Seattle’s proposed “secure scheduling” law is at the forefront of the worker’s rights movement attempting to gain more stable and predictable work schedules for retail and food-service workers. The “secure scheduling” law is among the first of its kind in the United States of America. The Seattle City Council committee held their meeting Monday, September 19 to vote on this new law.
The council has voted in favor of the new employee scheduling law, making Seattle the second major U.S. city to regulate how large retailers and food-service establishments schedule their workers. Businesses falling under the law’s umbrella will be required to follow employee-scheduling regulations set forth in the “secure scheduling” legislation.
What does this mean for the future of Employee Scheduling?
During the Seattle City Council meeting, council member Lisa Herbold stated that other states, and cities are looking at similar legislation currently. Council member Kshama Sawat seconded this sentiment when mentioning the quote, “What happens in Seattle doesn’t stay in Seattle,” during her speech indicating the belief that the passing of this law will have an affect other city and state legislation surrounding employee scheduling.
So what can the passing of Seattle’s “secure scheduling” law mean for the future of employee scheduling in the U.S.? It is likely that this workers’ movement will gain momentum in cities and states already discussing similar legislation. There is also a chance that these employee scheduling laws will apply to other industries besides retail and food service in the near future.
If you are a large employer with a sizable number of employees and/or locations, you should start thinking about automating your employee scheduling process. You can prepare for stricter employee scheduling legislation and efficiently manage your employee scheduling with Snap Schedule 365’s online employee scheduling software. Whether or not this newly passed law directly affects you now, Snap Schedule 365’s software can still benefit your business a great deal with all of its features.
Take advantage of what Snap Schedule 365 can do for you and automate your employee scheduling process so as to keep records of employee communications, past schedules, and allow online employee and scheduler access to upcoming schedules. Snap Schedule 365 lets you give employees a measure of control over their work schedules like setting desired work hours, ability to bid on open shifts, trade/swap shifts, thereby making it easier for them to manage non-job-related responsibilities and maintain work-life balance. As the climate continues to change in employee scheduling legislation, leverage Snap Schedule 365 as your competitive advantage.