English 2

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Student Name

Professor Leon

ENC 1102

5 November 2016

It’s More than Punching in and Punching Out:

The Problems of Irregular Scheduling in the Retail Sales Industry

Entrepreneur Richard Branson said: “Success in business is all about people, people,

people. Whatever industry a company is in, its employees are its biggest competitive advantage”

(qtd. in Hartfield). And Branson is right. In order for a company to succeed, its leaders have to

focus and prioritize its employees so that those employees give their best to make the company

grow. One job that heavily influences the success of its employers is the job of sales associates.

Sales associates (SAs) are the front lines of their companies, and the demand for this job is

growing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, retail jobs for SAs are expected to grow

“7%,” from 2014 to 2024. The role of SAs influences the success of their employers since SAs

are the bridge that connects consumers with retail businesses. However, these very important

workers are negatively affected by irregular scheduling that characterizes retail. Retail companies

should be looking for solutions to this problem that in the long term will affect their sales and

reputation. In order to solve the problem of irregular schedules that SAs face, retail companies

should implement the following remedies: assign a constant number of hours per week to its

employees, advise associates of any change in the schedule at least two weeks ahead, and

guarantee that SAs can enjoy better store hours or shift compensation.

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Retail SAs have always dealt with issues like irregular schedules. Historian Daniel A.

Graff in his article “Retail Workers,” writes that “[retail] workers faced poor working conditions

and pay, especially before the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. Sales clerks

served unusually long hours, toiling from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, plus a half-day on Sundays.”

Issues like long shifts, irregular schedules, and inconvenient store hours are characteristic

problems that SAs have faced. Many were the attempts of SAs to unite forces and fight against

these problems that affect their working conditions. However, in the 21st Century, issues like

irregular schedules in retail continue affecting SAs. These problems are far from being solved,

and SAs keep facing the consequences of these irregularities.

Irregular schedules are characterized by the lack of weekly hours for SAs, the absence of

a reasonable time period to change or post schedules, and the presence of inopportune store hours

that brings with it inconvenient shifts. SAs are victims of irregular schedules because they are not

given as many hours as promised to them during the hiring process. Retail workers do not have a

fixed schedule, and SAs are not exempt from these irregular schedules that lead to internal

issues. In their article “Hours Equity is the New Pay Equity,” Professors Nantiya Ruan and

Nancy Reichman provide a scenario where they expose a “realistic representation” of SAs who

start the job thinking that they will get a certain number of hours because the company promised

them so; however, they realize, at the end, that those hours are not guaranteed to them (37-38).

This false promise can cause discontent among SA’s, who will then lose their trust in the

company that hired them.

Retail companies can give a solution to the irregular work hours by guaranteeing their

SAs at least twenty to twenty-five hours a week in spite of low retail seasons. Journalist Michelle

Chen points out in her article “Just Hours” that in stores like Bloomingdale, located in New

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York, this measurement of twenty to twenty-five hours was adopted, and employees were

guaranteed with a minimum of twenty-one hours a week, and it is actually working. This remedy

will be beneficial for SAs because it will guarantee that SAs have a consistent weekly schedule.

Also, a fixed number of hours will not leave holes in their paychecks from one week to another.

In other words, retail companies need to balance the hours available to avoid shortage periods.

Giving twenty to twenty-five weekly hours to SAs, no matter the season, will allow the company

to keep its promise and avoid upsetting employees.

Another issue that SAs face is that their shifts are very inconsistent. One day they can be on

the schedule to start their shifts at 3:00 p.m.; the next day they find out their clock-in time

changed to 5:00 p.m. These sudden changes directly affect SAs, who have to rearrange their

plans based upon that alteration of their schedules. Researchers Francoise J. Carré and Chris

Tilly make an analysis of this topic. In their article “Work Hours in Retail: Room for

Improvement,” they state that due to the debilitation of “institutional features that historically

had maintained hour levels and predictability” it is common for U.S Retail companies to provide

employees with their schedules “three days” in advance, and rarely “two weeks in advance”

(9,12). An issue of this magnitude is very prejudicial for SAs because not being able to have a

schedule on time or not being able to predict a change in the schedule causes frustration among

employees.

A solution for this issue would be for retail companies to implement policies that do not

allow managers to change employees’ schedules within two weeks prior to the day that needs to

be changed, unless there is an emergency or the employee agrees with the change. Following

ordinances like the one passed by the San Francisco Formula Retail Employee Rights

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Ordinances would ensure more predictability of the SAs’ schedules. According to the Office of

Labor Standards Enforcement website, the ordinance states that “[employers] must provide

employees with their schedules two weeks in advance [. . . .] If changes are made to an

employee’s schedule with less than seven days’ notice, the employer must pay the employee a

premium of 1 to 4 hours of pay at the employee's regular hourly rate.” Following these policies

would ensure that SAs can enjoy a schedule that would not be changed with little or no notice.

Having to pay a fee for any change to the schedules outside the period allowed by the law would

be an incentive for retail companies to optimize their scheduling tools. SAs’ jobs deserve to be

rearranged in a way in which employees can feel calm because there won’t be any surprise when

they try to clock in the next day.

Other issues that affect SAs are the sometimes-uncomfortable shifts that include night shifts

and holiday shifts. As everybody knows, most retail stores remain open to the public until late at

night, and other stores like Walmart remain open twenty-four hours, seven days of the week. Erin

Johansson, Research Director of the organization American Rights at Work, makes an important

point about this issue. He speaks about how SAs from Walmart are directly affected by the

store’s overnight hours. Johansson supports his claim by using as a reference a Walmart

associate whose “overnight premium rate" was not enough to pay for taxis cabs, the only

transportation available to her during overnight shifts (21). Such cases like this Walmart

associate indicate that SAs are affected by a store’s hours of operation, which can also represent

the cause of financial problems. Solutions have to be found to avoid conflicts between

companies’ needs and the scheduling of retail SAs.

A solution that can solve the irregularity of the SAs’ schedules is by retail companies

offering better hours of operations. This practice of restricting store hours could be beneficial for

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SAs because they could balance their jobs and personal lives. A store that works from 8:00 a.m.

to 8:00 p.m. gives night shift employees the opportunity to make plans after work or go home

early to be ready for the next day. On the other hand, in case that the store needs to maintain its

hours of operations, better wages should be offered to SAs whose shifts take place overnight, on

weekends, or holidays. Francoise and Tilly also comment on this issue: “Mandating shift

differentials in pay for Sundays and holidays as well as for late-night hours might compel

changes in store hours and scheduling practices” (12). If retail companies do not want to take the

risk, more monetary benefits could be a compensation for SAs who, either by choice or force,

work late at night, offer their labor on weekends, or cannot spend holidays with their families.

These solutions are not only beneficial to SAs but also to retail companies. Researchers Nicolas

Chapados, Marc Joliveau, Pierre L’Ecuyer, and Louis-Martin Rousseau explain why. They state

in their article “Retail store scheduling for profit” that positive enhancement of employees’

schedules results in a “3%” sales increase for companies (2). This percentage can make a

difference for retail companies and therefore could be an incentive for them to offer better

schedules to their associates.

SAs are professionals who try their best to please their employers and customers. However,

this desire is not requited, and as a consequence, many issues arise surrounding the profession.

Bad scheduling practices implemented by retail companies have been inherit in retail businesses

for a long time. Retail companies are failing to recognize the value of their associates and

therefore hurting their rights. Remedies as assigning a fixed number of hours to their employees,

advising, in a timely manner, of any change in the schedule, and offering monetary compensation

for certain shifts could help to solve many of the problems that SAs have. Richard Branson made

an interesting point: employees, such as SAs, must be the priority of retail businesses. A failure

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in doing so will be a loss of the primary source of income for retail industries and their own

customers.

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Works Cited

Carré, Françoise and Tilly, Chris. “Work Hours in Retail: Room for Improvement” Upjhon

Institute for Employment Research, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research,

Policy Paper No. 2012-012, Apr. 2012. https://doi.org/10.17848/pol2015-012

Chapados, Nicolas et al. “Retail Store Scheduling For Profit.” European Journal of Operational

Research. vol. 239, no. 3, June 2014, pp. 609-624. ScienceDirect,

http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2014.05.033. Accessed on 15 Nov. 2016.

Chen, Michelle. "Just Hours." Nation, vol. 298, no. 15, 14 Apr. 2014, pp. 6-8. EBSCOhost,

db03.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9

h&AN=95114312&site=ehost-live.

“Formula Retail Employee Rights Ordinances.” Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, City

and County of San Francisco, http://sfgov.org/olse/formula-retail-employee-

rightsordinances. Accessed on 29 Nov. 2016.

Graff, Daniel. “Retail Workers.” Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical

Society, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1069.html. Accessed on 4

Dec. 2016.

Hartfield, Gary. “Business Success.” Gary Hartfield Stand,

http://garyhartfieldstand.com/business-success/. Accessed on 1 Dec. 2016.

Johansson, Erin. “Fighting For a Voice Walmart Workers Speak Out Despite Systematic Labor

Abuse.” Jobs with Justice, Jobs with Justice Education Fund, 20 May. 2013.

http://www.jwj.org/fighting-for-a-voice-walmart-workers-speak-out-despite-

systematiclabor-abuse.

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Ruan, Nantiya and Nancy Reichman. “Hours Equity is the New Pay Equity” Villanova Law

Review, vol. 59, no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 35-82,

http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/vol59/iss1/2.

United States, Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Retails Sales Workers.” Occupational Outlook

Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 17 Dec. 2015,

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/sales/retail-sales-workers.htm.