Predictable scheduling involves ensuring that employees have some control over their scheduled working hours, not changing work schedules without employees’ consent, and/or giving employees advanced warning about changes to their work schedules.
Benefits to Employers
- Increases productivity
- Increases retention, reducing turnover costs
- Reduces employee absenteeism
- Increases morale, loyalty, commitment
Benefits to Children and Parents/Families
- Allows employees to plan for child care, school activities, health care visits and transportation
- Leads to better child development outcomes because of more stability for childcare arrangements, which improves cognitive
and behavioral outcomes and language development - Lowers stress for parents and improves overall healthy behaviors
- Increases family economic security, due to predictable pay
- Allows employees to care for sick or elderly family members
Range of Practices in the United States
Almost three-quarters of hourly workers ages 26–32, who are more likely to have young children at home, report that their work hours fluctuate each month.
Forty-one percent of adults working in hourly jobs say they know their work schedule one week in advance or less.
About half of low-wage workers have little or no control over the timing of their work hours.
Part-time workers experience even more variability in hours and receive even less advance notice of schedule than full-time workers.
