Why we built it
Red e App recently released a powerful new shift planning feature that makes managers and employees lives exponentially easier.
We have been ecstatic about the creative and powerful ways companies have told us they were able to leverage Red e App to deliver different types of messages across their organizations. In order to evolve Red e App even further as an essential workforce tool, we met with frontline employees and employers to determine gaps they have in their lines of communication.
What we learned
Schedules and shifts are extremely inefficient. Many of users of Red e App are employees that work hourly shifts. Those workers have different levels of permissions to trade shifts with coworkers, for a myriad of reasons.
Here’s an example scenario:
Marcus wants to see his daughter’s play, which conflicts with his Thursday afternoon shift. So as he enters the office on Monday morning, he inquires if anyone wants to work the Thursday afternoon shift in his place and hopes someone hears him and is willing to cover.
Other antiquated and inefficient methods of exchanging shifts have included:
- Posting a note on the bulletin board in the break room
- Posting a message to a “private” Facebook group
- Tweeting (to the world) to ask if anyone wants to pick it up
- Physically coming into work and signing up on a booklet or paper
Haris doesn’t mind picking up some extra work so he agrees to take Marcus’s shift.
These methods, although inefficient, could work in theory, until a manager realizes Haris has already worked a large amount of overtime hours and rejects the shift. Then Marcus has to start from square one and repeat the process all over again to find a colleague to cover his shift.
The Solution
Red e App Shifts
- Employee posts a shift or requests to pick up a shift.
- The manager reviews the request and approves or denies it.
- All parties are notified when a shift swap is approved or denied.
- Again, all of this occurs on their smartphones. Simple as that.
Who wins?
Everyone!
Employees are happy for the convenience. They want to pick up extra shifts and find someone to work for them when they’re not available. With Red e App, they can do this in real-time and off-site.
Managers love the ability for added oversight and accountability into shift swapping. They can review employee requests to swap shifts, and keep overtime hours within budget. Bottom line, managers can easily know who is working when.
The organization can monitor the time-saved and productivity increase. Employees are empowered to post and swap shifts in a secure and accessible method. Employees and managers no longer have to use a manual board or public social channels.
