointment in the City, Josh worked for more than a decade in policy roles in government, parliament and think tanks in Westminster and in community development in east London.

We take our Centre's name from St Joseph, the patron saint of Workers, whose work as a carpenter while caring for the infant Jesus has been an inspiration for generations that good work is worthy of the highest dignity.

The creation of this new institution is inspired by the work of the Guild Church for Workers at St Katharine Cree (SKC). This church has re-engaged the hidden workers who underpin the prosperity and success of the City. SKC is building community among such workers - of all faiths and none – and responding to what we have heard through hundreds of face-to-face conversations with workers in the City about their needs and hopes. We are playing our part to renew the social and civic fabric of the City of London.

If you would like to financially support our work individually you can donate tax efficiently via St Katharine Cree at https://www.stkatharinecree.org/donate