OBJECTIVES: To develop a valid and reliable scale “the readiness for work questionnaire” (WoRQ), which aims to evaluate working readiness in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: The WoRQ has 7 items designed to capture the patient’s readiness to work as reflected by current capacity to initiate and maintain a useful activity, then a final dichotomous work readiness judgment.The initial 7 items are rated to provide graded measurements, i.e., “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree” or “strongly disagree“.  Content validity was then established via several sources including: targeted literature reviews; development of a preliminary conceptual framework; and phone interviews with practicing clinicians to gather insights about schizophrenia and work readiness. To establish reliability, ten practicing psychiatrists were asked to assess 12 videotaped schizophrenia patients twice within a period of 4 weeks.  Raters were asked to view each video and the supporting documentation. Raters were then asked to complete the WoRQ and evaluate the patient’s readiness for work. Inter-rater reliability was assessed through the calculation of intra-class correlation (ICC) coefficients at each session separately for the initial items (Items 1 to 7 rated on a scale of 1 to 4); Test-retest reliability was assessed through the calculation of ICC for the initial items between Sessions I and II. RESULTS: A clear consensus regarding the utility of a work readiness instrument was established amongst the clinicians interviewed.    A good level of agreement was evident between raters in the assessment of readiness to work (>70% at the first rating and >80% at the second rating).  Test retest for the initial items ranged from 0.42 to 0.66. CONCLUSIONS: These initial analyses indicate that the WoRQ may be a reliable instrument in assessing work readiness in schizophrenia.  The questionnaire demonstrated good to moderate levels of inter-rater agreement and moderate test-retest reliability.