Has Netflix Changed Scheduling Forever?

This post was written by Chris Fletcher, a Co- Founder of Exp101.com…

Before Netflix turned up we had pretty fixed schedules in our day-to-day lives, ate our meals at prescribed times, went to work, walked the dog & watched a movie on quite a scheduled basis …..life was structured but did that work for everyone? 

Relevance of Subscription to Scheduling

Subscription services were not even a thing 10 years ago now 1 in 3 people in the UK have a subscription to a streaming service. Why is this relevant to scheduling and work patterns? The reason is now more than ever before people want their scheduling at work to reflect their normal life, work needs to fit in around life and not the other way around. 

We consume media now in bits. We can pause, we can download, stream, fast forward on our phones, in our homes, and even on devices that respond to voice. To then go to work and not be able to manage our time in a similar way is slowly becoming a turn-off and for the brands that are doing this and offering the chance to live your work life in a way you live your normal life. It’s a notion that’s becoming more and more attractive. 

Hospitality has historically scheduled long shifts and long days which, as workers, we simply accepted. There was always flex from managers who understood employees’ circumstances, but overall the 12-to-10 and 4-to-close shifts were a rule of thumb. Life has changed though and so have people’s expectations around what a schedule should look like. This generation wants to earn the same as the previous if not more but on their terms and now thanks to improving technology and open minds we are seeing flexible scheduling playing a major role in both attraction to a brand and retention within that brand.

Flexible Life Requires Flexible Schedule

Life has been thrown into complete turmoil this year but as always once you start to change a habit it becomes a new way of life. Even before the pandemic, employees’ lives were being challenged by social and economic demands. The way that we consume our own time has completely changed. As always, forward-thinking companies were already asking employees if they want to work from home if they want more hours but spread over peak times that suited both the business and their life. 

The employee now doesn’t want to surrender hobbies, social life, and even sleep to make way for inflexible scheduling. The days of posting a schedule the day before the employee is required are over. That is just a matter of respect, how can people plan their lives ( and yes even if you’re 18 and don’t have kids.. You still have a life!!) if we don’t give them enough notice & deliver that notice digitally. When I grew up in hospitality the most read wall in the building was the rota wall. We would spend hours staring at that thing, so for all you internal marketing people out there if you want to get a message out send it with the rota & do it in a way that the employee consumes their daily intake of media …on their phone!

Work Smarter Not Harder

Harri has developed tech which enables flexible scheduling, shift swaps, requests & even changing your bank details through a touch of a button on your relevant app. For hospitality operators overseeing several locations and dozens of employees on top of their day-to-day operational work, a simplified scheduling solution can be a lifesaver. Discover how Demipower empowered their Managers after implementing Harri’s Workforce Management Solution.

I spent my former years missing sports days, missing birthdays, and generally being absent due to the fact that I couldn’t see flexibility in my role. I was consumed by it and I think this was driven by the fact that I thought to be successful you must work 80 hours a week. The famous tagline “Work smarter not harder” is more relevant now than it has ever been. Flexible scheduling and allowing our employees to feel that they can achieve success personally & professionally in their lives is the key to a healthy and profitable business in 2021.

Chris Fletcher

Chris Fletcher

Co- Founder of Exp101.com