Lowe’s 4-day workweeks are accepted after employee complaints

• Lowe’s employees have long protested the company’s scheduling policies.
• They describe workplaces with low morale and difficulty maintaining work-life balance.
• The retailer’s latest response includes giving employees the option to come in four days a week.

After years of hearing complaints from employees about a “chaotic” scheduling system, Lowe’s is offering its full-time sales associates the option to work a four-day week.

Lowe’s staff has long blamed the scheduling problem on what they say is low morale among the troops. They say the home improvement giant is ruining weekends and disrupting work-life balance by scheduling work hours.

But now the company is making reforms, including four-day work weeks, he said.

“Based on recent feedback, last week we began offering most full-time associates the option to schedule a four-day work week that preserves their hours,” a Lowe’s spokesperson told Insider. “Most of our full-time partners get consecutive days off.”

A spokeswoman said the latest changes come as they continue to provide staff with “greater flexibility in their work schedules and consistent superior customer service”.

“We respect our colleagues’ hard work and recognize that they have unique and dynamic work-life needs,” the spokesperson said.

The retailer has seen impressive sales throughout the pandemic as customers look to upgrade their homes. But since then, growth has slowed, and some workers have begun to raise the alarm over working conditions.

Insider spoke with six Lowe’s employees from various stores about what they say are ongoing problems with the programming system. Insider confirmed the employees’ employment, requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation. Insider spoke with the staff ahead of Lowe’s latest announcement.

They said that since Lowe started using a software program called Chronos to algorithmize his work hours — and despite an attempt to improve the schedule last year — there was a widespread perception that it was rare for him to take an entire weekend off work.

In the year In 2019, Lowe’s began switching from a four-week rotation that gives employees a weekend each month to a system known as “customer-oriented scheduling” that gives them a weekend off every eight weeks. That same year, Insider interviewed 17 current and former Lowe’s employees from 14 states. The schedule, which means more non-consecutive days off, hurts morale, he said.

One Florida employee recently told Insider, “Days off are every Monday and then Friday and then every Tuesday and then Thursday. “And it rotates. So you know when your vacation days are coming up every month and it’s constantly changing, but you know what they’re going to be.”

After receiving feedback from employees, Lowe improved the system in 2021. In 2019, we introduced a new scheduling program that allows associates to request regular shifts, and last year we offered more weekends, the spokesperson said.

But workers say they sometimes had to work six days straight to get a respectable Saturday and Sunday.

“Your personal life is hostage,” the Florida employee told Insider, “because you get one day off every six days.” Then you work two or three days, have a break, and then work five or six days straight. Then you get your two days. Most of the time, however, was spent doing physical, emotional, and mental recovery.

As of last week, Lowes has been overhauling the system.

“Chaotic” system

In interviews, workers said they were burned out from long work weeks and struggled to accomplish tasks such as going to the gym, cleaning the house, and even grocery shopping during their time off.

One long-time employee described the scheduling system as “messy” for employees and managers, “making it difficult to maintain a work-life balance.” Workers said that the situation was aggravated by the lack of manpower in their stores.

“Sometimes three to four rooms are empty for several hours during the workday,” said the longtime employee. “Normally, anyone in the department or in the place – such as the installer – there are at least an hour or more gaps.”

They said that the arrangement has made off-duty planning difficult and stressful. They described a system where in-store management was cut off from providing much assistance.

“Everybody’s tired,” said one worker. “We all just want some consistency.”