technology MAKING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS WORK FOR YOUR FLEET BY AARON HUFF
Drivers on demand
Workforce platform helps final-mile carriers fill seats
M
illions of people use their smartphones and apps to find freelance work. Just as truckers use online marketplaces and broker apps to identify loads, motorists have Uber and Lyft to locate ridesharing gigs and Rover to track down pet-walking jobs. In this technology-enabled “Gig Economy,” people have the freedom to create their own work schedules. However, freelancing has its disadvantages. Nonemployees generally do not qualify for health insurance, workers compensation or overtime pay, among other protections and benefits. Whereas many workers in the Gig Economy are 1099 contractors, at least one company, ShiftPixy, is seizing an opportunity to embrace the freelance employee status while offering fleets a flexible workforce management platform. Founded in 2015, ShiftPixy is focused on businesses that have shift work with full- and part-time employees. Final-mile transportation is one of its core markets. GIG ECONOMY: People are using technology to create their own work schedules.
FREELANCE HELP: ShiftPixy offers fleets a flexible workforce management platform.
MINIMIZING OVERTIME: ShiftPixy’s driver mobile app tracks hours and shifts worked.
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commercial carrier journal
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june 2018
Zion Delivery Service, a Los Angelesbased final-mile delivery company, uses ShiftPixy to enhance compliance, efficiency and employee engagement.
The ShiftPixy workforce platform connects fleet operators with a pool of vetted employee drivers on demand. It also creates administrative efficiencies and removes the friction of driver turnover, said Scott Absher, chief executive. Before Absher founded ShiftPixy, he worked at companies in the trucking industry that provided employee leasing and outsourcing services. The new company originally was going to be named “ShiftPicky” to denote the flexibility its platform gave workers to choose their schedules, he said. Final-mile opportunity In the final-mile sector, the company is curating a population of on-demand driver employees that its clients can share across the platform. Zion Delivery Service has focused on final-mile delivery in the southern California market since its founding in 2004. The Los Angeles-based company has experienced 20 percent growth, year over year, for the past five years. ZDS operates seven days a week and has used employee outsourcing services in the past. The engagement with ShiftPixy began by outsourcing the employer status of its W-2 delivery drivers. ShiftPixy’s technology was the deciding factor, said Jeremy Pippen, president of ZDS. “We are looking to have a better way to engage with our existing pool of drivers, build that pool and be able to allocate resources in the most intelli-