Black Friday and Cyber Monday may mean great deals for shoppers, but they can be a terrible deal for the millions of retail and warehouse workers who work long, unpredictable hours. Many stores even stay open on Thanksgiving, preventing workers from spending the holiday with families and friends.
But the worst part is that so many of these workers are used to all this. That's because employers aren't just giving workers unpredictable shifts during the holiday season--they're doing it all year round. According to a recent study by Retail Action Project, nearly 40 percent of retail workers are given irregular schedules that wreak havoc on their lives.
That hourly employee who just helped you find the perfect sweater for your grandmother might be scheduled for 10 hours one week and 30 the next. She might be scheduled for mornings one week and evenings the next, with no set pattern, and only two or three days' advance notice. She might pay her babysitter and commute for an hour, only to be sent home without pay because business is slow.
I say "she" because women make up two-thirds of low-paid workers and shoulder the majority of caregiving responsibilities.
Recently, a number of major retailers, including Gap and Urban Outfitters, have promised to end one of their most abusive scheduling practices: on-call scheduling. This is the practice of requiring employees to be available in case they're needed for a shift without guaranteeing any actual work or pay.
Ending on-call scheduling is a good step, but retailers need to do much more.
With set opening and closing hours and fairly predictable needs for staff, retailers can do the decent thing and give their employees stable schedules.
Editorial on 11/25/2015