Flexible Workplace Solutions for Low-Wage Hourly Workers

65
See Lambert & Henly, supra note 20; Julia R Henly, H. Luke Shaefer & Elaine Waxman, Nonstandard Work Schedules:
Employer-and Employee Driven Flexibility in Retail Jobs, 80 SOC. SERV. REV. 609 (Dec. 2006); Jennifer E. Swanberg, Jacquelyn
B. James, Mac Werner, & Sharon P. McKechnie, Workplace Flexibility for Hourly Lower-Wage Employees: A Strategic Business
Practice Within One National Retail Firm, 11 PSYCHOL.-MANAGER J. 5 (Mar. 2008).
66
Lambert & Henly, supra note 20, at 6–8.
67
The case illustrations provided in the Case In Point boxes for Karen and Sarah are descriptions of study participants in
the Work and Family Transitions Project, a multi-year study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, led by Dr.
Maureen Perry-Jenkins, at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. See M. Perry-Jenkins & J.A. Smith, Blue-collar Blues: Work
Conditions and the Mental Health of Dual-earner Parents, Presentation at Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family
Relations, Pittsburgh, PA (Nov. 2007). Dr. Jennifer Swanberg provided information about Robert from her fi eld research on
fl exible work arrangements. To protect the anonymity of the people interviewed, all three workers’ names have been changed.
68
Lambert & Henly, supra note 20, at 7.
69
Id.
70
Passing the buck, supra note 17, at 1203.
71
JENNIFER SWANBERG ET AL., INTRODUCTION TO THE CITISALES STUDY 3 (2009), available at http://www.uky.edu/Centers/iwin/citisales/_
pdfs/IB1-HourlyWorkers.pdf.
72
Phillip Moss, Hal Salzman & Chris Tilly, When Firms Restructure—Understanding Work-Life Outcomes, in WORK AND LIFE
INTEGRATION IN ORGANIZATIONS: NEW DIRECTIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE (Susan Lambert & Ellen Kossek eds., 2005).
73
See SWANBERG ET AL., supra note 71.
74
Jennifer E. Swanberg (2011) (unpublished data from the CitiSales Study).
75
Employment Situation Summary, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, U.S. DEP’T OF LABOR (Feb. 4, 2011), http://www.bls.gov/news.release/
empsit.nr0.htm
76
Heidi Shierholz & Lawrence Mishel, Highest Unemployment Rate Since 1983, ECON, POL’Y INST. (June 16, 2009), http://www.epi.
org/publications/entry/jobspict_2009_july_preview.
77
Table A-8. Employed persons by class of worker and part-time status, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, U.S. DEP’T OF LABOR, http://www.
bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t08.htm (last updated Mar. 4, 2011).
78
For reports discussing the business case for workplace fl exibility, see A BETTER BALANCE: THE WORK & FAMILY LEGAL CENTER, FACT
SHEET: THE BUSINESS CASE FOR WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY (Nov. 2010), available at http://www.abetterbalance.org/web/images/stories/
Documents/fairness/factsheets/BC-2010-A_Better_Balance.pdf (noting that offering fl exible work programs prevents turnover
and high attrition rates, increases both productivity and investor returns, and reduces absenteeism); Victor et al., supra note
17 (documenting increased quality of personal life for employees, increased job satisfaction, and engagement, and increased
employee retention); CORP. VOICES FOR WORKING FAMILIES, supra note 14 (documenting the positive correlation between fl exible work
programs and job satisfaction and commitment, employee engagement, lower stress levels, innovation, customer retention,
shareholder value, productivity, and client service); JOAN WILLIAMS & PENELOPE HUANG, THE CTR. FOR WORKLIFE LAW, IMPROVING WORK-LIFE FIT
IN HOURLY JOBS 4 (2011), available at http://www.worklifelaw.org/pubs/ImprovingWork-LifeFit.pdf (noting businesses can decrease
absenteeism, lower turnover rates, increase productivity, and improve employee engagement by improving their “schedule
effectiveness”).
79
RICHMAN ET AL., supra note 17.
80
WFD CONSULTING, supra note 17, at 17.
81
Id.
82
RICHMAN ET AL., supra note 17, at 31.
83
See, e.g., WFD CONSULTING, supra note 17, at 11, 15–16.
84
CitiSales: Business Benefi ts, supra note 17. See also Swanberg et al., supra note 65, at 10–14.
85
There are a number of resources on fl exibility in unionized workplaces. The Learn WorkFamily Website, available at
http://www.learnworkfamily.org, developed by the Labor Project for Working Families, provides an online database of contract
language on work-family issues, bargaining techniques, case studies, principles of good contract language, and resources.
The Sustainable Workforce Initiative, available at http://www.thesustainableworkforce.org/index.php/research-initiatives/
featured, features research by Dr. Ellen Ernst Kossek and Dr. Peter Berg on fl exibility implementation in eight unionized work
environments. Results from this research show two key roles for unions in improving employee access to workplace fl exibility:
“One, negotiating basic leave policies and fl exible schedules and two, facilitating worker access to fl exible schedules and leaves
through supportive behaviors.”
86
Dr. Lambert and Henly suggest the following interventions to provide workers with greater fl exibility (which they defi ne as the
“amount of control workers have over the number and timing of their work hours”): “Allow workers input into their work schedule
without reducing the number of hours they work; Clarify and codify fl exibility options so that all workers have equal access to
a schedule that fi ts their needs.” Lambert & Henly, supra note 20, at 6. See also CitiSales: Business Benefi ts, supra note 17;
Swanberg et al., supra note 65, at 10–14.
87
In study of 139 retail store managers, for example, Susan Lambert found that 79% of the store managers surveyed either
agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “give more hours to sales associates who have greater availability.” Lambert &
Henly, supra note 17.
44