<p>So, I guess, kudos to them for reacting swiftly and in (seemingly) a good way – will other companies follow? And why does it take public shaming to get companies to stop patently ridiculous behavior?</p>
<p>It’s great that Starbucks is revising their scheduling process to be more friendly towards their workers, but does the public know that many, many part-time jobs operate the same way?</p>
<p>My job we would learn our schedule two days before the work week. “Clopen” shifts, while not promoted and openly talked about, would definitely occur. It’d be great if we got a revision, too! </p>
<p>I did not read the article all the way through, but found several issues that are not allowed to even be done (according to DD2 who has now been working for Starbucks for over a year). There is one person at each location who is responsible for creating the work schedule. Some of them are very good about posting it by Thursday for the following week (which would start with Monday). No one is allowed to work to close and then be scheduled to open. This is supposedly a mandate from Starbucks management.</p>
<p>Those who have a predictable schedule are still asked to request their days/hours off months in advance.</p>
<p>What seems to be clear from the article is that Starbucks upper management may have had certain policies, but local or regional managers are managed to metrics that are not necessarily consistent with those policies, and probably get bonus based on meeting the managers financial metrics, not the manager’s compliance with company policy.</p>
<p>Starbucks own scheduling system should be able to tell them exactly how many employees had “clopen” assignments, and what percentage of scheduled shifts were shortened or eliminated.</p>
<p>The guys I know who are Starbucks managers make schedules themselves. They follow guidelines, of course, but they make them. Given the number of stores, there must be many managers who don’t do it well. </p>
<p>I somewhat sympathetic to the managers because I know the employee issues they face - not showing up, turnover, personal issues, lousy attitudes - but … </p>
<p>People who are fortunate enough to have full time jobs and/or jobs with steady hours need to be aware of this practice. I am so tired of hearing people rant about folks who “won’t work.” I know someone who applied for a 15 hour a week, minimum wage job; the employer required 24/7 availability. That means no other job,no school, nothing else, all for $109 a week. “On call” or “call ins” are rampant in the retail, so you don’t know whether you work until 1-2 hours before the shift begins. My son didn’t get one minimum wage job because he asked for a regular schedule so he could continue going to school. So many people work 20-25 hours a week, only to have their hours cut to 12-15 hours a week for no reason relating to perfomance.</p>
<p>People are told that to advance economically, they need to learn to budget. How does one budget when suddenly one’s income is cut in half? </p>
<p>People are told that to advance economically, they need to go to school. How can they take classes when the job requires 24/7 availabity, or won’t commit to any kind of regular schedule?</p>
<p>Well, I don’t think this is just Starbucks. Virtually every part-time service job works like this. In fact, before online scheduling it may have been worse. Being on-call or sent home early has always been part of the deal.</p>
This is a VERY common issue with stores. There are quite a lot of policies out there that require lower management or workers to compromise regulations, ethics, safety, or even the law to make their quotas and deadlines. When they fail, they are simply replaced - there are always more people looking for jobs, and more workers looking for a management job.</p>
The problem is simply that they are getting better at it - doing it more often, more sharply, etc. This kind of thing is a stressor, and when it happens occasionally you can handle it, but when it is a constant of life it gets to be more than you can handle.</p>
<p>Okay, Starbucks employs a lot of students so I’m pretty sure they are not required to be available 24/7. My D’s part-time job works like this and the online thing is very helpful in getting shifts covered if something comes up. The woman in the article has a lot of other problems, too. But, it’s not as though students can’t work these jobs. They do.</p>
<p>My son was very lucky this summer. He had an unpaid internship weekdays from 8a-4p and his part time job at Marshall’s (which he has had since high school) scheduled him from 5-10 on weeknights and also gave him hours on both Sat & Sunday. They were extremely accommodating. They also always put him on the schedule when he is home on breaks if he wants to work. </p>
<p>Jobs have budgets and their hours are based off of their financial success. If they were hit hard this week, most likely the hours next week will reflect that. It’s how it works. </p>
<p>I had a job works just like how Starbucks works. You get your schedule two days before the new week. You may or may not have a call in. If you do, simply call in to see if you have to work or not. There are clopens. It happens sometimes. Hours are extremely unpredictable. You might’ve worked Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week, but next week you might work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday and have extremely different hours and tasks for that shift.</p>
<p>Does this mean they are short changing their employees and preventing them from keeping outside commitments? No. You determine your availability. You are able to give shifts, swaps shifts, and the managers are always there if you absolutely cannot make it to your shift. The managers are open to putting people back on the schedule when they’re on a break from college or when they express they have commitments that require to not be on the schedule for a week or two. </p>
<p>But even with all the negatives, people still work here. We have ten applicants at least each week hoping to be hired. It’s not the best model, but it works. Perhaps, this is why many companies are not in a rush to change until the get public flack from it. </p>
<p>Niqui77 is spot on. Adapting to this type of work is part of the job, in exchange you get flexibility. Managers are just people and most are willing to help you if you help them when they need it.</p>
<p>Since the Recession, I have felt like many American workers have turned into the Joads…or more precisely dust bowl era folks who travel to where the work is, where there is always someone who is wiling to pick those oranges for a penny less than you will.</p>
<p>Yes, of course there is a reason that people’s hours are cut. But just please recognize that those folks are part of the working poor. They work hard. They want more hours.</p>
But this is just saying that a terrible job can still be better than no job, and while that is true, it does not mean that we as a nation have to tolerate people being forced into terrible jobs.</p>
<p>Actually, there are quite a few jobs that have shifts where the workers don’t know what their schedule is like. I have also heard that sometimes workers are “urged” to go home early from their shifts if the work isn’t as busy as expected, this includes at hospitals where there are fewer patients than expected. I was surprised but the employees accept it as part of work as they know it. Many of the nurses and respiratory therapists I employed didn’t know their schedule until a few days to week before it started and it could change week to week.</p>
<p>It is very challenging to schedule when you don’t know if you’re working days or nights or what shift. It’s also hard on your body to adjust to changing shifts.</p>
<p>In Hawaii, there are MANY employees who work under 20 hours a week because employers don’t want to have to get them medical insurance, which is required if they work 20 hours a week or more for 3 weeks consecutively. I know several folks with multiple part time jobs because they can’t get enough hours at one employer and many employers have few or NO full-time employees that they have to provide health insurance for. Getting enough hours to support themselves is a HUGE struggle for many people.</p>
<p>Flexibility is just what the employees don’t get in this type of job. The flexibility is all on the employer side. Just try calling in and saying that you can’t come to work because your kid is sick, and find out how fast you get fired.</p>