Shift filling software

The category exists because filling a shift is not one action. It is a decision about who is eligible, a round of contact attempts, a wait for answers, and a record of what was agreed. An agency that runs this in a group chat keeps the conversation and loses the record. An agency that runs it in a calendar keeps the record and loses the contact attempts.

Most tools sold under this name do one of three jobs. A marketplace posts the shift to a pool of workers who claim it. A scheduling tool lets a coordinator drop a name into a slot and sends a notification. A dispatch tool assigns the worker and then chases a confirmation by phone and text until somebody answers.

The three put the risk in different places, which is the part worth understanding before buying. A marketplace fills fastest and gives you the least control over who walks through the client's door. A scheduling tool gives you full control and does none of the chasing. A dispatch tool keeps the control and does the chasing, and the chasing is where the hours go.

A shift is not filled when a worker is assigned. It is filled when a named person has confirmed, holds the certificate the site requires, and knows the address and the start time. Software that reports the first as though it were the second is what produces a Monday morning with nobody on the dock.

What filling one shift actually involves

• Deciding who is eligible: distance, certificate, availability, and whether the client has asked not to see them again.
• Ranking the eligible list, so the first calls go to the people most likely to say yes.
• Making contact in the way that suits the hour: a text at nine in the morning, a phone call at four in the afternoon.
• Recording every answer, including the refusals, so the same person is not asked twice.
• Telling the client, the worker, and the office that the shift is covered, and who is covering it.