Report So called “self-checkout” machines have become one of the most ubiquitous, and one of the most fraught, forms of new technology in grocery stores, pharmacies, and retail stores generally. The journey of self-checkout technology began on an optimistic note. When the first machines were introduced at Kroger stores in Atlanta in 1986, they were celebrated as a “revolution in the supermarket,” enthusiastically welcomed for its potential to reduce labor costs and shorten customer wait times (Puzo 1987). The adoption of self-checkouts skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by public health concerns, and they remained a common fixture as the...
This report aims to illuminate the state of compliance with California’s core labor standards and the opportunities and barriers to make them real for the majority of workers they cover.
In this report, we document the scheduling conditions for IKEA co-workers before the launch of the intervention, and describe the new self-scheduling features. Next, we describe the research design for the planned evaluation of the intervention. We end with discussions of future directions, including the future evaluation report that will describe implementation and the effects of the Self-Scheduling Intervention.
Paid sick leave is essential for worker well-being and the public health, yet the United States does not have a federal law guaranteeing workers access to paid sick leave.
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reshaped the labor market, especially for service sector workers. Frontline service sector workers, already coping with precarious working conditions, faced proximate risks of COVID-19 transmission on the job and navigated new workplace safety measures, including masking, social distancing, and staying home while sick, all in a polarized political environment.
Access to paid family and medical leave (PFML), including leave to care for a seriously ill loved one or recover from one's own serious illness, conveys health and economic benefits for workers and their families.
Workplace sexual harassment and violence inflict a variety of costs on survivors, raising important questions about prevention: changing the conditions that give rise to the problem in the first place. So long as sexual harassment and violence persist, mitigating their impacts and creating clear channels for recourse will also remain crucial, shaping the wellbeing and agency of survivors in navigating a way forward.
Nearly one-in-five jobs in the United State are in the service sector, including in retail, grocery, pharmacy, fast food, and fulfillment, but there are countervailing views on who works these jobs and to what end.
