Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Predictive Worker Scheduling Leads to Health and Other Benefits
It’s well known that workers who maintain a stable, regular schedule are generally more productive and efficient than those who put in a variety of erratic hours, such as individuals in the retail and the call center spaces. But a new study shows that working regular hours actually has proven health benefits, while those working a variable, erratic schedule may actually experience adverse health effects.
A group of researchers from the University of California, University of Chicago and University of North Carolina recently studied the work schedules of employees at clothing retailer Gap. They found that unstable and variable work schedules can lead to stress about when a call to work may come in, the need to rearrange personal activities around work and ultimately a lack of sleep. All of these factors can contribute to adverse health outcomes, according to the study.
The study examined the effects of unstable scheduling on workers’ health, their financial wellbeing and their work-life conflicts. Researchers found that 47 percent of workers believed their erratic work schedules interrupted sleep, while a whopping 60 percent claimed stress-related physical symptoms like headaches and stomachaches as a result of irregular scheduling. They pointed to ways companies could offset those negative impacts, like eliminating on-call shifts or scheduling more stable shift structures.
Call centers would certainly benefit from providing their employees with a more stable work environment and can take steps toward that goal by increasing part-time options, adding more targeted staffing, enabling shift swapping through technology and providing workers with their schedules two weeks in advance. Gap implemented those measures and subsequently had a seven-percent increase in sales and a five-percent increase in productivity. And workers reported a six- to eight-percent increase in their sleep quality, along with 15-percent less stress for parents and nine-percent less stress for workers holding two jobs.
A recent WorkJam study backs up the results of the university researchers, revealing the stress and impact on worker health caused by unstable scheduling as well as the financial setbacks and stressors caused by missing a shift because of unpredictable scheduling. The study looked at Walmart, which adjusted their scheduling process recently to a more stabilized system. The company rolled out an app workers can access through mobile devices, enabling them to check schedules, sign up for shifts and swap shifts on the fly. The company found that a more stable work scheduling system reduced stress-related health problems for workers as well as financial hardships directly caused by unstable scheduling.
Call centers could certainly benefit from the predictive scheduling system that has been adopted by cities including San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Philadelphia and the state of Oregon. The laws put into place in those areas require employers to post worker schedules around two weeks in advance, and also restrict how schedules may be changed or added onto. The laws also limit on-call scheduling. The systems have been put into place to directly combat the ill effects of erratic scheduling like negative health impacts, unplanned absences and the resulting financial impact on both employers and workers.
Edited by Maurice Nagle