Utmost Makes Engaging On-Demand, Critical-Impact Shift Workers Seamless

Shift workers and the organizations that engage them have a unique set of needs often overlooked by traditional vendor management systems (VMS). There are complexities when it comes to time entry, approval, billing, engagement, and management that require a different, purpose-built approach.

Finding, attracting, and filling shift work has always been challenging, especially in the light industrial, high-volume verticals. No shows, high turnover, and wage fluctuation historically made this workforce feel unpredictable. This impacts production, project deadlines, and ultimately, the bottom line of organizations who rely on this workforce to deliver on critical projects. 

Companies that employ shift workers in healthcare, security, retail, hospitality, transportation, and media all face similar challenges finding qualified contingent labor via traditional staffing methods and would benefit from additional talent channels. 

In addition to finding workers, tracking ongoing safety training, licensures, certifications, and other critical documentation is critical. Because of this, the need for an extended workforce system (EWS) is becoming a must-have. 

Challenges of an on-demand, dynamic workforce

There have also been limited quality measurements available for shift workers making it difficult for hiring managers to evaluate them, give feedback on a candidate, view previous performance evaluations, or re-engage workers that have performed well. 

Candidate experience and engagement have also been lacking. Often, candidates applying for shift work through traditional methods have no idea which organization they are applying to, leaving them unengaged and uncommitted. Add to that insufficient time entry, management, and billing, all of which contribute to a poor candidate experience.

Finally, companies (specifically in the healthcare industry) regularly host volunteers, students, residents, and fellows who may also be employees in the system, so employees have a primary assignment in one department and a secondary assignment as a contingent worker to a different department. Traditional VMSs cannot maintain and track such complexities and do not allow for total workforce visibility into such a dynamic workforce.

Why Utmost Extended Workforce System (EWS)?

To date, there has been no solution to manage this population in an agile, scalable way. A lack of a centralized platform makes it difficult to attract or re-engage quality workers, and there’s not been the visibility to do so effectively. 

Often, shift workers are being brought in on a contingent basis to fill gaps that exist with full-time employees. Research shows that “32% of organizations are replacing full-time employees with contingent workers as a cost-saving measure,” and that more than 80 percent of large corporations are planning on substantially increasing their use of a flexible workforce in the coming years to take advantage of greater flexibility. The need to account for all workers -- be it full-time, contract, SOW, freelance, gig worker, independent contractor, and others -- is crucial. 

Utmost provides organizations who engage shift workers:

• A worker-centric platform that allows organizations to communicate effectively, keeping shift workers happy and engaged:
• • For example, in Utmost, organizations have the ability to send out mass notifications to workers’ SMS based on the mobile number on file for the worker in case of an emergency like, "Hurricane is coming, offices are closed until further notice, contact your manager/supplier if you have any questions." 
• Data ownership by the worker:
  • Workers can upload critical safety forms directly (i.e., a valid CPR certification), and hiring managers can view progress by worker, by location.
  • A scalable solution for remote work in a multinational, multi-country business model, to confirm safety requirements are met.
  • Contact information, emergency contact, and any worker custom fields a company may have can be updated by the worker. 
• Reduction of rogue spend by capturing all work and worker requests in a single centralized place.
• Visibility into the entire workforce, allowing for real-time, business critical decision making.
• The ability to handle complex rate cards and rate calculations, and provide invoicing.
• Risk mitigation by proactively tracking compliance issues and providing remediation options and audit history.
• Automation of on/offboarding and enterprise-wide reporting.
• Dual-classification support of multiple assignments/engagements.
• Decrease costs by providing visibility of all shift workers and by automating key processes and reporting.

With the talent shortage for critical shift work engagements, the time is now to efficiently manage this part of the workforce in an agile and scalable way. If you want more detail about how Utmost is solving for the complexities of shift workers across all industries, please contact sales@utmost.co.