There’s more to shift work than showing up on time. The Workshift campaign is showing you how- this time with a computer game.
Can you beat an unpredictable schedule? In Workshift’s Schedule Invaders game, your character, a shift worker, has to navigate through the world of unpredictable scheduling, all while fulfilling their other responsibilities and avoiding any major hiccups.
Shift workers balance much more than showing up for work on time, all with little warning. They also have to work hard to fit in their other obligations like school, family, and staying healthy.
In this game, the blue squares help you to stay on track with your job, while the orange squares derail your schedule and freeze you for a moment. Your character aims to catch things like dinner with family, covering a friend’s shift, a doctor’s appointment, their daughter’s 4th birthday, or exercise, while avoiding things like missing the bus, oversleeping after a late shift, having to make up a test, getting a sudden illness or thunderstorms.
The game was designed as a creative tactic to show that for shift workers, sometimes no amount of work will pay off. It is nearly impossible to make a living wage with one gig, which means shift workers have to juggle multiple opportunities at a time. You can play the game here.
The Workshift campaign also continues to share the stories of shift workers, like LaShay James, a mother of four, and the problems they face.
Working with only 14 hrs/week to raise her family, LaShay is unable to take on more hours even when her retail jobs offers them because the request comes in last minute. Had she known about the hours in advance, she’d be prepare to help and to make sure her kids are taken care of.
Workshift, in partnership with the Fair Workweek Initiative, is committed to helping companies adopt fair scheduling practices so workers can have hours they can count on. The small and reasonable ask of employers to provide predictable schedules for their employees would help to create a world with more good jobs- ones based in pride, opportunity, flexibility, and stability.
for Equity & Evidence