Gap Inc. Is the Latest Retailer to Get Rid of On-Call Shifts

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In a blog post yesterday, Gap Inc. announced that it will eliminate the use of the controversial scheduling practice known as on-call shifts. This will happen at all stores at all five Gap brands, including Old Navy and Banana Republic. On-call shifts at Gap will be phased out by the end of September. Gap also pledged to improve scheduling policies in order to provide store employees with at least 10 to 14 days notice.

The use of on-call scheduling has been criticized because employees have to make themselves available for shifts that might end up being canceled at the last minute. Gap joins Victoria's Secret and Abercrombie in pledging to stop on-call shifts.

According to the post, the work on this project began this summer. Earlier this month, a Minnesota-based Gap employee wrote an op-ed for The Guardian comparing his on-call shift schedule to being unemployed. "Though I was working, I still had to go to a food pantry for groceries," RL Stephens II wrote. "In winter, I had to choose between racking up heat bills I couldn't afford and freezing in my apartment. My landlord would ask me when I'd have the rent money, but I couldn't give her an answer because I never knew how many hours I'd actually work in a given week."