NOVEMBER 2015
PROFILE OF
THE HOURLY WORKER
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
DEM O G R A PHI C S, DE V ICES
AND D ISC O N NE C T IO N
Presented By Red e App and Edison Research
More than half
of all people working
in the U.S. make an
hourly wage.
As of 2014, hourly workers make
up 56.7 percent of the United States
workforce1. Think about that for
a moment. More than half of all
people working in the U.S. make an
hourly wage. That’s 77.2 million
workers aged 16 and up.
Yet there is little data to be found
about the hourly worker. The U.S.
Census publishes a total number
of hourly workers and breaks that
number down by very broad age
characteristics, full-time vs. parttime, public vs. private sector
and race. But that’s all.
The segment is so ignored that even the monthly
unemployment report doesn’t categorize the workforce
by salary vs. hourly. The U.S. Department of Labor recognizes
them only in an annual report on minimum wage workers.
To understand the majority of laborers in the United States,
we are left to guess.
Until now.
At Red e App, a platform built for companies to
communicate with hourly and non-desk workers,
we saw great need for a better understanding of this
overlooked segment of the labor force. To better build
solutions for the disconnected worker — those who are
without company email but still need real-time technology
solutions for communication and collaboration in the
1
2
U.S. Department of Labor, Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers 2014 www.bls.gov/opub/reports/cps/characteristics-of-minimum-wage-workers-2014.pdf
Profile of the Hourly Worker
enterprise — Red e App needed to understand who that
worker was, how they worked, how they communicated
and what gaps they saw in their relationships with
their employers.
As a result, Red e App commissioned Edison Research, long
known for its unquestioned quality in surveying and polling
audiences, to, for the first time, dive deep into understanding
the hourly worker. The resulting research opens our eyes to
who these 77 million-plus laborers are, how they are
characterized, how they are communicated with and how
they view their jobs. This Profile of the Hourly Worker creates
an understanding for government, corporations, employers
and employees about almost 60 percent of the American
workforce. This information will create stronger relationships
and better communication paths.
Profile of the Hourly Worker is a first step. Analyzing
data and using that knowledge to improve labor conditions,
employee communications, enterprise use of technology
and worker satisfaction should be the resulting next one.
The insights here will help guide companies — enterprise,
small and everywhere in between — toward better
relationships, communications and results when training,
nurturing and communicating with hourly workers.
Use this report as an immersion point. Soak up the
information and insights included here to broaden your
understanding of your own workforce. Look for weaknesses
in your organization, operations and communications, and
seek solutions for them, because the questions and concerns
raised in this report affect well more than half of our labor
force. And positively impacting that segment can only spell
good for our market, our workforce and our business.
PROFILE OF
THE HOURLY WORKER
We know that 56.7 percent of the U.S.
workforce is paid hourly. Beyond that,
we know little. Assumptions might tell us
that they work at or near the poverty level,
that they aren’t well educated or perhaps
even that many of them hold more than
one job.
But assumptions aren’t worthwhile
when making business decisions. Facts
are. And the data uncovered about the
hourly workforce, surveyed for and broadly
reported upon here for the first time, is
what can wisely guide business leaders,
human resources managers and
communications decision-makers.
Methodology
Red e App commissioned Edison Research to conduct an
online survey of full-time or part-time hourly wage earners.
In total, 1,099 online interviews were conducted between
Aug. 14 and 19, 2015. The resulting data was weighted by
gender and race to match U.S. Census hourly worker
demographics. The data was then weighted by education
to match U.S. Census data on full-time and part-time workers.
The result is what is believed to be the first independent,
quantitative survey of American hourly workers.
3
Profile of the Hourly Worker
e
Sample
Demographics
(Employment)
l-t
im
e
EMPLOYMENT
Par
t-t
im
30%
Fu
Demographic Insights
We can begin by understanding that our sample is largely
representative of the U.S. population. Core demographics
are merely confirmation of that and do not generally lead to
“ah-ha” moments. The demographic profile of the hourly
worker is an even 50/50 split between men and women
and matches full-time vs. part-time differences (70/30).
It is also representative of the U.S. population racially,
but then we begin to see distinctions.
l
Asian/Other
African-American
5%
Hispanic/Latino
15%
ETHNICITY
13%
Sample
Demographics
(Ethnicity)
67%
4
Profile of the Hourly Worker
70%
White
DEMOGRAPHIC INSIGHTS
5%
15%
4
20%
Arts & Entertainment
4%
19%
17
%
Government
24%
35 – 4 4
3
Transportation
18 –
24
Sample
Demographics
(Age Distribution)
%
%
65+
25 – 34
A higher percentage of almost every age group
(when compared to the U.S. population as a whole)
are hourly workers, but that is easily dismissed, as
the general population figure also includes retirees
and others who are not a part of the workforce.
– 54
45
55
AGE DISTRIBUTION
4
–6
17%
Other
6%
Tech & Telecommunications
7%
Hospitality/Food & Beverage
Sample
Demographics
(Industry)
10%
INDUSTRY
13%
Retail
Education
13%
11
%
Professional Services/
Banking/Financial
Healthcare
12%
Construction/
Manufacturing/Logistics
5
Profile of the Hourly Worker
Retail and professional/banking/financial services
were both leading industries for hourly workers with
13 percent of the sample. They were followed by
construction/manufacturing/logistics (12 percent),
healthcare (11 percent), education (10 percent)
and hospitality/food and beverage (7 percent).
HOURLY WORKERS ARE
LOYAL AND EDUCATED
Advanced Degree
Such as MA, MBA, or PhD
18%
EDUCATION
Contrary to what many may believe, the
majority of hourly workers are well-educated.
In fact, 45 percent of the hourly workforce has
at least a four-year college degree. Eighteen
percent have advanced degrees. Just a little
over 25 percent have a high school
diploma or less.
Some Graduate
Credits
6%
21%
Four Year
College Degree
27%
High School
or Less
Sample
Demographics
(Education)
28%
One to Three
Years of College
6
Profile of the Hourly Worker
HOURLY WORKERS ARE LOYAL AND EDUCATED
For those who believe that the hourly workforce is a
high-turnover workforce, they might be surprised to learn
that, generally speaking, the hourly worker is a loyal one.
Sixty-three percent of hourly workers have been with
their current company for more than two years.
Forty percent have been with their current
employer for more than five years, and
20 percent have worked with them
for 10 years or more.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN
WITH YOUR CURRENT COMPANY?
11%
20
%
Less Than Six Months
Ten Years or More
11%
Six Months to < One Year
15%
20%
One Year to < 2 Years
5 Years to < 10 Years
23%
2 Years to < 5 Years
7
Profile of the Hourly Worker
HOURLY WORKERS ARE LOYAL AND EDUCATED
As we expected, the industry with the least amount of loyalty
was restaurants, with 29 percent of hourly worker tenure at less
than six months. Both schools or universities and healthcare
industries showed higher than average long-term tenures.
(Across all industries, 39 percent of hourly workers reported
a tenure of five years or more.) In the education segment,
58 percent of hourly workers have been with their current
company for more than five years. For healthcare, that
longevity measured at 55 percent.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN
WITH YOUR CURRENT COMPANY?
(INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN)
School or University
9%
Healthcare
9%
Factory/Manufacturing/
Construction Site
6%
9%
10%
13%
7%
18%
10%
6%
8%
22%
16%
25%
14%
28%
13%
< 6 months
36%
30%
17%
30%
6 months – < 1 yr
22%
23%
1 yr – < 2 yrs
19%
2 yrs – < 5 yrs
Retail Store
12%
Restaurant
20%
12%
16%
0%
Profile of the Hourly Worker
16%
29%
Home
8
16%
21%
17%
20%
22%
15%
22%
40%
14%
11%
25%
60%
12%
80%
5 yrs – < 10 yrs
12%
10+ years
8%
100%
SAMPLE DEMOGRAPHICS(INCOME)
Still, 14 percent have a household income of less than
$25,000 per year, which is just north of the $23,000 poverty
line for a two adult, two children home.
More than half of hourly workers have household
incomes of $50,000 or more. The data shows 26 percent
live in households that earn more than $75,000 per year,
while 11 percent report living in households that earn
$100,000 or more.
11%
$100,000 or More
3%
Refused
2%
Less than $10,000
12%
$10,000 — $24,999
15%
$75,000 — $99,999
DO YOU HAVE
MORE THAN ONE JOB?
32%
$25,000 — $49,999
17%
YES
25%
$50,000 — $74,999
Despite the income challenges for some, 83 percent of
hourly workers maintain just one job. By industry, only hotel
workers stood out as multiple job holders, with 27.2 percent
reporting that they hold more than one job.
NO
83%
9
Profile of the Hourly Worker
13%
WORK
ENVIRONMENT
Other
2%
Healthcare in Patients’ Homes
4%
Other Health Care Facility
4%
Hospital
5
%
Restaurant
8
39%
Is Your Primary
Work Environment
A(n) ...?
(Base: Work Outside the Home)
%
School or University
HOURLY WORKERS
ARE PREDOMINANTLY
MOBILE
Where the data gets really interesting is when you break it
down by the work environment. When you think of hourly
workers, you often think of retail environments, restaurants
and even factories. Yet almost 40 percent of hourly workers
call the office their primary work environment. Retail
accounts for 14 percent of the total work environments,
while 11 percent say they work in factories, manufacturing
facilities or constructions sites.
10
Work Environment
11%
Factory/Manufacturing/
Construction Site
14%
Retail Store
Despite the surprising number of hourly workers who call an
office their primary work environment, 60 percent of hourly
workers do not. This often means they are not connected to
their company via the standard means of electronic
communications — namely email.
IS MOST OF YOUR TIME AT WORK
SPENT INDOORS, OUTDOORS OR
IN A CAR OR TRUCK?
A MOBILE WORK
ENVIRONMENT =
DISCONNECTION
3%
12%
Car or Truck
Outdoors
For some, connectivity issues are a symptom of being
part of a truly mobile workforce, with 15 percent of hourly
workers saying that they mainly work outdoors or out of
their vehicles. Almost 30 percent say their job regularly
requires them to spend time in a car or truck. Not only
is this workforce segment disconnected, it is also
forced to be mobile on company time.
85%
Indoors
11
Work Environment
9%
10%
500 +
EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
IS A STRUGGLE
NO MATTER
THE NUMBER
OF EMPLOYEES
And the problems of the hourly worker affect the largest
companies in the enterprise. Ten percent of the hourly
worker population works at locations with 500 or more
employees. Additionally, 38 percent of the hourly workforce
polled reported working at locations with more than 100
employees. Yet these companies account for just 20.9
percent of all establishments in the U.S.2
You Work Alone
8%
300– 499
27%
How Many
Employees Work In
The Same Location
As You?
20%
100– 299
13%
50 –9 9
2– 24
13%
25–4 9
The challenges of the hourly worker — communications,
operations, logistics, compliance, job satisfaction — are,
by definition, the challenges of the enterprise. The nation’s
largest companies should be compelled to embrace their
workforce to improve their own efficiencies.
2
12
U.S. Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses Employment and Payroll Summary www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/econ/g12-susb.pdf
Work Environment
HOURLY WORKERS ARE
CONNECTED AND TECH-SAVVY
TECHNOLOGY AND THE HOURLY WORKER
DEVICE OWNERSHIP
% owning a device
As Red e App is a communications solution for
the hourly worker, we were keenly interested in
how this majority segment of the workforce uses
technology. Not surprising to us, but perhaps to
others, the hourly worker is a technologically
savvy, well-connected individual. More than
8 in 10 hourly workers carry smartphones.
Almost 7 in 10 own some sort of tablet.
100%
80%
84%
69%
60%
40%
20%
0%
13
Technology & the Hourly Worker
Smartphone
Tablet
Of those who access the Internet, 72 percent do so via a smartphone while
57 percent do so using their tablets. And 28 percent said a mobile device
is the primary way they access the Web.
DEVICES USED
TO ACCESS THE INTERNET
DEVICES USED MOST OFTEN
TO ACCESS THE INTERNET
% accessing internet via device
measured by percent
100%
80%
80%
96%
70%
60%
72%
60%
50%
57 %
40%
72%
40%
30%
20%
20%
19%
10%
0%
0%
Desktop or Laptop
Computer
14
Mobile Phone
Technology & the Hourly Worker
Tablet
Desktop or Laptop
Computer
Mobile Phone
9%
Tablet
HOURLY WORKERS
ARE DISCONNECTED
FROM CORPORATE
DESKTOPS AND
APPLICATIONS
HOW MUCH OF YOUR
TYPICAL WORKDAY IS SPENT USING A
DESKTOP OR LAPTOP COMPUTER FOR
YOUR WORK RESPONSIBILITIES?
% of non-desk workers
While we noted before that almost 40 percent of
hourly workers consider an office their primary work
environment, 53 percent say half or less of their workday
is spent using a desktop or laptop computer for their
work responsibilities. Of the 51 percent of hourly
workers whose primary work environment is not
an office, the percentage who spend half or
less of their day on a computer
rises to 79.3 percent.
12%
Almost All of
Your Workday
9%
37%
More Than Half
of Your Workday
But Not All
None of Your
Workday
13%
About Half of
Your Workday
29%
Less than Half of Your Workday
15
Technology & the Hourly Worker
IS THERE DIGITAL
ACCESS TO HOURLY
EMPLOYEES?
HOW MUCH OF YOUR
TYPICAL WORKDAY IS SPENT USING A
TABLET OR MOBILE DEVICE FOR YOUR
WORK RESPONSIBILITIES?
If this workforce is generally not using a computer
for work responsibilities, surely they are communicating
with their co-workers and the organization they work for
with smartphones and tablets, right? Wrong. More than
half of hourly workers say they don’t use those devices
professionally at all during their typical workday.
Only 19 percent say they use them for more
than half or almost all of their workday.
10%
Almost all of
your workday
THIS RAISES THE QUESTIONS:
More than half of your
workday but not all
How are hourly workers staying connected
to the company?
How is a company, particularly a company
with larger numbers of employees,
efficiently communicating with
the hourly employee?
52%
None of
your workday
10%
About half of
your workday
19%
By modern methods, according to
the data, they generally are not.
16
Technology & the Hourly Worker
9%
Less than half
of your workday
SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE
INDICATES INTEREST IN COMMUNICATION
But don’t think the hourly worker isn’t a communicator.
Like most in the U.S. population, the hourly worker is
a user of social media sites, which are primarily used to
communicate with friends and family. Reports show 8 in
10 hourly workers are on Facebook. Almost half are on
Twitter and Instagram. Even 32 percent used LinkedIn,
which is often leveraged by those looking for
different employment.
More than half of the hourly workers who use
Facebook do so several times per day, with 79 percent
using it at least daily. Twitter (68 percent) and Instagram
(71 percent) also rate as daily use sites for the majority
of hourly workers who use them.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU USE … ?
Several Times Per Day
SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE
Facebook
81%
Facebook
45%
42%
38%
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Tumblr
0%
20%
Instagram
40%
31%
60%
80%
100%
31%
26%
49%
27%
20%
30%
41%
29%
43%
0%
29%
26%
30%
24%
32%
61%
44%
Vine
21%
53%
20%
What's App
40%
26%
19%
Tumblr
%
Vine
29%
Snapchat
24
23%
What's App
39%
21%
Once A Week or Less
27%
Twitter
LinkedIn
32
28%
25%
Snapchat
52%
Pinterest
%
LinkedIn
About Once Per Day
40%
60%
80%
100%
Base: Have used each
17
Technology & the Hourly Worker
TEXT MESSAGING
IS A RISKY AND
CUMBERSOME
CHANNEL
12%
VER
NE
LES
S
ONC THA
E
WE PE N
EK R
11%
RAL
VE
SE
But if direct communications methods are
best, text messaging rates better than email.
Half of hourly workers use text messaging several
times per day for both work-related and personal
communication. The usage is at 77 percent for those
who at least use it several times per week. Only 12
percent say they never use text messaging for
work and personal communications.
IN YOUR DAILY LIFE,
HOW FREQUENTLY DO YOU USE TEXT
MESSAGING FOR … ?
TIMES PER
DA
Y
SEVER
AL
TI
M
E
S
27
%
18
Technology & the Hourly Worker
PE
R
WE
EK
50%
7%
COMPLIANCE
AND SECURITY RISKS
ER
AL
IM
T
18%
Oft
en
38%
es
This opens their companies
up to dozens of liabilities,
from compensation and
intellectual property
issues to compliance and
security risks.
HOW OFTEN DO
YOU USE YOUR PERSONAL
EMAIL ADDRESS FOR
WORK COMMUNICATION?
e ti m
50%
If that isn’t concerning enough,
42 percent of hourly workers say they use
their personal email account for work
communication either sometimes or often.
R WE
EK
m
YES
37
%
PE
So
NO
ES
R are
ly
20%
19
Companies at Risk
41%
Neve
r
50%
S
SEV
IN YOUR DAILY LIFE,
HOW FREQUENTLY DO YOU
USE EMAIL FOR GENERAL
COMMUNICATION?
But only half of hourly workers
have an email account provided
by their employer.
DO YOU HAVE AN
EMAIL ADDRESS PROVIDED
BY YOUR EMPLOYER?
ER
NEV
LE
ON SS T
C H
W EP
EE
N
A R
E
K
TIMES PER DAY
AL
ER
EV
Email is used by the hourly worker several times
per day for general communication, including
both work- and non-work-related topics.
15%
24%
LACK OF
CORPORATE OVERSIGHT, CONTROL
AND MEASUREMENT
Amplifying these risks for companies, 37 percent of hourly
employees say their company typically communicates new
policies and procedures to them via their personal email
account. And 25 percent say they receive policy and
procedure information via text message. The icing on the
risk assessment cake? Sixteen percent say their company
communicates policies and procedures to them via
Facebook groups.
Adding to the company risk factors, 13 percent of hourly
workers indicated that they request time off or shift changes
via personal email; 15 percent do so via text message,
and 6 percent do so via a Facebook group. Doing so in these
non-secure, personal channels leaves companies without
oversight, documentation or control.
DO YOU EVER REQUEST TIME OFF OR
SHIFT CHANGES VIA … ?
DOES YOUR COMPANY TYPICALLY
COMMUNICATE NEW POLICIES AND
PROCEDURES TO YOU VIA …
% saying yes
% saying yes
80
48
In-person
30
Request Form
%
79
25
Phone
60
%
19
Company Email
52
40%
44
41
40
15
Text Message
37
26
20%
13
Personal Email
25
16
6
Facebook Group
Companies at Risk
ok
G
ro
up
sa
ge
M
es
l
Te
xt
al
M
ai
st
Po
rs
o
st
ed
na
lE
Si
m
ai
l
gn
e
Ph
on
Po
Fa
ce
bo
20
Pe
Co
m
I
m n-P
un e
ic rso
at n
io
W
n
ri
tt
en
M
em
o
Co
m
pa
ny
Em
ai
l
0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
CONCLUSION
21
So, what have we learned? The hourly workforce does
look slightly different than we perhaps assumed. Perhaps
they strike you as better educated? Higher household
income earners? Better connected? Longer tenured?
The initial signals from our research are clear, however:
Companies are not providing safe, secure and measurable
methods of communications to their hourly employees. This
exposes them to compliance, security and even legal risk.
But we also see clear concerns when it comes to how
companies communicate, empower and perhaps value their
hourly workers. Certainly, the data presented here is just
the beginning of a series of explorations into this study by
Red e App. In future reports, we will uncover more about
the nature of the relationship an hourly employee has
with his or her company, supervisor and more.
For a free assessment of your company’s hourly workforce
communications, contact us at Red e App. We will help you
connect with and empower your disconnected workforce
in a method that provides safety, security, compliance,
measurement and accountability for you and
your employees.
Profile of the Hourly Worker
ABOUT
Red e App
Edison Research
Red e App provides a private and secure internal
communications platform that connects companies
with their hourly, front-line employees and those
without company email access. Red e App is focused
on building a communication platform that is beneficial
for enterprise business departments such as operations,
human resources, risk management, and communication
teams who need a unified and dedicated communication
channel to reach every single employee. Red e App
is available on iOS, Android, and web browsers.
Edison Research conducts survey research and
provides strategic information to a broad array of
clients, including Activision, AMC Theatres, Disney,
Dolby Laboratories, Google, NPR, Oracle, the U.S.
International Broadcasting Bureau, Pandora, Samsung,
Siemens, Sony, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,
The Gates Foundation, and Univision. Another specialty
for Edison is its work for media companies throughout
the world, conducting research in North America, South
America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Edison
Research is the sole provider of election exit poll data
for the National Election Pool comprised of ABC, CBS,
CNN, FOX, NBC and the Associated Press. Edison is
also the leading provider of consumer exit polling
and has conducted face-to-face research in
almost every imaginable venue.
For more information, visit our website redeapp.com.
All of Edison Research’s industry studies can be found
on the company’s website at edisonresearch.com
and can be downloaded free of charge.
22
Profile of the Hourly Worker