A Note from Shyft CEO Brett Patrontasch
It’s always exciting to share product updates with the community. This year the Shyft team has been hard at work bringing to life a vision we have held for the last few years. In 2017, Shyft transitioned from a B2C company focused on user growth for hourly workers to a B2B company focused on serving enterprise customers in retail and supply chain verticals. Since inception, we have always been dedicated to crafting the most intuitive user experiences to the benefit of shift workers around the world. We have proven that when you build consumer style technology for the enterprise, hourly associates adopt it quickly, which creates benefits for them and the companies for which they work.
We are delighted to share our upcoming product release, Shyft 3.0, with our customers and friends. The Shyft 3.0 framework represents a culmination of our industry knowledge and lays the foundation for the future of mobile workforce management. The new version will be available for download after this year’s holiday peak in Q1 2021.
Over the years, we have been asked by customers to build a variety of different features in product categories that relate to workforce management. These categories include shift marketplace, team communication, time & attendance, task management, pay access, and more. We are pleased to share that all of this functionality will now be possible over time with our new framework. Let’s dig in.
Schedules
Calendar views and shift cards rest at the center of the Shyft 3.0 user experience. The calendar is the body of the car and the shift card is the engine. Both follow a principle of simplifying and merging functionality, giving users everything they need to manage their work life and shift schedules, all in one place.
Calendar Views
We have combined three popular components of the Shyft application: the shift marketplace, user schedules, and availability. These three components are now housed in one simple calendar with macro and micro filtering options.
We have introduced sortable ‘views’ within the calendar. Views enable users to sort and compare shifts they are working, shifts they may want to pick up from another coworker, and their ongoing availability. Users can choose to simply view their schedule, or enable the marketplace view to see which shifts are available on a particular day they may want to work.
Shift Cards
Shift cards were previously static and informed a user of the start time and end time of their shift. Associates would get push notification reminders 1 hour prior to their shift start time. Shift cards now host a wealth of data related to anything a worker would need to know about their shift.
Shifts cards now support updates, segments, tasks, messages, clock punches, and call offs. Each of these components can also host multimedia. Managers are able to post an announcement for the day that lives on a specific shift card, or leave tasks for an associate with image or video files attached. Tasks and segments can be uploaded to Shyft through our open API from any system.
Best of all, when a shift is exchanged with another team member in the marketplace, all of the shift data transfers with it. If tasks or media files were assigned to shifts, they are transferred to the new owner.
Roster Cards
Roster cards aggregate daily scheduled information in one place. All data that an individual user can see on their own shift card, is now aggregated in a view for managers. Managers can open a daily roster card, browse which associates are scheduled that day, and review work statuses such as ‘clocked-in’, ‘starting soon’, or ‘absent’. They can also tap into an associate shift card to access detailed information about a specific shift.
Shift Marketplace
The shift marketplace has always been the core of the Shyft product, and we have made it better. Scheduling for hourly associates has evolved over the last few years. Shyft has created real-time flexible schedules and introduced a new model of mass broadcast, self-selected baseline schedules for hourly workers.
Multiple Applicants
One primary enhancement in the marketplace is that multiple applicants can now apply to cover shifts, and multiple applicants can be approved directly on shift cards. Previously, Shyft offered a 1-to-1 first come first served selection process for covering shifts. We have changed this to a 1-to-many environment, enabling multiple shift applications to be viewed in one place.
Bulk Shift Approvals
While associates broadcast a single shift in which multiple applicants can apply, managers can broadcast large collections of shifts and receive applications. Large operations that use Shyft for self-selected scheduling, can broadcast up to 5,000 shifts at once and view all applicants on the same shift card, with several sorting and filtering options available. Bulk approval options enable managers to select and approve hundreds of applicants at a time.
Public Comments & Private Messaging
Communication on shift cards has been enhanced. Two separate communication functions are now available on shift cards for separate use cases. Public commenting, a Shyft staple, is still available. Posters and following parties can broadcast public shift descriptions and manage public replies on shift cards. We have also introduced private shift messaging. Whenever an associate applies for a shift, a private chat room between the poster, coverer, and site admins is created on the shift card to manage conversations about skills, training, or shift logistics.
Record Keeping
One key advantage is that all of the above data is logged on each shift card, and follows the shift card between swaps for record keeping. This helps track who posted shifts, why they were posted, who covered, and who approved. If the shift is then broadcasted again for exchange in the marketplace, an audit trail tracks the shift origin helping companies manage compliance.
Team Communication
Following a similar theme of simplifying experiences, several enhancements have been made to improve the communication section of the application. The Shyft inbox and channels list have been merged into a singular Community tab to easily access the most relevant and recent team communications.
Team Channels
Team and corporate channels are places where teams can communicate and companies can post content to their employees. Channels keep people together to review operations, policies, and team building events. Corporate channels are a way for companies to reach thousands of associates with content posts. Channel enhancements include comments and threaded replies.
Multimedia
A variety of multimedia posting options have been added to the application. Users can now upload content in forms that include text, image, video, links, PDF, and surveys. These communication tools are useful for sharing general company information, training materials, and standard operating procedures at the workplace.
Multi-User Chat
Users can participate in team channels, group channels, direct messages, and now multi-user chat messages, to stay connected with their team. Multi-user chat rooms of 3 – 8 people also form the foundation of the private shift messaging experience on shift cards.
Read Receipts & Reactions
Shyft read receipts and emoji reactions are now available. Managers can post announcements and track read receipts to be sure which associates have reviewed content. Team members can share custom emoji reactions to respond to content in a way that builds team personality and workplace morale.
Configuration
A variety of configuration options are available for all social features in the Shyft application. This includes enabling or disabling various forms of team communication including channels, direct messaging, comments, and reactions. Communication features can also be geofenced to work sites to ensure team members are at work while using these features.
Making Lives Better for Shift Workers
As always, with every line of code we write and with every feature we design, we do it for the hourly worker. Our mission since day one has been to make lives better for shift workers around the world. We have so far succeeded in helping workers exchange millions of shifts, supported by tens of millions of social interactions. We are hopeful that new improvements in Shyft 3.0 will continue to support hard-working frontline team members earn more money and enjoy improved schedule flexibility in their lives.
