WHITE PAPER
Eliminating the
“On-Call” Controversy
The law of unintended consequences has struck retail labor.
In an effort to protect workers from the lifestyle disruptions
and inconvenience of being scheduled for very short shifts,
such as working only for an hour during peak traffic, many
states and municipalities have passed minimum shift laws
requiring payment for a minimum number of hours whenever
associates are scheduled or called in to work.
Due to the uncertainties around scheduling for things such
as promotions, holiday traffic, inbound shipments, weather
changes and other labor demand spikes, however, many
retailers have resorted to putting associates “on-call”
to avoid the financial penalties these laws impose. Thus,
the laws intended to protect associates from disruptive
scheduling practices have often done just the opposite.
Recently, the New York attorney general, as well as other
state and local authorities, have begun to question the
legality of on-call scheduling practices, claiming they are
illegally subverting the minimum shift laws. As usual, retailers
are caught in the middle.
There doesn’t have to be this controversy, however. Today’s
advanced workforce management systems can eliminate the
need for on-call scheduling through “right-size” scheduling.
Challenges and Penalties
The crux of the problem for retailers has been the difficulty in
forecasting labor demand. Whereas historical traffic patterns
can be used to predict labor needs quite reliably for normal
sales activities, forecasting labor demand for non-standard
activities such as unloading an inbound shipment, staffing
for the first day of a promotion, adjusting for sudden severe
weather, staffing a new store, etc. can be very difficult. The
financial penalties associated with minimum shift laws only
add to the magnitude of the challenge.
Two recent retail trends are further adding to the scheduling
challenge. First, the rise of omni-channel, and the changing
role of the store, has created the need for moreskilled and knowledgeable workers. Attracting
and retaining these workers means not only
higher pay, but also paying more attention to their
scheduling preferences.
The second trend is the national push for higher
minimum wages. In addition to the many states
and municipalities that have raised the minimum
wages in their jurisdictions, or are considering
doing so, major retailers such as Walmart and
McDonald’s have independently raised their pay
scales, putting pressure on other retailers to do
the same. This not only puts upward pressure
on overall labor costs, it increases the penalties
imposed by minimum shift laws as well as for
overstaffing due to poor scheduling.
Eliminating Challenges,
Penalties and Controversy
There is a surprisingly simple solution to the labor
scheduling challenges that can help retailers avoid
minimum shift penalties and eliminate the need
for controversial on-call shifts—more accurate
labor forecasting. This isn’t just an incremental
step improvement in labor scheduling; it is a
new holistic approach to labor forecasting and
scheduling that evaluates an unlimited number
of demand variables such as traffic, promotions,
seasonality, tasks, shipments, labor regulations,
union contracts and other demand factors. It
also considers softer variables such as associate
scheduling preferences and vacation /personal
requests, as well as local events and weather
changes. Modeling is used to compare all of these
variables with historical trends and events, as well
as labor budgets, to create accurate store-bystore labor forecasts and optimized schedules for
service and non-service labor.
Optimized scheduling based on much more
accurate holistic forecasts eliminates the need
for manpower-buffering on-call schedules.
It also eliminates potential penalties because
labor law compliance is assured. Perhaps most
importantly for long-term success, support
for “lifestyle scheduling” helps attract and retain
the skilled workforce required to serve today’s
more knowledgeable and demanding omnichannel consumer.
Stuff Happens!
Right now you might be thinking, great, more
accurate scheduling might handle my forecasted
labor challenges, but it won’t do anything for the
other reason I use on-call shifts—because stuff
happens—associates call in sick or just don’t show up
for their shift, or associates get sick while at work
and have to be sent home. I need on-call associates
to buffer for these unexpected disruptions.
Not anymore. New mobile apps for store managers
allow managers to select from a list of qualified
and available associates based on all of the same
variables and regulations used for the original
scheduling. Eligible associates are notified
immediately of available shifts electronically.
An associate app allows associates to respond
electronically, as well as swap shifts with other
associates. This ensures coverage, reduces
administrative time for managers, ensures
compliance and eliminates the need to have on-call
associates standing by—a true win for everyone.
Right-sized
Store associates are too important to retail success,
and soon to be too costly due to rising wages, to
waste on minimum shift compliance or unneeded
overtime. On-call shifts are not a viable option
from an associate satisfaction / work-life balance
perspective, and may soon not be allowed legally.
The answer is to right-size your workforce to meet
all needs through accurate labor forecasting and
holistic, optimized scheduling, augmented with
mobile apps for last minute disruptions.
With optimized scheduling, you can right-size
your workforce to ensure optimal coverage across
all demand variables with no manual effort, no
guesswork, and no fear of penalties for noncompliance. This will eliminate the need for on-call
shifts or the expense of over- or under-staffing,
thus reducing labor costs while improving service
levels and productivity. As a bonus, lifestyle
scheduling increases associate satisfaction and
retention. The time has come to elevate you
workforce effectiveness and get beyond the on-call
controversy. It’s time for right-size scheduling.
jda.com info@jda.com
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