McFamilies
by Duncan O'Leary
Interesting news - McDonald's is introducing a pilot scheme which will allow two members of the same family to cover each other's shifts without having to give any prior notice to management. Apparently, if the pilots are successful (which apparently they have been so far), it may be extended to beyond families to friends working in the same place.
This is the kind of thing that happens in people's personal lives the whole time - 'would you mind doing the shopping/picking the kids up today?' etc etc, so it will be worth watching whether it migrates successfully to the workplace. I guess it will also be worth seeing whether employment legislation will be able to cope with this level of informality/flexibility.