Less Can Be More With Employee Hours
Less Can Be More With Employee Hours
As the US manufacturing sector continues to be eclipsed by the service sector, the standard 9-to-5 job is being replaced by flexible work schedules. Along with this shift, service businesses are shrinking the number of hours between shifts. They are relying on smaller, leaner staffs to reduce operating costs, even as they stay open longer or around the clock to better serve customers and increase revenue. 
This scheduling practice can take a toll on employees who have to squeeze commuting, personal responsibilities and sleep into fewer hours between shifts. The growing practice of the same workers closing the doors at night and returning to open them in the morning has even been given its own name: “clopening.” While several European countries have responded to this scheduling practice by requiring workers be given at least 11 hours off between shifts, no such national or state labor law or regulation governs the intervals between shifts in the US. This may change, though, as bills have already been introduced in Maryland, Massachusetts and Minnesota.
Until such a time, service company employers will have to strike the right balance in serving customers, limiting operating costs and engaging well rested employees who have time to lead fulfilling personal lives.
Employee fatigue, of course, leads to workplace accidents, poor quality in products and potentially ruinous fines, litigation and increased Workers Compensation and Products Liability premiums.
