Imagine scheduling an employee to close up late at night, only for them to return a few hours later to open the next morning. This practice, known as "clopening", highlights the complexities and challenges of creating work schedules that balance operational needs with employee well-being. Scheduling issues rank among the top five reasons why restaurant employees quit their jobs.
For hourly workers, whose income fluctuates based on scheduled hours, the unpredictability of their schedules can significantly impact their ability to plan financially and maintain a work-life balance.
As a restaurant owner or manager, providing any advance notice of scheduling is not just beneficial for your staff; it's essential for fostering a stable and motivated workforce. That’s one of the main reasons that predictive scheduling laws are growing in popularity across food service and hospitality industries.
Here are some things you should know about predictive scheduling and how to successfully implement it in your restaurant.
What is Predictive Scheduling?
At its core, predictive scheduling also known as fair workweek, predictable scheduling or secure scheduling, mandates that employers, including those in the restaurant industry, provide their employees with work schedules well in advance—typically requiring a minimum notice period of 14 days.
People want to know their work schedules in advance so they can plan their personal schedules accordingly, gauge their probable earnings over a certain period, and have ample opportunities to request off or swap shifts.
For restaurant owners and managers, adhering to these scheduling practices not only ensures compliance with emerging labor laws but also supports a more transparent and respectful workplace culture, ultimately contributing to higher employee satisfaction and retention.
It's important to distinguish predictive scheduling from the use of predictive analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), or machine learning technologies for automatic schedule generation. Predictive scheduling focuses on the proactive provision of work schedules to employees, ensuring they have sufficient time to adjust and plan accordingly.
Understanding Predictive Scheduling Laws in the Restaurant Industry
Predictive scheduling laws, also known as fair workweek laws or secure scheduling laws, are regulations designed to provide more stable and predictable work schedules for employees in certain industries, including the restaurant industry.
These laws aim to address the issues caused by unpredictable work schedules, which can make it difficult for employees to plan for childcare, pursue education, or manage a second job.
Here are the key features of predictive scheduling laws as they pertain to the restaurant industry:
- Good faith hour estimates: Employers must provide new hires with an estimate of their expected work hours.
- Minimum break times: There are required minimum rest periods between shifts, particularly to avoid "clopening" shifts.
- Right of first refusal: Current employees must be offered additional shifts before hiring new workers.
- Restrictions on schedule changes: Employers must avoid late changes to the schedule, or compensate employees for such changes, unless in emergency situations.
- Predictability pay: Employees receive extra pay for last-minute schedule changes.
- Detailed record-keeping: Employers must maintain comprehensive records of work schedules and any changes made.
Predictive scheduling laws are still relatively new, and many places have yet to implement them. The movement towards these regulations began to pick up steam with Oregon setting a precedent in 2017, becoming the first state to enact comprehensive predictive scheduling legislation.
Employment laws are often dictated on a state level. As a result, some cities and states are on more of a trial basis with predictive scheduling. That means there are a few differences between laws in different places.
Most cities with predictive scheduling laws use the two-week notice standard, some have penalties for breaking the rules, and there are even pay thresholds to qualify for predictive scheduling. Some areas require employers to provide a good faith estimate of hours over a given period, incorporate hours of rest, and maintain recordkeeping. Let’s look at the cities that have adopted these laws and their unique rules.
Overview of the Cities and the States in the US that Enacted Predictive Scheduling Laws
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago requires companies in the hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, and building service industries to provide two weeks’ advanced scheduling notice to employees earning less than $26/ hour or less than $50,000/year.
New York City, New York
One of the more particular rules, New York requires fast food restaurants with 30+ locations to provide two weeks’ notice on scheduling notice. They must also notify employees of canceled shifts at least 72 hours in advance, or pay them a penalty.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philly requires retail, hospitality, and service industry companies with over 30 locations and 250 employees to give two weeks’ scheduling notice, and employees must be compensated for changes that don’t meet the requirement. If shifts are scheduled within nine hours of each other, employees can legally refuse one.
Seattle, Washington
Seattle requires two weeks’ scheduling notice and the right to refuse shifts that are within 10 hours of one another for all retail and service industry companies with at least 500 employees.
San Francisco, California
Two weeks’ scheduling notice for all retail locations, restaurants, and places that sell liquor in San Francisco, California. All financial institutions with over 40 locations are subject as well.
Berkeley, California
In Berkeley, companies must provide two weeks’ scheduling notice. Written notice of schedule changes must be provided 24 hours in advance, and employees can decline shift amendments made within 14 days of the shift. These rules apply to all restaurants with 10+ workers, nonprofits with 100+ workers, and retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and hotel companies with 56+ workers.
Emeryville, California
Emeryville also requires two weeks’ scheduling notice for all workers scheduled. Employees receive time and a half during shifts that are within 11 hours of each other. This law is in effect for retail locations with 20+ local employees and 56+ employees worldwide.
Oregon State
The first state to pass predictive scheduling laws, Oregon requires service industry and retail industry companies with 500 employees or more to provide schedules two weeks in advance. There are penalties for shift changes and employees can decline shifts that aren’t on the schedule in time.
Benefits of Predictive Scheduling for Restaurant Employees and Employers
Labor legislation often tends to favor workers’ rights, which is important for maintaining healthy workplaces that benefit the most people possible. Fair workweek laws are a prime example of this. In the case of predictive scheduling, both workers and employers can benefit.
Employee Satisfaction
In an era where service industry turnover is both extremely high and costly (Replacing a single hourly employee can cost as much as $5,864.), ensuring employees are happy with their jobs is increasingly important. People appreciate more than a few hours’ notice before a scheduled shift.
From one-off cafes to large franchises, scheduling issues account for a significant amount of turnover, and predictive scheduling gives employees the chance to plan further ahead, get shifts covered, and prepare for difficult shifts well in advance. This leads to more satisfied employees, fewer scheduling or staffing headaches for employers, and more focused shifts. Current employees will appreciate it, and it will help new employees acclimate.
Work-Life Balance
Naturally, one of the main reasons predictive scheduling laws exist is so that workers have more agency over their work schedules. Life is easier when you can plan ahead, and work schedule stability and predictability both go a long way toward finding and scheduling personal time. People like to know the number of hours they’ll be working, they like having time to find shift swaps, and they like to know when their managers are going to post schedules. Even in the case of on-call shifts or taking on additional hours, any heads-up is helpful. Having free time is one thing, knowing when you’ll have it ahead of time is even better.
Financial Predictability
There are few things more stressful than finances. With many food service industry workers on minimum wage living paycheck to paycheck, having a general idea of how many hours they’ll work over a given period and which shifts they’ll be working can go a long way with financial planning.
Predictive scheduling can also help restaurants plan ahead financially. Understanding your forecasted labor costs makes it easier to strategize, set financial goals or targets, and allocate money to other areas of your business.
Productivity
When employees are satisfied with their schedules, or they have time to prepare mentally, they tend to be more productive. Being caught off guard by being called in at the last minute can throw off the entire work day. Predictive scheduling gives employees enough notice to be ready for their shifts, and it gives employers time to make sure the right people are staffed for each shift and its unique challenges.
Navigating Predictive Scheduling Laws: Best Practices for Restaurants
In order to help you optimize your operations while adhering to predictive scheduling laws, we've come up with some best practices.
Understand Local Regulations
Predictive scheduling laws vary by state and city. It's crucial for restaurant owners and managers to be well-informed about the specific requirements and nuances of the laws applicable to their locations.
Implement Scheduling Software
One of the reasons restaurant owners and operators are reluctant to implement predictive scheduling is not wanting to be caught off guard by an unexpectedly busy day. Tools like Lineup.ai can help you with these issues.
Lineup.ai uses historical sales data, weather information, local events, and other variables to forecast demand with high accuracy. This allows restaurants to anticipate busy periods and adjust staffing levels accordingly.
This software can automate the creation of restaurant employee schedules based on forecasted demand. Employee scheduling is already a time-consuming process for managers—providing them with scheduling software that automatically generates schedules that meet demand, maintains labor budgets, and stays within labor regulations saves time and meets compliance.
When you have a better understanding of the ebbs and flows of your business, you can build schedules that meet demand without going over the top on your labor expenses. Accounting for events that drive demand, like local sports, TV schedules, weather, and more, increases schedule accuracy.
Communicate Clearly and Often
Open lines of communication with your team are essential. Ensure that all employees are aware of how predictive scheduling laws affect them and the processes you've put in place to comply with these regulations.
Plan for Flexibility
While predictive scheduling requires advance notice, the dynamic nature of the restaurant business means that changes are inevitable. Develop a system for handling shift swaps, time-off requests, and last-minute adjustments that is fair, transparent, and compliant with the law.
The Future of Predictive Scheduling in the Restaurant Industry
Predictive scheduling laws are still relatively new in most areas. Many cities are taking a wait-and-see approach before implementing their own. That being said, as the labor movement continues to gain momentum, particularly in the restaurant industry, it’s likely that predictive scheduling legislation will become more common.
It’s always a good idea for restaurants to plan ahead. Whether you live in an area with predictive scheduling laws or not, your employees will appreciate advanced notice and your business will run more smoothly. You’ll also be ahead of the game if legislation is eventually passed in your area.
Once again, one of the better ways to prepare yourself for predictive scheduling is to adopt technology that assists with it. Building schedules is a time-consuming process for managers, and legal requirements around predictive scheduling only add to that stress. Look for technology that can suggest or even build schedules based on things like previous schedules, future-looking information (sales forecasts, weather, events, etc.), and labor laws.
Leverage the power of artificial intelligence to help your restaurant meet predictive scheduling requirements, hit labor targets, and save managerial time. Chat with our team today and we’ll show you how Lineup.ai does it.
Important Notice: The information in this article is not legal advice nor does it guarantee legal accuracy. It is up to you to consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs. Legal and other matters referred to in this article are of a general nature only and are based on Lineup.ai's interpretation of laws existing at the time the article was written. This article should not be relied on in place of professional legal advice. Lineup.ai is not responsible for the content of any site owned by a third party that may be linked to this article, and no warranty is made by us concerning the suitability, accuracy, or timeliness of the content of any site that may be linked to this article. Lineup.ai disclaims all liability (except for any liability which by law cannot be excluded) for any error, inaccuracy, or omission from the information contained in this article and any loss or damage suffered by any person directly or indirectly through relying on this information.
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