Shift Messenger app eases shift management for hourly workers
A startup launched earlier this year thinks it has the solution to a problem as old as the hourly wage: finding someone to cover your shift. Shift Messenger is essentially a group messaging app, but this simple concept takes on brand new functionality when applied to a workplace that employs hourly employees.
Here’s how it works: Users must immediately search for and register with a particular workplace. Then, anyone who needs a shift covered can post the details of that shift. He or she can also add a message, such as: “I have to go to my sister’s wedding—please help!”
Shift Messenger aims to take the hassle out of shift scheduling, but it still has a few warts. Image from meddygarnet.
The messages are SMS-compatible and push to users’ devices. Anyone else from your workplace who has the app can respond, and there’s a group chat function so people can discuss shifts. A key component of Shift Messenger is the fact that it doesn’t require users to reveal their email address or phone number to the group.
While this might not sound like a big deal, it can be a critical privacy (and maybe even safety) issue at large retail or food and dining establishments that might have dozens, if not hundreds, of employees. You really don’t want that coworker who has asked you out seventeen times to suddenly have access to your real phone number.
Unlike many apps, Shift Messenger also doesn’t require users to connect to the app via their Facebook accounts, presumably for the same reasons that anyone might avoid sharing their Facebook accounts with coworkers and/or supervisors.
Shift Messenger’s interface is very stripped down and unfussy. No bells and no frills—but given the simplicity of its function, bells and frills would probably be unwelcome. The very point is, well, to get right to the point.
While Shift Messenger is in its infancy, many users received it with a “where have you been all my life?” mentality. Cubicle-dwellers with 8-5 gigs may take for granted how easy it is to contact coworkers. After all, if you’re typically all in the same place at the same time, and even if you’re a few aisles away or someone is telecommuting, most workplaces rely heavily on chat services such as Gchat to stay in constant communication.
Shift workers, on the other hand, used to have to rely on time-consuming and archaic tactics when they needed a shift covered, like individual calls and nonstop group texts of those workers whose numbers you actually have, and posting a sign on the break room wall.
The immediacy of the app makes it useful for last minute scenarios as well as future vacations. One reviewer raved on iTunes about how the app came through when an unexpected trip to the ER conflicted with a scheduled bartending shift.
Tech Crunch writer Catherine Shu speaks to the scale of the potential market, reporting that there are an estimated 500 to 600 million shift workers around the globe. Right now, Shift Messenger is only available in English and is heavily geared toward users in the U.S.—but the developers plan to expand it.
If the reviews are to be believed, supervisors are every bit as excited about Shift Messenger as the hourly employees—perhaps more so. One user wrote, “This is such a timesaver for me. It makes managing a retail store and getting shifts covered and conveying a schedule so much easier.”
That doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
When I started exploring the app, I plugged in a coffee shop near my house and found multiple listings for the same shop. That seems like a recipe for disaster, unless everyone at the store somehow manages to select the same listing.
In addition, it seems difficult to exclude a user or group of users, which can make it difficult for people to opt out of the system. Users report receiving text messages with requests to cover shifts even after deleting the app.
This glitch also creates a challenge for managers who wish to remove users who no longer work for the company. (That issue could lead to a few awkward moments.)
All in all, Shift Messenger fills a need, and most people report satisfaction with the app so far. It’s available on iTunes, where it has 4.5 stars, and at the Google Play store, where it has 4.1 stars (both out of five).
Shift Messenger was developed by Austin Vedder and Matt Tognetti, both defectors from another tech company. Y Combinator backed the app, which is free to download. The developers are considering options for monetization, including the possibility of adding “premium features geared toward supervisors, since they are ultimately responsible for making sure all shifts are adequately staffed,” writes Shu.
Perhaps the first line of business is to make sure it’s easy for those supervisors to remove users so the person they fired yesterday isn’t getting requests to cover shifts. Eek!