Terrible timing: The causes and consequences of problematic work schedules

Abstract

In an attempt to mitigate uncertainty stemming from volatile customer demand while keeping labor costs low, organizations in a host of industries frequently adjust when work occurs without taking employee input into account. The practices they use to do so often produce problematic schedules, or unstable and unpredictable hours that workers feel are out of their control and that negatively impact their lives, on and off the job. Drawing on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data from a multi-year study of a large U.S. retailer’s supply chain division, this dissertation shows that the consequences of problematic schedules are real but not inevitable. In Chapter 1, I use detailed time-keeping records from 20,000+ hourly workers across multiple business functions to construct a multidimensional measure of schedule quality. I find variation in workers’ exposure to problematic schedules, even after controlling for job, workplace, and worker characteristics, which I attribute to variation in the scheduling practices used by frontline managers. A crucial facet of job quality, schedules thus stratify workers in the same organization, and this is due not only to the work they perform but also to managerial discretion. In Chapter 2, I use interviews and fieldwork to document how frontline managers in the retailer’s e-commerce fulfillment centers (FCs) go about the complex task of scheduling. I find that despite pressures for conformity, management teams in each FC use distinct bundles of scheduling practices, which each have predictable consequences for FC performance. The bundles emanate from and reinforce the local organizational cultures in which managers are embedded, making some FCs better places to work than others. In Chapter 3, I combine my measure of schedule quality with workers’ employment histories, finding that problematic schedules are associated with substantial increases in job exit. As a whole, I show that scheduling practices that at first appear cost-effective actually raise turnover and reduce performance. At the same time, managers are not totally constrained by industry, technology, or company policy in how they schedule work hours—even in highly uncertain environments, they can implement scheduling practices that are better for workers while remaining competitive.