Scheduling a high volume of employees in a timely and efficient manner is no easy feat. Zach Peterson, TPD's Staffing Services Coordinator, reflects on how scheduling software When I Work improved the way he does things at TPD.

As a staffing coordinator, it’s my job to hire and coordinate my staff for the temporary needs of my clients. While this often consists of a client requesting coverage for sick days and leave of absences, a major part of my job is scheduling and coordinating high volume requests for all kinds of events.

When I was first hired by TPD, these high volume requests (meaning a request from a client for 10 or more staff) were time consuming nightmares. This was our process:

1. Receive request from client consisting of number of staff needed and different start times and job types (servers, customer service reps, bartenders, etc.)
2. Make an excel spreadsheet outlining the needs of the client with space to input the names of the staff
3. Pull up a list of all available staff for the day of the event
4. Filter through the staff by who is eligible to work which job type
5. E-mail staff depending on their skills and availability and request they call in if they would like to work the shift
6. Wait for the staff to call in and put their names on the Excel schedule
7. If not all the shifts fill on their own, call the staff who did not call in one-by-one and confirm if they are available
8. Once all the shifts are filled, I would export the makeshift schedule into a word document and create a timesheet for the client
9. Send the timesheet to the client confirming the staff

As you can see, this was not the most efficient process - The most frustrating part being sorting out which staff were eligible for which shifts and making sure the correct staff notified about the correct events. On top of it all, the larger the order (which ultimately, we want!) the bigger headache the whole process became.



In January 2016, TPD partnered with When I Work, an online scheduling software that if I didn’t know better, I would think was created with me in mind. Implementing this software not only helped me sleep at night, but helped make sure my staff and clients have sweet dreams too.

How it helped me:

When I Work gives me the power to divide up my staff by location, job type, and their availability and send them shift notifications through e-mail, text or push notifications. I'm now able to create a shift on a calendar that can be seen by all staff. All I have to do now is create an “Open Shift,” meaning that it's available to be picked up, set the necessary filters on the shift, and hit publish. Once it's published, any eligibile staff receive a notification and are able to pick up the shift with the press of a button.

How it helped my clients:

Clients want two things: their orders filled quickly, and with the best staff. By being able to publish dozens of shifts at a time and not requiring the staff to call in to pick up shifts, staff are able to pick up shifts quickly and fill large orders in a matter of minutes! In fact, the biggest complaint I’ve received is that the shifts fill too quickly and not all staff are able to respond in time. Also, being able to filter which staff receive which notifications, I can make sure only eligible staff are able to pick up the shifts published. This makes sure that the client is only getting qualified, top talent for any vacant shifts.

How it helped my staff:

When I Work gives my staff the ability to download an app to their phone and have a schedule they're able to sign in to and check whenever they like. All the details for their shifts are available at their fingertips such as location, pay rate, shift time, and any other necessary information. The staff are also able to set reminders for themselves that can notify them when a shift is coming up or if a shift has been canceled.

On top of that, the staff can set preferred shift times and make note of which days they are unavailable. If they set themselves to unavailable on a certain day, they will not receive notifications about open shifts for that day and don’t need to be bothered with shift requests they do not wish to receive!

Overall, When I work saves me time, saves my clients headaches, and saves my staff from any uncertainty about their shifts. Being systems enabled allows the Staffing team at TPD to fill orders faster than ever, and make sure the best staff are being scheduled - The future of scheduling is here!

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