In the retail, hospitality, and food service industries, employees often work long and unpredictable hours—increasingly scheduled by algorithms that analyze seasonal sales patterns, customer trends, and even the weather to determine their shifts. These algorithmic systems have come under heavy scrutiny in recent years, pressuring employers and software vendors to present workers with more choice and flexibility.

But the workers who are beholden to these automated systems tell a different story. Many of the core issues with the software are still widespread, along with a lack of transparency on its inner workings. Despite the negative attention, automated scheduling systems are affecting an increasing amount of the retail and food industry workforce—which includes roughly one in five workers in the US, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—and it’s making them miserable.

Many large retailers and restaurant chains in the U.S. and abroad have deployed software that uses a variety of data to fine-tune and automate their employee’s schedules, according to press releases, public statements, and employees interviewed by Motherboard. These systems are designed to track employees’ time and activity to cut labor costs and maximize profitability for shareholders.

"Because there isn't a way to guarantee week-to-week that I [could have] certain days off depending on what the system dictates, it makes it really hard to plan anything outside of work,” Kyle, a former full-time worker at Target, told Motherboard. Motherboard granted Kyle and other sources in this story anonymity because they feared retaliation from their employers. “As far as a social life is concerned, all of my activities became spontaneous. Planning anything for me became months and months in advance.”