Caitlin O'Reilly-Green, a barista at an Atlanta Starbucks, says a manager blames her erratic hours on the staff scheduling software used by the giant coffee chain.
"When you try to bring up issues with it, they just kind of blame it on the software," she said. "'That is what the computer does.' They can't do anything about it or change the schedule. It is very frustrating."
She said the shift scheduling software often turns out hours that make no sense.
O'Reilly-Green is among millions of retail and restaurant workers at the focus of a raging national debate over fair hours, pay and the use of shift scheduling software -- sometimes called staff scheduling software -- from big vendors like ADP, SAP and Kronos to set worker hours based on factors such as store traffic and weather.
Starbucks uses Kronos to set schedules at her store, O'Reilly-Green said, but the company would neither confirm nor deny that it uses Kronos.
"I work about 25 hours a week right now," she said of the Starbucks barista job she has held for a little more than a year. The schedule is "totally 100% different every week," she said. "Monday is 4 to 8. On Tuesday, it can be 9 to 4. It is different every single day, every single week. There has never been any sort of consistency."
She said a year-old Starbucks policy requiring at least a 10-day advance notice for a weekly schedule is helpful, but workers, at least at her store, need more advance notice and more consistency, though they do sometimes get two weeks' notice. Starbucks provides Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance for workers, but it can be difficult to use because doctor's appointments are tough to schedule, she said.
O'Reilly-Green said the erratic scheduling is her biggest concern after the pay: She gets $8.10 an hour in a state where the minimum wage is $7.25.
Laurel Harper, a spokeswoman for Starbucks, said the company is very concerned about the experience of one of its employees and welcomes the opportunity to look into the situation and fix it.
Store managers are allowed to schedule employees up to three weeks in advance, and must post schedules at least 10 days in advance, she said.
A year ago, the company updated its automated shift scheduling software to enable more stability and consistency of weekly hours. Only managers have access to the software. Lower-level employees can't use it to propose shift swaps, for example, or leave notes, she said.
Employees do have the option to change shifts with other employees if a personal conflict arises. Each employee has unique scheduling needs, and store managers do their best to accommodate all requests for time off for any appointment or personal reason, Harper said.
Activist cites software abuse Software companies, not just retailers or other users, have a big role in helping bring about change to improve schedules and protect workers in the retail and service industries, said Erin Hurley, worker organizer at Rise Up Georgia, a grassroots organization. Software vendors should set guidelines on how their shift scheduling software is used, she said. Shift scheduling software enables certain retailers and restaurant chains to use on-call shifts and create erratic schedules for workers, according to Hurley. "They should hold the corporations accountable if their product is being abused," she said. "I would not want to have a client that is abusing my product, and that is what retailers are doing with software -- abusing it." Hurley received $8 an hour when she worked on and off for five years at Bath & Body Works. In her most recent stint from August 2014 to February, she generally had to be available for two to three on-call shifts a week, which forced her to keep her schedule open, even though 90% of the time she wasn't needed. Kronos Vice President Charlie DeWitt said Kronos is continuing to work with retailers, policy makers, nonprofits, and academics to address issues surrounding schedule stability, equity and employee engagement. "We have a policy to not comment on how our customers use Kronos," DeWitt said by email when asked if he agreed with the Starbucks worker who said the schedules produced by Kronos make no sense and that managers need to be more involved in setting the schedule. But in a move that could benefit workers, Kronos is planning to make available in the next few months a plug-in to help companies track how often the time worked by an employee differs from the initial schedule, if they are receiving adequate hours and how often their schedule changes from week to week, DeWitt said. "We recently met with 10 major retailers to explore enhancement opportunities for the prototype," DeWitt said in the email. "The meeting was successful and most showed interest in pursuing further." Another vendor, Oracle, has discontinued selling shift scheduling software, a spokesman said. Congress and about 10 states are considering bills to require premium pay for "on-call" scheduling, or in at least some cases, for failu