Unbreakable Low Wage Loop
By: Samuel Barnes 11/25/2019
Technological advancements in the workplace are creating chaos for low income workers. The introduction of data analytics has dehumanized the workplace. Forcing these workers to work on short notices to make ends meet and control their lives. This has developed into increased technology usage in their daily lives and at work. Corporations striving for worker efficiency largely frown upon the use of personal technology. However, it is their policies that have made these workers resort to these measures. Thus creating a loop that low-income workers face on a daily basis.
I believe that this is largely due to the installments of automated scheduling within large corporations such as McDonalds, Walmart and Starbucks. Automated Scheduling has taken the workers lives and preferences out of the question and instead focuses on maximum efficiency. As Cathy O’Neil states in her book Weapons of Math Destruction, “ efficiency-focused WMDs treat workers as cogs in a machine.”(124) These systems run through enormous amounts of data to determine when their employees work. They do this so that the company works as efficiently as possible by constantly has the minimum amount of people on the job at all times. These priorities are taking all of the power away from the workers.
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The lack of power has pushed these workers to rely on smartphones in order to keep functional lives. Low-income workers more often than not finding out what their schedule is, with less than a weeks notice. Because of this, smartphones have become essential to them. Smartphones allow them to communicate quickly with people around them. If they have to make a shift change at their other job or they need a babysitter in a pinch there isn’t a quicker way then to use a cell phone. In the article The Future of Work: The Digital Hustle, the journalist interviewed a single mother named Tina who has been subject to this exact problem. She stocks shelves at a big box retailer and has picked up another job on the side for some extra cash. Even during the interview Tina was struggling to find a babysitter because she was given a shift that night. She immediately was in touch with her sister to negotiate how they could pass of her child between their shifts. Workers like Tina make due with these circumstances, but are constantly reacting instead of being able to be on top of things and be in control of their lives. This is how smartphones have become so popular amongst low-income workers.
Smartphones make it so that low-income workers can complete their daily tasks all in one place. This way they are able to build their own sort of safety net so when something comes up they are able to handle it at all times. They can get in contact with family and friends do their banking check in on their kids. They have become so reliant on these devices that a lot of people agree when Tina admits to ‘“being addicted.’” Like these workers most companies see the use of phones in a negative way as well. In some companies ploicies have been made to restrict phone use during work to help with efficiency on the job. However these policies are ignoring the role that they play for their employees. It is because of their scheduling systems that the workers use their phones. Most of the time a worker is using their phone isn’t because they are goofing off but because everything on their phone is important to maintaining their lives. Thus creating the dilemma between workers and companies. The efforts by the companies to become more efficient have put the workers in defensive mode, reacting to whatever their employers throw at them to try and keep them afloat. The companies are not recognizing the effects of these schedules and therefore don’t realize the importance of their employees personal technology.
Many corporations have adopted advancements like automated scheduling in order to improve efficiency. What the corporations have yet to successfully account for is the wellbeing of their low-wage workers. Because of absurd schedules and short notices many people and families continue to struggle to get a hold on their lives. Feeling like they are constantly at the will of their companies. That their lives or other obligations mean nothing compared to lower costs and higher efficiency to these corporations. In the article The Future of Work: This is Your Job in 20 Years, world famous scientists, CEOs, academics and journalists such as Robert Solow comment on our efforts in the workforce. For the majority of the people cited in this article most see that our efforts to improve the workplace will not be enough to sustain low-income and middle class workers. A lot of changes will have to be made in order to not only keep our middle class but also improve it. We must make it so our middle class can be offensive and gain control of their lives, so that they will be able to live healthier lifestyles and gain a more important presence in our society.
Reasources
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O’Neil, Broadway Books, 2016, pp. 123–140.
Image 2: https://getsling.com/blog/free-employee-scheduling-software/
Image 3: http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/12/parents-are-digital-hypocrites/
