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Flimflamscrimscram t1_jclpnac wrote

Reply to comment by No-Setting9690 in Could a 4-Day, 32-Hour Work Week Come to Pennsylvania? These 3 Democrats Are Working On It by Open_Veins_8

Is it impossible to keep the same number of workers and stagger the schedules so that all five days are covered but every individual only does four of them?

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ieatpotatochips t1_jclr5gz wrote

Probably.

Edit: I hit send on accident. I meant to say it’s probably possible. It might require some creativity and flexibility but no reason why it can’t work out. I’ve seen it done in various call center situations before without a loss in service or productivity.

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Integer_Domain t1_jclwnj1 wrote

Depends. It’s a relatively easy problem to schedule a sufficient number of people into a 40 hour week such that each person only works 32 hours. It gets harder as you add variables like budget, time off, holidays etc., but it’s not impossible. I guarantee you that companies don’t want to contract mathematicians to figure out their scheduling, though 🤷🏻‍♂️

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AllAfterIncinerators t1_jcmr68k wrote

Staggering schedules is a great way to piss off your employees with families. If I went on some kind of changing schedule, my kids couldn’t do sports, scouts, or music lessons without it being a colossal pain in the ass.

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Flimflamscrimscram t1_jcmta5b wrote

Maybe, but I think what people want more than anything is predictability. I don’t think it requires schedules to be different week to week. Yes, different employees’ work weeks look different, but they don’t regularly change which days they work. I admit it can’t work for every job, and but I think it could be good for a decent number of jobs of all kinds.

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AllAfterIncinerators t1_jcn3d2t wrote

Yes, predictability is key. I worked retail for a very long time and the unpredictability was awful. I loved Christmas season because it meant unloading a lot of trucks, and those shifts were always early morning and predictable.

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PmButtPics4ADrawing t1_jcpfj05 wrote

This is how retail and food service places already operate. Most of the employees work part-time but the business is able to stay open all day every day by just scheduling people at different times

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