Page 20 - BusinessWest July 7, 2025

BANKING & FINANCE >>
Living on
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
motion or raise at work. But not
Most people love the idea of a pro-
everyone accepts one.
the Edge Pilot Program
“Some employers may have
employees saying no to promo-
tions, and they don’t know why. It’s an invis-
ible issue — they’re asking, ‘why wouldn’t you
want more money?’” said Kristen Joyce, Bridge
to Prosperity program director at Springfield
WORKS.
Many, she explained, are running into some-
thing called the cliff effect, a common situation
in which a low-income earner who’s accessing
public benefits gets a pay bump that negates
Helps Workers
those benefits and leaves them bringing home
less money than before. “They would actually be
worse off, and you have to make a rational deci-
sion not to take the promotion when you feel that
Navigate Cliff
your family is going to be worse off.”
Enter Bridge to Prosperity, the pilot program
Joyce oversees. “It’s been a long time coming,
Effect and we’ve been
working with many
partners in Western
Mass. on this,” she
“Some employers
told BusinessWest.
may have
“The cliff effect is
really holding folks
employees saying
back and keeping
no to promotions,
them from moving
up. We’ve heard from
and they don’t
employers that it’s an
know why. It’s an
issue for them too,
invisible issue —
when they can’t pro-
mote their workers.”
they’re asking,
For the past sever-
al years, Springfield
‘why wouldn’t
WORKS, a collab-
you want more
orative affiliated with
the Western Massa-
money?’”
chusetts Economic
20 JULY 7, 2025
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