How To Help Hourly Shift-Based Employees With Work-Life Integration And Why It Matters

Top 3 ways

Hourly employees are the backbone of many industries, such as health care, retail, hospitality, and foodservice. In fact, more than 80 million U.S. workers are classified as hourly wage earners.
 
Even though they represent more than 58% of all wage and salaried workers in the country, there’s a gap in hourly workers’ access to some fundamental perks that their salaried neighbors enjoy, such as flexible work schedules and work-life integration. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, workers in hourly jobs “would benefit from being able to control their work hours through flex time and having greater control over schedules and time off, as well as the ramping up of hours when it fits their lives. Yet these are the workers who rarely have access to control over when they work.”
 

Fortunately, progressive employers have discovered that offering hourly workers flexible schedules not only gives employees more control over their lives, it’s also good for business, too. My Burger, a family-owned QSR chain based in Minneapolis, recently adopted flexible scheduling and found it very helpful as it juggles unpredictable customer demand due to Covid. 

“We haven’t been able to plan ahead as much as we used to. Now with self-scheduling, we simply create a shift pool and invite employees to raise their hands to say, ‘I’ll take this or that shift,’” said John Abdo, President, and Owner of My Burger. “As demand goes up or down on a daily basis at our various locations, we can add more shifts or move them around as needed.”
 
Let’s take a closer look at how you, too, can adopt flexible schedules for your hourly workforce, as well as some of the benefits you and your employees will enjoy as a result.

1. Avoid Irregular Work Schedules as Much as Possible

Salaried workers typically don’t have to deal with the changes of a shift-based schedule, but hourly employees do. And it’s a huge stressor. Almost 30% of workers with irregular schedules report having serious work and family conflicts over the issue, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
 
Random shift changes and on-call schedules can lead to stress because employees don’t have much advance notice of when they need to work, making it difficult for them to plan their personal lives. Therefore, try to create schedules that your employees can “bank” on. Make sudden shift changes as rare as possible. If you have to make changes, make sure employees are given at least seven days’ notice.
 
When your employees can rely on a steady work schedule around which they can arrange a solid personal life, they will be more likely to show up for their shifts with better attitudes, be more productive, and be less tempted to look for employment elsewhere.

2. Get Creative in Scheduling Shifts and Hours

For hourly and salaried workers who are scheduled for regular, established shifts, achieving flexibility may require some creativity:

● Individual Work-Life Integration
When employees are hired, ask them about their personal responsibilities that need attention during the normal workday. It might include children’s school activities or college classes. Work with them to come up with an individual work plan. During employee reviews, be sure to check-in and see how the plan is working or if their schedule has changed.

● Planned Work-Life Integration
Set up some standard work plans if managing dozens of individual plans would be too cumbersome. Create one for parents of young school children, one for college students, one for someone working multiple jobs and so on. Let your employees choose the option that works for them.

If you’re not convinced this kind of flexibility is worth the trouble, consider that more and more research shows a flexible schedule is one of the top employee perks you can offer. Bill Gates has argued that flexible work arrangements are the best perk you can give your employees, and Harvard studies backed him up.

3. Consider Adopting Flexible Self-Scheduling

Self-scheduling offers flexibility to both employees and employers. Managers determine the shifts that need to be filled, but instead of assigning those shifts, employees are allowed to choose when they want to work, or trade shifts with others. This approach enables managers to make schedules faster, with less fuss, and allows employees more control over their lives.
 
Once a manager defines the shifts needing to be filled and creates them in a scheduling application, employees receive an automatic alert of open shifts on their mobile devices. Employees then log in to the scheduling application (again, using their mobile devices) and select the shifts they want to work. They can choose shifts that fit their lives, whether based on their personal schedule, the hours they can physically handle working, qualifications, or overtime considerations.
 
Employees can also communicate and collaborate amongst one another to trade shifts as desired in a self-service manner, as well as with managers if they have questions, need to request time-off, or have other concerns. Once everyone has selected their preferred shifts, the scheduling manager can assign any untaken shifts.
 
For employers, the beauty of self-scheduling is that it allows maximum flexibility in operating the business as demand or need shifts. What’s more, when employees choose their own schedules, they are more likely to show up for work. No-shows happen for many reasons, including scheduling conflicts, a desire to avoid working with specific people, and illness; self-scheduling allows employees to swap and trade to keep those types of issues from factoring in.
 
It’s easy to see how flexible schedules can help employees with work-life integration. But a growing body of evidence also shows that employers benefit, too, through increased employee morale and engagement, better recruiting and retention, greater productivity, reduced tardiness, absenteeism, and presenteeism. Good for employees. Good for business. A win-win!

Chad Halvorson is Founder and Chief Experience Officer at When I Work. Visit https://wheniwork.com/ Connect Chad Halvorson Follow @chadworks