Could We Improve Worker Well-Being with
Scheduling Reforms? Evidence from Research
about Irregular/On-call Work Schedules and their
Effects on Workers, from the General Social Survey
Lonnie Golden,
Professor of Economics and Labor-Employment Relations,
Penn State University, Abington College,
and Research Associate, Economic Policy Institute, Lmg5@psu.edu
(with help from Jaeseung Kim and EINet, University of Chicago, SSA, and EPI).
Congressional Forum on Irregular Work Schedules, U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce.
1310 Longworth, Washington DC, 2015
Original intent of the FLSA overtime rules
since its inception 75 years ago as an
inclusive labor law to:
protect workers with little bargaining
leverage from “starvation wages and
intolerable hours,”
address a labor market that often proved
inherently unable to transform extended
workweeks for some into work
opportunities for others -- the unemployed
or underemployed.
I.
Findings from EPI study using GSS data, re: the incidence of
irregular/on-call work schedules and other shift work, plus some
new PPP poll results, from the University of Chicago Employment
Insecurity network (EINET).
II. Findings regarding the (self-reported) consequences for workers’
work-family conflict and work stress levels, by type of worker—
hourly, salaried, other.
II. Evidence suggests that providing a protected “right to request” (and
“right to refuse”) work hours and schedule changes, in the FLSA, for
all workers, could improve certain workers’ well being, by reducing…
• both underemployment and overemployment mismatches
• daily conflicts of workers’ work time with their nonwork needs
About 10 percent of the workforce is assigned to irregular and on-call work shift times and this figure is
likely low… but 17 percent of the workforce if we add the 7 percent of the employed who work split or
rotating shifts as part of “unstable work schedules.”
• 16 percent among hourly, 12 percent among salaried (36 percent among “other,” e.g., “contract”) .
• Likely underestimates, because shift times can change within a given day, afternoon or night shift.
• Among just part-time workers = 25 percent, 16 percent on irregular/on-call schedules (one in 6);
• By income level, the lowest income workers face the most irregular work schedules.
• Workers earning under $22,500 per year are more likely to work on irregular schedules than
workers in the income bracket above that (the current salary minimum threshold for assured FLSA
overtime coverage even if one is a “salaried” employee).
• Having Irregular shift work is associated positively with working longer weekly hours.
• By occupation type, about 15 percent of sales and related occupations have irregular or on-call
schedules—one in a half times the national average.
• By industry, irregular scheduling is somewhat more prevalent in agriculture, personal services,
business/repair services, entertainment/recreation, finance/insurance/real estate, retail trade, and
transportation communications.
• In CPS, workers asked to specify “usual” workweek length, one in every 11 or 12 say their “hours vary.”
• Part-timers have more than double the likelihood of having hours that vary weekly.
• Such variable workweeks is higher in certain occupations, such as sales, and lower in professional,
managerial, and administrative support.
• It is reduced for union members, married workers, government employees, whites, men, and
workers with a higher level of education.
Q6 Thinking of your main job, which of the following best describes the hours you usually
work: a regular day shift, an evening shift, a night shift, a rotating shift, a split shift, an irregular schedule,
or something else?
Regular day shift............................................. 67%
Evening shift ................................................... 5%
Night shift........................................................ 3%
Rotating shift................................................... 5%
Split shift ......................................................... 3%
Irregular schedule ........................................... 16%
Something else ............................................... 2%
Q7 Does the number of hours you work vary from week to week?
Yes.................................................................. 55%
No ................................................................... 45%
Irregular scheduling is higher in certain industries, such as retail, however, it exists at
least somewhat in all…and shows interesting party affiliations…
This conforms to another study of “early career” workers (Lambert, Fugiel and Henly,
2015), that just under half of hourly early career workers in the National Longitudinal
Study of Youth said they have their daily start and end times of work decided entirely by
their employer, without their input.
Irregular Scheduling Effects: reported work-family conflict and work stress
While 11% on “regular” schedules report “often” experiencing conflict, 26% on
IRREGULAR schedules “often” do.
When controlling for length of weekly hours of work and other demographic and work
characteristics, Work-family conflict is worsened when having irregular/on-call shift
work for both hourly and salaried workers.
particularly strong for salaried workers, even when controlling for their relatively longer work hours.
Working on split-shift arrangements also exacerbates work-family conflict, although
rotating shift times slightly less so, both less than do working irregular/on-call shifts.
Irregular/on-call work is moderately associated with higher work stress, but rotating and
split shift times are not.
Hourly workers experience the enhanced work stress more so than salaried workers.
Mandatory overtime work contributes to both work-family conflict and work stress.
From GSS/ISSP 2005 data:
With work hours controlled for, having a greater ability to set one’s work schedule (start and end
times and take time off from work) is significantly associated with reduced work-family conflict.
Being underemployed does NOT have the advantage of reducing work-family conflict,
but part-time workers who prefer that part-time status experience less work-family conflict.
being overemployed (willing to reduce work time for less pay) somewhat exacerbates work-family conflict,
no matter what is the level of weekly hours.
2015 Federal Reserve Report on Household Well-Being in the US: a measure of
overemployment and underemployment
Underemployment is currently pervasive, particularly among parttimers, while overemployment is less so, although it is high in pockets,
such as twice as present among full-timers than part-timers…
Positive Experience with Right to Request, Abroad, in Anglo
Countries:
In the U.K., the legal right to request for those with caregiving responsibilities was
extended (in July 2014), now allowing all employees (not just caregivers) to request
flexible work arrangements, if they have been with a company for at least half a year.
An employer can still deny a request if it has a good, legitimate business reason for
doing so, but now with a formal appeal process.
• According to a survey, 8 percent of U.K. workers had submitted a flexible working
request to their employer within a week of the law being enacted, while another
11 percent have said they definitely plan to do so, perhaps in the near future.
• Roughly 35 percent said they might consider requesting flexible work hours “at
some point.”
• a popular option for employees, but employers will not be overrun with requests.
In Australia, similarly, the right to request was expanded (in 2009) from parents of
preschool-aged children to any employee (with a minimum tenure) who has a child up
to age 18 (or any caregiving responsibility has a disability, is experiencing domestic
violence, or is age 55 or older.
•
No dissatisfaction has been documented by either employees or employers, who must
seriously consider a request for flexible working arrangements but may refuse on
reasonable business grounds
HELP:
The Flexibility for Working Families Act (H.R. 2559, S. 1248), would institute an individual
employee “right to request” a change in four terms of employment:
number of work hours; daily scheduling times or being on call; location where employee is required to work;
length of notification employee receives of work schedule assignments.
The Healthy Families Act (H.R. 1286/S. 631), a paid sick days minimum standard, earn up to 7
job-protected paid sick days annually
The Paid Vacation Act (H. R. 2096), which would require that employers provide a minimum
of 1 week of paid annual leave to eligible employees.
HARM:
H.R. 1406 and its companion, the “Family Friendly and Workplace Flexibility Act” (S. 1626), would allow
private sector employers to substitute compensatory (comp) time for overtime pay, if an employee signs
on, compensated by employers with future time off at rate of 1.5 hours for every hour of OT worked.
S. 1623 would also institute a “flexible credit-hour program,” that would allow agreements for an
employee to work excess hours beyond their typical, non-overtime number of required hours, in
order to build up hours of paid time off to be taken off at a later date (only) at straight time value.
However, a worker’s use of accrued comp time credits can be denied if use would `unduly disrupt'
the operations of the business or if they have not notified with reasonable amount of notice,
while forced use of comp time would be legal.
No deterrent against employers scheduling more OT work to those who prefer the future time off.
A Poll found only about 1 in 6 hourly paid workers would prefer comp time to OT pay option,
however, such preference is 1 in 3 among those who are currently exempt from any OT pay, which
is thus where policy efforts for time off should be focused.