Why we need a fair workweek
Working six to seven days a week and feeling lucky if you get a day off is hard. I’m a keyholder and a manager at a major national retail chain that sells bath products. This means I run everything from scheduling to payroll to staffing. Even in my position, working in retail means it’s a struggle to maintain some form of regularity. Whether it’s managing my personal life, meeting new sales goals from the corporate office, or something as simple as making our shift schedules, things are always changing.
As we approach the holidays, and America shops with their families, people like myself working in retail are starting to call for jobs that can support our families.
As one of our country’s retail workers, it’s not out of the ordinary for me to work a 12-hour day and be the person who opens the store as well as the one who closes. Since I’m a manager, I have to be on the premises at all times. On these extra-long days, I’m entitled to a couple of 15-minute breaks and an hour lunch break. Yet, if I can’t even leave the store I have to send someone to get my food or order it. It’s inconveniences like this that may seem small to some, but they become big hurdles to my daily life.
Last-minute scheduling isn’t working for employees or our employers. We lose our ability to be more efficient, things become rushed, and we miss out on priceless moments with our families.
It’s hardest around the holidays. This year I was working from 5:30 PM to 3:00 AM on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. With those hours, it’s guaranteed there will be no family time when I get home and my nine-year-old son will have long been in bed. Ideally, I would want to spend more time with my family but I know that’s not going to be possible for me, my staff, and many like us around the country. We do what we have to do to make shopping pleasant and convenient for others, but it doesn’t feel right that our needs get sacrificed.
Many of my coworkers are working two jobs at different retail chains. In addition to the challenges of balancing work needs and our lives, getting work schedules just days in advance makes it very difficult for them to coordinate shifts with their other employers.
Workers like myself deal with this kind of scramble as a regular workweek. If we ask for a schedule that works for our families, we run the risk of losing our job, our income, and the security that comes with both of those. So, when my boss asks me to work a schedule that might strain my family availability, there’s only one option when it comes to my answer: Yes.
The work that I do is important and I know that if it weren’t for me a lot of things in my store would fall apart. I’m needed in many ways and the work that I do helps the flow of my store. Even though I know this, it’s my wish that people would see that my life and my peace of mind are just as important as my job. Employees need to have a balance between work and family lifer. Work shouldn’t hold us back, it should help us get ahead — we all have dreams, plans, and want healthy relationships with our loved ones.
That’s why I’ve come together with other retail workers to make my industry a better place to work. I feel hopeful this holiday season, knowing that next year my store will change. It’s my hope that everyone who works as hard as I do in retail will be able to live happily, securely, and with dignity.
Monique Hendricks works at Bath and Body works in Emoryville, CA and is a member of ACCE, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, which is part of the Fair Workweek Initiative at the Center for Popular Democracy. Support her efforts here.
