Are digital tools a way for companies to retain hourly workers?
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resetting of the economy that followed it made hourly workers more aware of their value
NEW YORK — The COVID-19 pandemic and the resetting of the economy that followed it made hourly workers more aware of their value. Some experts think employers should expect to field demands for flexible hours and other workplace incentives even as the labor market weakens.
WorkJam, an online platform that was founded in 2014, has tried to be at the forefront of this shift. It provides clients such as Target, Ulta Beauty and Hilton with digital tools their non-salaried employees can use to swap shifts, complete trainings and get early access to wages.
CEO & co-founder Steve Kramer recently spoke with The Associated Press about how companies can better retain hourly workers. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
A. When we started the company in 2014, we set out to solve two issues to help with the socioeconomic issues that existed at the time. And they were large socioeconomic issues. In fact, President Obama, in his State of the Union speech in 2014, had hourly workers on stage with him because there was a lot of scheduling practices that were happening at the time that were creating unpredictability. So Obama actually put in a lot of new compliance rules to protect the hourly worker and to create more predictability in their schedules and their paychecks.
The pandemic was a black swan event for WorkJam because it did empower the employees. There were a lot of social issues that were happening as well. The idea around inclusion.
A. The ability to retain employees, which was very important over the last five or six years with the labor shortage, has a big impact on the bottom line. It
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