Flexible Workplace Solutions for Low-Wage Hourly Workers

Below we provide a number of business examples of fl exible workplace solutions in practice,
categorized by type of solution: providing opportunities for meaningful input into scheduling,
providing more predictable schedules, and providing more stable schedules. (In practice, however,
fl exible workplace solutions often come bundled together. For this reason, some of the real-world
examples below incorporate more than one type of solution.)
Flexible Workplace Solution:
Provide opportunities for meaningful input into work schedules
Employers can lessen rigidity in scheduling practices by providing employees with opportunities for
meaningful input into their work schedules. There are a number of different ways to do this. 86
We note, however, that past efforts to provide greater employee input into scheduling have often
resulted in workers being scheduled for fewer hours or less desirable shifts. 87 Thus, regardless of
which avenue for including employee input an employer might choose, it will be necessary to build in
appropriate safeguards for the employee making the request.
Establish a formal process for considering employee requests. Some employers have
instituted a formal policy by which employees may ask for a fl exible work arrangement. 88 Management
retains the discretion to say “no” to these requests, but the policy is designed to provide a level of
categorical availability to employees — i.e., ensuring that eligible employees can request FWAs —
and to allow the employer to respond to requests in a manner that addresses its business needs
and achieves a mutually benefi cial result. In some companies, an employee may request an FWA
regardless of the employee’s position in the company and for any reason. Management approves
or denies the request — often based solely on work-related needs and not based on the merits of
the employee’s reason for requesting fl exibility. Denials of such requests are usually reviewed either
by a company’s Human Resources Department or through a company’s standard employee appeal
process.
A national retail fi rm that was the focus of the CitiSales Study has three
established fl exible practices designed to give employees more control over
their schedules: 1) Managers allow employees to indicate specifi c days,
shifts, and hours that they prefer to work, as well as preferences for a set
routine schedule; 2) Managers offer employees “pre-planned scheduled
modifi cations” that give employees the opportunity to request that they
not be scheduled for a particular day or shift prior to the creation of the
weekly schedule; and 3) Just-in-time scheduling changes permit employees
to request changes to the existing schedule by having someone cover a
particular shift or swapping a shift with a co-worker. 89 Managers report that
offering these types of “fl exible practices” reduces work-family confl ict,
employee stress, turnover, absenteeism, and presenteeism (i.e., reporting
to work sick), while also enhancing employee engagement. In addition,
managers report that fl exibility is a good recruitment tool. 90
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