Survey shows casual employees may consider leaving a company that doesn’t have technology that automates communication and shift management
Eighty-three per cent of casual workers in Australia prefer working for companies offering automated workplace technologies, research from Humanforce, a Sydney-based global provider of workforce management solutions, has found.
A further 22% of casual workers also said they would consider leaving a company if it did not offer technology that helped them to manage their work.
“Offering casual workers the technological tools that they clearly want, and that will help them to succeed in their roles, will show them that they are valued employees that a company is willing to invest in,” said Clayton Pyne, CEO of Humanforce. “On top of feeling valued, use of technology will make the day-to-day working lives of casual workers much easier and increase the chances of them wanting to stay in a role longer.”
Casual worker respondents said the work tasks that they thought held the most value in being automated by technology included accepting and swapping shifts (48%), communication around work availability (46%), easier and faster app-based communication (45%) and online rosters and timesheets (43%).
“There is a common misconception out there that casual workers don’t stay in one job or at one company for very long, and therefore they don’t require the same access to technology or supports as full-time employees do. Flying in the face of this, our research actually found that the majority of casual workers stayed in their casual jobs for longer time periods.”
The largest group of casual workers – 29% – said they had stayed in the one job for over five years, while a further 20% had stayed two to five years, followed by another 18% for over 12 months. At the shorter-term end of the scale, only 2.5% of casual workers had only stayed at one job for less than a month, 5.7% for less than three months and 13% less than six months.
“Casual workers are at the front-line of customer service, acting as the face of an organisation to the public. Engaged, long-term casual employees can better serve the public through a greater company, product and service knowledge. Having the right workplace technologies in place to support the work of casual employees should be a focus for all companies across Australia, especially now at a time when customer loyalty is challenged and positive customer service interactions have never been more important.”
Using apps and digital tools, advanced workplace management solutions automate a range of tasks that are commonly required of casual workers. These include employee availability, shift management, communication with management and teams, online rosters and timesheets, leave management and onboarding.
Casual workers said that they would gain most benefit from these automated technologies if they received training from their company (51%) or online (46%).
Methodology
Humanforce surveyed 503 Australian part-time and casual workers in April 2020 using a research platform.
Humanforce is a global provider of workforce management solutions for companies who need flexibility to manage complex workforces. Companies use Humanforce to manage everything from time and attendance, employee rostering, onboarding and availability. Humanforce has strong partnerships with industry leading payroll providers, with over 100 integrations and enable customer employees in over 9000 locations globally. Humanforce was founded in Sydney in 2002, and today has offices across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK.