You work the cash register at a big box retailer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, punching in at 2 and closing up at 10. Thanks to sophisticated software that tracks real time foot traffic and sales data, your manager determines an hour before your Tuesday shift that business is slower than usual, and you lose a day of work. Thursday is slow too, but the computer algorithm predicts Friday will be a crush. You're expected to move your schedule around and come on Friday—or risk losing your job.
On-call scheduling efficiently shifts economic costs onto the lowest wage hourly workers, boosting company profits while leaving staff to juggle chaotic, unreliable, and unpaid hours each week. Such pernicious scheduling trends have received less publicity than the Fight for 15, yet to many employees and observers, it's akin to a form of indentured servitude. Last week, in the midst of the holiday shopping season, 50,000 people won this battle, at least temporarily. The Gap and several other well-known brands banned on-call scheduling—but the change was voluntary.
As we head into the new year, the conditions of America's service sector employees will vary dramatically. Some employees receive a newfound stability this January, while others will be unpaid for their time. Here’s a New Year’s resolution for America’s retail employers in 2017: Make it a year of profits...not profiteering.
For an in-depth look at on-call scheduling and its real-life impact, check out the full article in Technoskeptic: A Magazine for Humans, promoting a conscientious relationship with technology.
Gabe Fenigsohn is a progressive writer, researcher and opiner on media, brand, and politics. He follows the social impact of advertising and is a member of the Brooklyn-based digital creative team Cardwell Beach.