Sam Mogannam, Founder, Bi-Rite Family of Businesses | San Francisco

“Although Bi-Rite is not large enough to be subject to San Francisco’s recently enacted scheduling ordinance, we are enthusiastically implementing its provisions. Why take on labor standards that we aren’t required to comply with? Because we know that fair scheduling makes sense for our workers and for our businesses. Unless our staff is happy and engaged, we would not successfully achieve our mission of creating community through food, and wouldn’t be able to provide the genuine service that our guests have come to appreciate. This is key to our success and to differentiating us in the marketplace as an employer. We strongly support the Schedules that Work Act and encourage you to do so as well, so your staff can benefit from the rights our teams already enjoy.”

Deb Nelson, Executive Director, Social Venture Network | San Francisco

“The Schedules that Work Act is in line with SVN’s mission to support a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. Our business leaders, social entrepreneurs, and impact investors appreciate that companies benefit when they are responsive to employees and flexible with work schedules.”

Marcia St. Hilaire-Finn, Owner, Bright Start Childcare & Preschool

“Having happy employees is critical for the success of our business. Fair and flexible scheduling is one way we accomplish this. The Schedules that Work Act is a reasonable bill that would extend the types of practices Bright Start employees already benefit from to all workers.

“Nearly all of our staff members are parents. We work hard to accommodate staff requests for flexibility so that they can care for their own kids. We also give our employees two weeks’ notice of their job schedules so they can plan the rest of their lives. Our employees work four 10-hour shifts, followed by one day off. This arrangement provides stable care throughout the day for the children at the center while also allowing our workers more time with their families.”

Tony Dundas-Lucca, Owner, 1905 and El Camino Restaurants

“Staffing is one of the most challenging aspects of the restaurant business. To create a high performing staff, we strive to instill structure and professional standards. We want to retain the talent that we have. We provide staff with their schedules about one month in advance and use an online system that enables staff to have input into their job schedules. For us, fair scheduling just makes sense; it not only helps our workers, it also makes life easier for me and my managers, reducing headaches all around.  Because of how we treat our staff, we have relatively low turnover and employees are satisfied with their jobs. I believe all workers in our industry – and others – deserve fair schedules. We need public policies like the Schedules that Work Act to create a minimum standard for workers’ schedules.”

Deborah McClintock, Owner, Beadazzled

“At Beadazzled, we strive to make employee schedules as consistent as possible; it’s a part of our efforts to accommodate the needs of our workers and their families. This helps us to retain committed staff and serve our customers effectively. We post schedules for the following month by the 15^th of the month prior. And, other than changes to accommodate our employees’ requests, there is little variation in schedules from month to month. We would not have a problem implementing the Schedules that Work Act, the fair scheduling bill proposed in Congress. We support this effort to address an important workplace issue.”

Gina Schafer, Owner, Ace Hardware

“We govern our business by nine core values and I tell my team that business is a two way street.  As an employer I hope to be respected by my employees and that they in turn, should be respected by the leaders.  We offer a number of benefits and perks to those working with us but some of what we offer is just good business practice.  For example, we post our schedules two weeks in advance and do not make changes to them.  Employees are able to make requests via our on-line portal if they need time off and they are free to change shifts with one of their teammates should conflicts arise.  It is never perfect, but we promise to make scheduling and payroll as easy as possible.  Everyone can check their schedule from home or a smart phone.  When shifts become available, we first make them available to part-time employees before hiring someone new.  I want our managers to focus on developing their teams and taking care of our customers – with the highest degree of attention possible.   The less time they have to spend changing schedules and the longer out they are known, the more time we have to wow everyone who walks through the door.”

Rob Everts, Co-Executive Director, Equal Exchange, West Bridgewater, MA

“All workers deserve to be treated with respect by their employers—something that far too often is lacking in lower-wage jobs. We support the Schedules that Work Act because we believe fair scheduling is an important facet of responsible business practices.”

Keith Mestrich, President and CEO, Amalgamated Bank, New York City, New York

“Amalgamated Bank prides itself on being a bank with principles, including our conviction that banks should be strong proponents of economic justice and financial opportunity up and down the economic ladder. Right now, too many workers miss out on opportunity because unfair job scheduling practices make it hard for them to climb that ladder. When workers have little notice of when their shift begins or ends or how many hours a week they’ll work, decisions others may take for granted, such as planning for childcare arrangements or determining a weekly budget, become increasingly difficult. Legislation such as the federal Schedules that Work Act will help bring stability to the lives of hard workers across the country, which is why Amalgamated Bank supports federal, state and local public policy efforts to promote fair scheduling practices.”

Beth Sachs, Founder, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, Burlington, VT

“Workplace flexibility is more than just a human resources policy for us; it both defines us as an organization and helps us meet our mission.  We believe we should treat all of our employees like grown-ups. This means we trust each other to manage our schedules to fit our lives on and off the job. As we’ve grown larger and needed to formalize more and more policies, we believe that we can find ways of working that benefit employers and employees, rather than putting them against one another.  The Schedules that Work Act is consistent with our commitment to creating good jobs. I support this bill, because I believe all workers deserve fair work schedules.”