Bath & Body Works Will Cleanse Worker Schedules Of On-Call Shifts

Image courtesy of (Mike Mozart)

This summer, a number of popular mall store chains have decided to end the practice of on-call scheduling, a money-saving trick where employees are scheduled to work but told not to report, or are sent home early. Now the dense scent cloud known as Bath and Body Works will join its corporate cousin Victoria’s Secret in stopping the practice next month.

Other mall chains like Abercrombie & Fitch and the Gap have announced that they will stop the practice. While on-call scheduling systems are useful for companies and let them carefully calibrate how many people are needed to work, they aren’t very compatible with actual human lives.

On-call scheduling is disruptive: it leads to erratic schedules, erratic income, and trouble scheduling other jobs or child care around retail shifts that the employee may not even work. Also, the practice may be illegal, depending on how many hours an employee works: this trend of companies renouncing the practice happened to start after New York’s state attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, began an investigation into the scheduling practices of thirteen large retail companies.

Don’t bother guessing how many of the companies that have announced an end to on-call scheduling in recent weeks were on that list: the answer is “all of ’em.” Back in April, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, and L Brands were all on the list of potential on-call scheduling offenders that the NY AG was looking into. Both Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret are both part of L Brands, a company that also includes La Senza and Henri Bendel.

Bath & Body Works to End On-Call Scheduling [Wall Street Journal]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.