Today’s Schedules for Today’s Workforce: Hourly Employees and Work-Life Fit

[Excerpt] This paper provides employers with the tools they need to match today’s workplace to today’s workforce. First, the paper describes “just-in-time” schedules – schedules which create instability and unpredictability for hourly workers. It then suggests several means by which employers can reduce such instability in the just-in-time sector, providing increased scheduling effectiveness. Next, the paper discusses scheduling rigidity and provides employers with a variety of means for easing this rigidity by creating a more flexible workplace. The ultimate goal of this paper is to create a win-win outcome for hourly workers and their employers by synchronizing today’s workplace with today’s workforce. We seek to accomplish this goal by helping employers understand the needs of hourly employees with family responsibilities and demonstrating that accommodating these needs does not result in increased labor costs. To the contrary, introducing flexible scheduling and/or predictable scheduling can in fact reduce labor costs

Overeducated Achievatrons Unite!

My chief sentiment when I read the pieces submitted for this Colloquy was, “Wow, they actually read my book!” We authors pour our souls into our texts, send them out into the world, and sometimes feel an unsettling silence descend. Let me say at once how grateful I am to Margaret Chon for inviting me to Seattle, to Kurt Kruckeberg for his indefatigable efforts in soliciting contributions, and to each of the authors for spending time reading and responding to my book. Somehow I am certain all had other demands on their time