Workers fed up with nights and weekends, seek flexible schedules
After struggling to hire workers for its outlet store in Dallas, Balsam Hill finally opened on Sept. 1. But the very next day, the online purveyor of high-end artificial holiday trees was forced to close after four of its five workers quit.
The main gripe for three of them? Working on weekends. So they found jobs elsewhere with better hours.
Balsam Hill reopened weeks later with nine workers, hiking the hourly pay by $3 to $18 per hour. But more importantly, it changed its approach: Instead of only focusing on the needs of the business, it’s now closely working with each employee to tailor their schedules based on when they want to work.
“We’re working against people who have the choice of wherever they want to work,” said Kendra Gould, senior retail strategist at Balsam Hill. “Now, it’s more about what do you need as an employee and how can we make you happy?”
Companies are confronting demands by hourly workers on terms that often used to be non-negotiable: scheduling. Taking a page from their white-collar peers who are restructuring their workdays to accommodate their lifestyles, hourly workers are similarly seeking flexibility in how — and when — they do their jobs. That means pushing back on weekend, late night or holiday shifts.
Job openings are plentiful, so workers can afford to be picky. There were 10.4 million job openings at the end of August and 11.1 million openings the month before, the highest on record since at least December 2000, when the government started recording that figure. At the same time, the Labor Department said the number of people quitting their jobs jumped to 4.3 million in August from 4 million in July.
Among the new workers Balsam Hill hired was Rickey Haynes, 62, a pastor for a local Baptist church. He retired in July but still preaches in the community. He said he was looking for part-time work in retail but didn’t want to work Sundays because of his preaching. Balsam Hill was willing to work around his schedule.
“They were accommodating,” he said. “If I could, I could work with them until I am done.”
A recent study from Manpowergroup revealed that nearly 40% of job candidates worldwide said schedule flexibility is one of their top three factors in career decisions.
The shifting mindset is showing up in data from job site platforms.
Snagajob.com, an online marketplace for hourly workers, says the word “flexibility” now accounts for approximately 11% of the more than 7 million job postings on its site