Workers on Demand? Effects of Undesirable and Unpredictable Schedules on Absenteeism and Performance

Abstract

Facing irregular demand patterns, many service firms contract workers for specific hours when they are needed to meet peaks in demand. We conceptualize different metrics for schedule undesirability and investigate their impact on workers’ likelihood of being absent as well as of performing poorly. Using a proprietary dataset of close to a million home visits performed by caregivers over a 5-year period, we find that the number of idle hours in the workday as well as the level of unpredictability of the schedule are significantly associated to higher likelihood of absenteeism as well as client dissatisfaction. Moreover, we find that fostering employee familiarity with the patients can mitigate this negative consequence of schedule undesirability.