Putting Workers First at WorkWhile
Over 80 million Americans — about half of the working population — work hourly jobs. I’ve been an office worker since college, but before that I paid my dues as a retail associate and quick-service restaurant food server in my hometown of Fresno, CA.
I have vivid high school memories of my time at Party City: “go-backs” duty (the painful task of returning abandoned items to their proper shelf placement), learning how to use the helium tank (kinda fun!), and commiserating with coworkers. One particular interaction is seared into my memory. I was stocking shelves of party favors after close with another girl who was a year or two older than me. As we were casually chatting she asked me, “Do you have any kids?”
Incredulous, I’m sure 16 year-old-me made a disgusted face and replied, “No!” All these years later I still remember the visceral sensation of shame and embarrassment as it dawned on me that I was being extremely — profoundly — rude. Trying to recover I casually asked, “Do you?”
She had two. My privilege hit me like a ton of bricks.
I’m grateful I got to go to college, to business school, and to work in technology. But I remember the days of working for minimum wage and the hard-working people who toiled alongside me. Technology hasn’t yet improved the lives of these workers. There’s been no “disruption” to hourly shift work.
In fact, “optimized” schedules and conditions have made it even harder to survive when you’re trying to get enough hours to make a living. That’s why we founded WorkWhile — to apply technology to help hourly workers earn a better living, and live better lives.
Unpredictable schedules turn people’s lives upside down
A recent New York Times piece highlighted groundbreaking research out of UC Berkeley that puts empirical data behind the negative impact of bad shift work. The Shift Project has surveyed 30,000 hourly workers at 120 of the largest retail and food service employers about their work schedules and their consequences. These findings reinforce the urgency we have at WorkWhile to find technology solutions for many of these problems.
It’s been surprising to me how many of my office worker peers are ignorant of the mechanics and issues with hourly work. Schedules can be unpredictable, pay is close to minimum wage, and benefits are limited. There is no guarantee that you’ll be assigned a minimum number of hours or shifts that fit your obligations. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid.
The data backs up the idea you can’t put food on the table if you’re not getting the hours or schedules you need. When you’re an hourly worker, your shifts can get canceled if the company wants to save costs. This increases the workers chance of hunger to 40%!
Workers who experienced a cancelled shift had a greater than 40% probability of experiencing a hunger hardship, such as skipping a meal or relying on free food. Workers who get their shifts 0–2 days in advance also had an increased probability of a hunger hardship.
No control over hours worked or schedules
According to the survey, 80% of workers have little input into their schedules. Workers can request their preferred work times, but there’s no guarantee or obligation for employers to satisfy them. It’s not even guaranteed you’ll get 40 hours a week — 33% of workers say they would like to work more, but aren’t given the hours. This is worse than what we’ve heard in our (smaller) studies. What would you do if your paycheck suddenly decreased by half?
A full 75% of hourly workers say they would like more stable and predictable schedules. Creating more scheduling efficiency that considers how much you want to work, and when, is a problem that can be uniquely solved by technology. Plenty of employers rely on managers to assign schedules the old fashioned way — through human decision-making. This contributes to inefficiencies and results in an underutilized labor force that’s living paycheck to paycheck.
Schedule chaos for parents
Fast forward a decade or two, and I’m now a parent. The idea of unexpected schedule changes provokes a lot of anxiety.
If you’re a parent too, ask yourself: What would you do if you suddenly had to go into work unplanned with absolutely no childcare and no Urban Sitter budget?
You’d leave kids alone or with other kids who are too young to watch them.
Unpredictable schedules hurt kids. When parents have last-minute schedule changes kids spend 6 more days a year in under-supervised situations.
Just imagine…
There’s got to be a better way for workers to earn a stable, predictable income while providing some level of flexibility for employers. That’s our thesis and what we’re working hard to prove at WorkWhile.
It’s unfair and grossly inefficient for hourly workers to have to navigate these scheduling challenges. In 2019, it’s estimated there are nearly 250,000 fast food restaurants in the United States and one million retail stores. This scheduling dance is happening on every corner in the country, impacting the lives of tens of millions of Americans and their children.
Imagine for a moment what would happen if we could help 10 million American workers get the hours they want every week, with a stable, predictable schedule.
What would happen to their ability to put food on the table?
What would happen to their children’s performance in school?
What would happen to productivity and GDP growth?
We are working hard to find out. If this sounds like a mission you could get behind, we’d love to chat! Visit us at workwhilejobs.com or drop me a note at jarah@workwhilejobs.com.
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