Question: Many companies deal with aggregate scheduling by forcing overtime on their employees to adjust for the peaks of seasonal demand. For example, a recent The Wall Street Journal report on long and irregular hours in the U.S. highlights Angie Clark, a J.C. Penney supervisor in Springfield, Virginia. Clark works at least 44 hours a week, including evenings and frequent weekend shifts. Because of recent economic changes, staffers are busier than 5 years earlier, when Clark had 38 salespeople instead of the current 28. The result of this pressure is a 40% turnover. Because employee turnover is so large, training consists of the bare minimum - mostly how to operate the cash registers.
Discuss the implications of a strategy of heavy use of overtime in retailing, as well as in other fields, such as manufacturing, hospitals, and airlines. How does this U.S. approach compare to that in other countries?