Log On; Punch In

Shiftboard helps temp workers and companies manage their schedules.

Steve Reno | January 2011 | FROM THE PRINT EDITION

Employee scheduling can be a headache in industries that rely heavily on volunteer, temporary or part-time staff. Seattle-based company Shiftboard Inc. aims to simplify the process with online scheduling software that is easy to use for both workers and managers.

When the company launched in 2002, many of its first clients were in the health care industry, CEO Rob Eleveld says. Hospitals must often find staff on short notice, sometimes an hour before a job starts, and they must know that the person accepting the work has the appropriate credentials. Shiftboard’s software eliminates the need for multiple phone calls and e-mails, instead allowing managers to communicate with only those employees who are available and qualified.

Shiftboard’s software is especially useful for the growing number of temporary employees entering the workforce. Of the 159,000 private sector jobs added in the United States in October 2010, 35,000 jobs were temporary positions in business services, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Eleveld estimates that between 20 and 25 percent of workers today are contingent or hourly. Shiftboard’s product allows those workers to adjust their schedules in real time. Instead of responding to an e-mail from a manager with a list of shifts that need to be filled, employees can look at an online calendar, see which shifts are available and take the openings they want with the click of a button. Once someone selects a shift, it no longer appears as available.

“When you’re an hourly worker, your schedule is your life,” Eleveld says.

The software’s real-time scheduling capability makes it ideal for event planning as well. Bumbershoot uses Shiftboard to coordinate nearly 6,000 shifts during the annual festival. Safeco Field uses it to adjust schedules based on ticket sales the day before a game. Local radio station KEXP 90.3 FM and the Seattle International Film Festival are also customers.

Shiftboard has a few competitors, but most focus on narrow industry niches, such as scheduling for truck drivers or hospital staff. In addition to being customizable across many different industries, Shiftboard’s software is compatible with many different web browsers and mobile devices, and can even interact with other software via its open application program interface.

“People are coming to us looking for scheduling systems they can use on their iPhone,” chief product and technology officer Bryan Lhuillier says. “We no longer see technology as a point of resistance.”