In Service Sector, No Rest for the Working
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
When I asked my manager about this, he mentioned it is all computer scheduling and he can't help it. Who devised this shitty scheduling? This started like 25 years ago?
What explains this odd way of scheduling? Maybe, companies don't want you to go to school or don't want you to take a second job. Or they want you to depend on the company for paycheck forever.
You can find an answer in another New York Times article I cited here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7089531
(I find that thread interesting, in part, for the spirited defence some offered for the practice. Frankly, I find it indefensible.)
The underlying issue is, as @njloof suggests, the systematic degradation of low-skilled labor's bargaining power.
There was a big deal made this week about Wal-Mart's wage increase for its hourly employees. As this NY Times article notes, more predictable scheduling was also part of Wal-Mart's announcement.
It's nice to see the issue being acknowledged and finally addressed. But I expect this was done less out of corporate altruism and more in response to the growing effort to unionize Wal-Mart and other service sector employees.
We used to have this problem too:
> any fast-food restaurants and other service businesses have high employee turnover, and as a result they are often left with only a few trusted workers who have the authority and experience to close at night and open in the morning
but we just had "openers" and "closers". During the summer I used to open most mornings because I liked to have the afternoon and evening free to hang out with friends. Another employee liked closing for the exact same reason (because then they could be out late and not have to wake up until 2-3 PM).
Even during the school year, there were still regular "openers" and "closers", even if they were people who didn't necessarily enjoy opening or closing.
Is the turnover just that much worse now, that the few long-standing employees now have to open and close? Or what happened?
- Those people such as doctors, lawyers, programmers, etc. are paid an order of magnitude more for their time. Without counting the benefits which service workers don't get.
- They're not just working to earn a living wage. Their work propels career advancement.
- Their work is usually much more pleasant/interesting and they like it, which helps bear with crunch time.
Usually in a highly demanding, high-paying career you'll be able to advance relatively quickly and find yourself in a managing position which gives you a lot more slack. You'll also be able to retire rather soon. In light of all of this, the effort is more than worth it. But low-wage jobs... The only place service work leads you is to waste away.