Variable Schedules Harm Workers and Businesses
upstart writes:
Variable schedules harm workers and businesses:
Variable work schedules-which employers increasingly use to maximize profits amid unpredictable market conditions-can actually undermine organizational performance, especially in crisis periods such as the pandemic, according to Cornell research.
[...] For decades, employers have altered the number and timing of employees' work hours on a daily or weekly basis in order to respond quickly to changing conditions. Chung studied the impact of this practice by integrating insights from literature on flexible staffing, turnover and organizational resilience, with data from 1,678 stores of a U.S.-based fast-food restaurant chain
"Research in the last decade has built a convincing theoretical and empirical record that workers in units with variable work schedules suffer from unstable earnings, negative mental and physical health outcomes, and work-life conflicts," wrote Chung, a student in the field of human resources.
[...] Human resources theory suggests that flexible staffing can hedge against volume and demand uncertainty, but through this study, Chung found that its value can expire if overused because variable work schedules can beget another source of uncertainty: loss of human capital due to high turnover.
[...] "The findings suggest that managers need to rethink the implication of the environmental disruption (COVID-19 in this study) with respect to the use of certain HR practices," she said. "In particular, the loss of human capital resulting from the use of flexible staffing practices may be a roadblock for firms seeking to bounce back from adversity."
Journal Reference:
Chung, H. (2022). Variable work schedules, unit-level turnover, and performance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic [open]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(4), 515-532.
DOI: 10.1037/apl0001006
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