Seattle, Washington, enacted one of the country’s first stable scheduling laws in 2017 (see the Secure Scheduling Fact Sheet and a study about the impacts of the ordinance for more information). The study evaluates the law’s effects two years after implementation. The findings include information on scheduling practices as well as on workers’ job satisfaction, well-being and economic security. The study found that Seattle: increased the share of workers who know their schedule at least two weeks in advance, decreased the share of workers reporting last minute shift timing changes without pay, increased workers’ satisfaction with their work schedule and their job, increased workers’ overall happiness and sleep quality and reduced workers’ material hardship.
In 2013, San Francisco passed the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance, providing workers the right to request a flexible or predictable schedule to assist with caregiving responsibilities and requiring employers to engage in an interactive process with workers to develop a schedule that works for both workers and the business. In 2015, San Francisco passed a series of formula retail employee rights ordinances that regulate hours, retention and scheduling and treatment of part-time employees at some formula retail establishments. The laws apply to formula retail establishments with at least 40 stores worldwide and 20 or more employees in San Francisco, as well as their janitorial and security contractors.
The San Diego County workforce board produced a position paper in 2021 to raise awareness of the importance of scheduling and to support advocacy efforts for the implementation of a scheduling ordinance in the county. The paper addresses the benefits to workers and businesses of making a shift in scheduling stability, predictability and reliability.
A survey of 1,717 workers found that more than 40% of hourly paid workers have at least occasional on-call work, often with very short advance notice, and almost half have little to no input into their daily work schedules. More than a third of all workers have less than one week’s advance notice of their schedule, and almost half have a preference to work more hours for more income. Irregular shifts and underemployment are both higher among part-time workers. The findings include a list of public policy recommendations to address the erratic work schedules and their documented work-life consequences for working people.
The Gap ran a pilot at 28 stores in San Francisco and Chicago. This report is the first randomized controlled experiment of a multi-component intervention designed to shift schedules in hourly retail jobs toward greater stability. The Stable Scheduling Study found that increasing the stability of work schedules is possible and even profitable in today’s competitive retail environment. Key findings include increases in consistency, predictability and worker input. Adequacy of work hours did not increase for most associates; experienced associates may have benefited more from the shift to stability than inexperienced employees. Stable scheduling significantly increased median sales and labor productivity, and return on investment was high. Fluctuating customer demand is not the primary source of instability; managers consistently implemented advanced notice and elimination of on-calls in both control and treatment stores. Store managers’ responses to the Intervention were generally positive, with a strong recommendation that other business practices be changed at the same time as scheduling practices.
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