A Tectonic Shyft In The Labor Equation

The labor equation is about to change more drastically than it has in 50 years. Labor analysts will rejoice. And it’s all thanks to social. Billions will be saved and all parties will win, customers, employees, and employers alike. This tectonic shift is the current movement from a static to dynamic labor supply environment.

Employees in shift work environments lead dynamic lives. They are committed, hardworking, and customer focused individuals. Life comes up, and there are scenarios in which employees cannot make their shift. Unlike knowledge workers on salary, shift workers are not afforded the benefit of sick days, grievance days, etc.

That’s ok. Payment for these missed days of work are not built into the cost structure of the labor equation, nor does it need to be. The problem however is that due to this dynamic lifestyle, even with best intentions, conflicts arise which create loss events for all parties. Short notice resignations, missed shifts, and duplicate shift attendances creates loss.

At its core the labor equation is broken due to the ancient practice of bi-weekly scheduling. A bi-weekly schedule is a snapshot in time that becomes obsolete the moment it is published. It is an attempt at predicting the future. Some managers issue rigid policies that once a schedule is published, no worker may adjust it until the next bi-week period, for any reason or act of god. If the apocalypse comes, the employee better show up on time.

If shift workers are obliged to follow this schedule to perfection, they are not being considered with the same level of logic that is applied to knowledge workers, who have the freedom to make adjustments to their work schedule, as they need. To call in sick for example.

Thus shift workers are cast off as rebellious when they call in sick, miss a shift to care for a loved one, or even, as knowledge workers do, sleep through their shift.

When a manager gets frustrated at an employee no show, should they be angry with the employee, or should they be angry with the system?

A dynamic scheduling environment represents an evolution in labor supply management that will resolve this issue.

A schedule is a function of supply and demand. An employee’s supply of available hours, and a manager’s demand for hours worked. A bi-weekly schedule is a two week prediction of supply and demand. If the prediction is accurate, there is no loss. If the prediction is inaccurate, loss occurs. Implementing technology which would enable both of these parties to adjust supply and demand in real time will remove the word ‘prediction’, and essentially remove loss.

So how do we tackle such an undertaking? Afterall we are not yet in an era where intelligent scheduling bots can, on a human’s behalf, predict their upcoming availability to perfection, and marry that to an intelligent prediction in real time labor demand. For now it starts with a conversation. A conversation between supply and demand where we can begin to address a movement towards real time efficiency.

At Shyft we are laying the foundation for this conversation to occur. Social is the key. For years this conversation has been taking place in a social environment not built to resolve the magnitude if this problem. Rebel communities have formed on Facebook, WhatsApp, and other consumer social networks, where employees have taken it on their shoulders to create a more real time supply environment. Thousands of retail location specific shift swapping groups exist on Facebook today.

Global scheduling software providers don’t understand social, or don’t understand its significance. They are strictly demand side oriented. Systems which today are used to predict biweekly labor environments treat social as an afterthought, a final bell and whistle to be added because employees request it.

Social, however, is how we bridge the gap. Building a system in which social, the voice of the supply side, is merged with scheduling, the voice of the demand side, will create an ecosystem where the labor equation can evolve to a much higher level of optimization. Removing these gaps between predicted supply and predicted demand will create billions in global efficiency.

At Shyft we are passionate about solving this problem. We are passionate about enabling shift workers to lead self managed work lives with flexible hours. We are passionate about eliminating stress for managers, who will avoid stepping in to work shifts created by short notice resignations. We are passionate about enabling businesses to employ smaller, highly optimized, national labor forces. We are passionate about a future where bots predict real time labor supply and demand to perfection, and we are working hard to make that our new reality.

Brett Patrontasch is the CEO of Shyft. Shyft is an app that helps make lives easier for the 250 million global shift workers who do not work in a desktop environment. Check the app out https://bnc.lt/SHYFT

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