Philadelphia Fair Workweek Legislation – How Philadelphia Employers could Benefit

by Derek Jones, 7 minutes read
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Philadelphia Fair Workweek Legislation – How Philadelphia Employers could Benefit

Philadelphia Fair Workweek legislation

Fair Workweek (also referred to as Predictive Scheduling) is a term used to describe the legislation that’s sweeping the nation and is now looking to find its way into every business in Philadelphia that utilizes hourly employees. To learn more regarding Fair Workweek legislation and the rules and regulations surrounding them, click here to be taken to your very own Predictive Scheduling e-book that can be referenced whenever you need to, as well as assessing a document that can inform & guide you further by clicking the button below.  

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These laws have been passed in a number of cities and states all across the country like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, and are meant to place restrictions regarding what an employer can ask from their employees. To give you a better idea of what Fair Workweek laws will change within the workforce, take a look at a handful of the rules and regulations that employers must follow below:

  • Must give employees a two-week notice regarding any new schedules.

  • Must give employees a break for each shift they work.

  • No longer allowed to cut employees before they’ve worked their entire shift, as well as telling employees they’re not needed right at the beginning of their shifts.

  • No longer allowed to add shifts to employees’ schedules at the last minute.

  • No longer allowed to fluctuate the number of hours employees are scheduled to work from week to week.

  • Must accommodate employees’ time-off requests when the employee gave ample time for management to do so.

  • No longer allowed to schedule employees for “clopening shifts” which is when an employee is scheduled to close a business then re-open it the next morning with a very short time frame in between.


How this benefits Philadelphia employers

Philadelphia Fair Workweek Legislation - How Philadelphia Employers will Benefit

At first glance, Fair Workweek legislation may seem like it only exists to benefit the employee. While that may be its intent, a side effect is that employers actually get a large boost in their quality of employees and the regulations serve to weed out the employees that aren’t as devoted or motivated. To give you a better idea of how Philadelphia’s Fair Workweek legislation will work to help employers and further their brands, continue reading as we fill you in on how each regulation works to your benefit.

Derek Jones, of Deputy, recently had the chance to testify at a Philadelphia City Council meeting about how these laws can benefit employers as well as employees, and that Deputy can help businesses improve operations while easing the burden of compliance. You can watch Derek’s testimony here:

  • Regulation #1: Must give employees two-weeks notice of their schedules

How often do you have employees calling or texting you to let you know they won’t be able to make a shift on a certain day because they have something scheduled? Even worse, how often do employees try to get out of a shift on the same day they’re supposed to be working it? I’m willing to guess this happens way too often. Well, with a two-week notice of when and where they’re supposed to work, your employees will have no excuses for not showing up for a shift or for not requesting a day off or for a shift swap well in advance. After enacting the two-week policy for your employee schedules, you’ll see that there is a large difference between your responsible employees and the unresponsible ones.

Philadelphia Fair Workweek Legislation - How Philadelphia Employers will Benefit

The responsible employee will review the schedules right when they receive them and will take immediate action if something doesn’t fit or look right. On the other hand, the unresponsible employee will ignore the schedule they received in advance and won’t look at it until a day before the workweek when they need to, they will then scurry at the last minute and try to get a shift covered, causing their managers to stress as well as their coworkers. If you have a group of employees that are still having trouble sticking to the schedule and letting managers know of issues even when they received the schedule two weeks in advance, then you know they aren’t as on top of things as they should be.

That said, creating employee schedules up to two weeks in advance can be difficult for you and your managers. This is especially true if you’re still using pen & paper or excel docs to make your schedules. To get around this, consider using Deputy, an employee scheduling platform that’s able to learn from your past and automate the process of building schedules so you never have trouble making schedules two weeks early.

David Zelinger, Co-owner of Shake Shack, had this to say regarding Deputy’s ability to handle predictive scheduling regulations, “I didn’t open my business to worry about compliance and labor laws. Deputy makes it easy to provide my employees with predictable schedules, make sure they take their appropriate breaks, all while ensuring I have appropriate coverage to run my business.” Click on the button below to begin your free trial of Deputy.

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  • Regulation #2: Designated Meal & Rest breaks

Philadelphia Fair Workweek Legislation - How Philadelphia Employers will Benefit

With designated meal & rest breaks, employees will know that they have time to make any important phone calls as well as doing any tasks that they need to. With this knowledge, they have no excuse for being on their phones outside of their designated break. Along with that, employees will have ample time to rest, so putting in a half-hearted effort during a shift because they’re tired isn’t going to cut it anymore.

With Fair Workweek legislations stating that employers must give employees breaks during their shifts and even enforcing penalties if employees miss breaks, many employers are left stressing over how they’ll be able to make sure their employees take their breaks. One way to get around this is by using Deputy, an employee scheduling platform that’s able to make sure each and every one of your candidates takes their breaks during their shifts and will even alert you when they don’t.

Bobby Heuser, owner of Heuser Ace Hardware in Bluffton, South Carolina, had this to say regarding Deputy’s shift break management system, “With predictive scheduling laws popping up all over the US, we believe it is imperative to use technology to not only ease the burden of these complex laws but to also easily manage breaks so there are no coverage gaps, which in turn provides excellent customer service, all while increasing the bottom line.” To see what Bobby was talking about for yourself, click here to analyze the features used by not only Ace Hardware, but Amazon stores, Nike, and NASA.

  • Regulation #3: Not being allowed to fluctuate the number of hours employees work each week

Philadelphia Fair Workweek Legislation - How Philadelphia Employers will Benefit

It’s no secret that employees have a number of obligations outside of work, some of these obligations include children, school, another job, etc. Some employees will even use these obligations as an excuse to request for more or less hours for the week. Well, with employers being mandated to schedule the same number of hours each week for their employees, everyone on their team will know how many hours they’ll be assigned each week. So there will be no need for them to bother managers and business owners for more or fewer hours.

  • Regulation #4: No longer allowed to schedule employees for “clopening shifts”

Philadelphia Fair Workweek Legislation - How Philadelphia Employers will Benefit

When you’re no longer scheduling employees for opening shifts right after they’ve worked a closing shift the night before, you’ll notice that your team will be better rested and won’t come into work looking and feeling like zombies. This will result in them providing a better customer service experience, making fewer errors at work, and being able to further the mission of your brand.


Closing thoughts

While Philadelphia employers (as well as employers in other cities) may be quick to assume that Fair Workweek laws are built to work against their best interests, what actually happens is that the employer benefits from the situation just as much as the employees. That’s because the employees that aren’t as devoted will be weeded out and your best team members will shine. Either way. these laws are going to be passed and Deputy is here to help employers find their silver lining and ensure they aren’t negatively affected.

As always, if you need assistance getting your business up to code for Fair Workweek regulations, click on the button below to begin your free trial of Deputy. Deputy’s employee scheduling platform comes with auto scheduling features that are able to auto-fill your shifts so you can send out employee schedules two weeks in advance with ease. It can also let you know whenever an employee forgets to take a required break during their shift so you can avoid any costly penalties.

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