Is labor scheduling too erratic?

While the retail industry has historically gotten a bad rap for low wages, lately attention has turned as well to the issue of unpredictable worker schedules. Last week, legislation was introduced that may make California the first state to require large retailers and restaurant chains to post work schedules at least two weeks in advance.

The "Fair Schedule and Pay Equity Act" would also mandate additional pay for last-minute schedules.

The bill’s authors say part-time positions are no longer just filled by teenagers but adults who work multiple jobs to support themselves and their families. Adult employees often struggle with managing child care, balancing shifts between two jobs, finding transportation, and juggling work and classes.

"Without fair and predictable work schedules, more and more Californians, particularly part-time and low-wage workers, are struggling to plan for basic life necessities, like child care or a much-needed second job," said state assemblyman David Chiu, a San Francisco Democrat, who introduced the bill, in a statement.

The bill applies to food and retail employers with 500 or more employees. It came after unfavorable media stories on schedule challenges at Starbucks and Juicy Couture.





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The city of San Francisco passed similar legislation in December. Once it becomes effective later this year, retail workers in the city will be given additional "predictability pay" if their schedule is changed within a two-week window. For changes made with less than 24 hours’ notice, for instance, employees must receive two to four hours of additional wages, depending on the length of the shift. There are exceptions for overtime requests, sickness and disciplinary reasons.

A New York Times article last year detailed how women’s and labor groups were pushing a national movement to demand more predictable schedules for hourly employees. More part-timers on payrolls since the last recession were said to be compounding the problem. Some articles have stated that labor-scheduling software encourages managers to send workers home before their shifts end.

In the Times article, David French, NRF’s SVP of government relations, said many proposals being pushed by women’s and labor groups "may sound reasonable." But he also asserted that the regulations could cause more harm than good. Mr. French added, "Where employers and employees now work together to solve scheduling problems, you’ll have a very bureaucratic environment where rigid rules would be introduced."

BrainTrust

Discussion Questions

What do you predict will happen if large retailers are required to provide more predictable scheduling for associates? Is requiring stores to set schedules two weeks in advance of a work shift a reasonable request?

Poll

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Zel Bianco
Zel Bianco
9 years ago

This is a reasonable request that would greatly increase the morale of employees, benefiting shoppers and retailers in the long term. It would also allow employees to wholly focus on work while they are at work, instead of being distracted by hoping their last-minute babysitter is up to the job.

There are always going to be times when last-minute schedule changes are necessary, and I think a couple hours worth of wages is a fair compensation for those times.

Debbie Hauss
Debbie Hauss
9 years ago

I think that would be just great for employees. I am sure there will be some glitches, but overall it will help to make employees happier in their jobs and more motivated to be brand advocates. That’s the end goal, right?

Steve Montgomery
Steve Montgomery
9 years ago

In most retail environments a Monday is a Monday, a Friday is a Friday and so on—except when they aren’t. Things can change quickly in the retail world. A competitor closes, the weather changes for better or worse, a fellow employee gets sick or has an accident, a hoped-for gain in store-wide sale fails, etc. All of these can impact staffing needs. The further out you have to plan the more likely your forecast will be wrong.

That being said, in the world we live in many people are working multiple part-time jobs and need to be able to juggle more than one work schedule. The more notice they have, the easier it is (not saying it is ever easy).

The issue is how do we balance the two needs—that of the company and that of the employee. It is never an easy task and I am not sure having the government decide how to do it is the correct path.

Bob Phibbs
Bob Phibbs
9 years ago

Who couldn’t support treating employees like human beings, rather than robots that come at your whim? This is only an issue with large big box retailers and foodservice companies. Most small business owners would never treat their employees the way many of these workers featured in the New York Times piece were.

Cathy Hotka
Cathy Hotka
9 years ago

There’s just no question that working parents in retail jobs need predictability in scheduling. It’s one thing to decry the crazy-high cost of child care, but another thing entirely not to know when you’re going to need it.

It’s disappointing that NRF would deny it.

Nikki Baird
Nikki Baird
9 years ago

I talked to a Boston Globe reporter yesterday on exactly this topic, because California isn’t the only one—Massachusetts is not far behind. I think it is totally reasonable to expect schedules at least two weeks ahead. There are very few conditions outside of weather that make it THAT difficult to predict schedule needs even four weeks ahead, forget about two. And for larger companies, labor scheduling already does this automatically on a rolling basis anyway. I’m sorry, but my opinion is if any store can’t do this regularly, then they have a bad store manager.

And I think retail is getting what it deserves. Too many retailers have given very little thought to the impact that erratic schedules have on employees’ lives. You do that too much and legislation is the consequence. Now flexibility is challenged, and indeed, where some retailers might have been able to work things out, their hands will be more tied than before. But it’s only because it took a political movement to get them to change in the first place.

Sure, retailers will whine that this will end up costing them more. But I think it’s a short-sighted retailer who thinks it costs less to force turnover through erratic scheduling that throws employees’ lives into disarray on a regular basis than it does to pay a little bit more in labor costs to have a happy, retained, experienced workforce.

Mel Kleiman
Mel Kleiman
9 years ago

Are more predicable schedules two week in advance possible? With the use of big data and automation, it is more possible today then ever before. But the real question is, is it practical? Most likely not. Conditions seem to change too rapidly in today’s economic environment.

My prediction is more pressure on the number of people working and more usage of automation with fewer workers on the floor.

Stuart Levine
Stuart Levine
9 years ago

When I was going through high school and college I worked the same part time hours weekly, every week. Trying to balance school attendance, school work and a part time job would have been impossible otherwise.

I was astounded when both of my daughters told me that their schedule could change on a weekly basis and rather drastically at that.

I live in California and am usually in incredulous of the “namby-pamby” laws that get proposed each year. I think this one has hit it on the head.

As Nikki Baird stated, “if you don’t police yourself, government will!”

JD Miller
JD Miller
9 years ago

San Francisco’s legislation will require compliance by July 3rd. There are a variety of statewide bills (in CA, MN, MD and others) as well as the Federal “Schedules that Work Act” being considered. Regardless of whether the laws get passed, my experience is that communicating with employees on their schedules and inviting them to collaborate on scheduling is good business anyway—it increases engagement, drives revenues and reduces turnover.

I recently gave a webinar on how retailers can easily comply with the San Francisco laws, as well as similar rules in other localities. There’s a replay link and a downloadable compliance guide here.

Ralph Jacobson
Ralph Jacobson
9 years ago

Good topic, Tom. As a grocery store manager in the ’80s, the reality was that weather and other uncontrollables happen, even to great store managers. If you don’t adjust schedules, you will have out-of-stocks on the shelf and/or lines at the POS, and other problems. A manager typically has a list of part-time employees who are more than willing to come in for extra hours and another set of people who like to be the first to go home early if the lack of business dictates. Full-time staff is more stable, typically in terms of scheduling, and they are most often able to schedule their lives effectively around work.

Of course I have compassion for quality of work/life balance for all employees. However, we cannot continue to implement legislation that will undoubtedly raise costs for retailers without ultimately expecting product costs to rise for consumers. It is simple economics.

David Dorf
David Dorf
9 years ago

Labor costs are second only to inventory costs, so optimal scheduling can make or break a store’s profitability. Workers deserve predictability, so it’s always a balancing act that’s crucial to being a successful store manager.

Modern WFM software should take predicted demand, required tasks, labor laws and worker limitations into account to produce the best schedule for all the stakeholders. If this law spreads, and I think it should, then many retailers will need to upgrade their labor scheduling software, which in the end will lead to happier workers and increased profits.

Ben Ball
Ben Ball
9 years ago

There seems to be considerable support for this idea among the commentators. Regardless of my own opinions, I would pose this question: Shouldn’t this be a two-way street if it is really to be fair? Shouldn’t retailers be entitled to some form of compensation when workers suddenly request changes to their schedules or simply don’t show up for work?

Carole Meagher
Carole Meagher
9 years ago

Given that retailers perceive cost savings by exploiting their workers, it’s good to know that the legislation will mean that employee abuse will no longer be a competitive advantage.

Jan Kniffen
Jan Kniffen
9 years ago

It is pretty simple to predict what will happen. Costs will be a little higher, and brick and mortar retailers will be a little less competitive versus “the store that never sleeps.” Consequently, the associates who keep their jobs will be better off with better schedules, there will just be fewer of them. The same happens with mandated wage increases. After all, this “ain’t” rocket science, it is just retailing.

David Livingston
David Livingston
9 years ago

Large retailers will most likely scale back on labor and work on keeping their most reliable employees. Requiring stores to set schedules two weeks in advance is unreasonable. If it was good for business, retailers would already be doing it. There is such high turnover in the industry that you can’t count on a lot of employees even being around in two weeks. Therefore if it was me, I’d change the labor model to few but more reliable and higher paid employees.

Kai Clarke
Kai Clarke
9 years ago

This is a reasonable request for retailers to better communicate, organize, and embrace their employee’s needs, timing, and lifestyles outside of the office. Additionally, the employer will become more efficient and organized with 2 week schedules as a standard. Who wouldn’t want this? What business prefers to constantly notify their employees at the last minute what their schedules will be, compared to sharing 2 weeks of advance notice?

Hy Louis
Hy Louis
9 years ago

This had been tried before and failed. Management puts everyone on the schedule to work. Then the day before tells workers not to come in. Now I can see why retailers and restaurants have never been able to do this before.

Kate Blake
Kate Blake
9 years ago

Do you expect your staff to give you two weeks notice if they accept a new job? Of course you do! Would you take a job with unpredictable schedules that require open availability? Of course not! Don’t ask staff to do things you wouldn’t stand for!