MakeShift is a staff shift scheduling and time-tracking app built for nurse scheduling. Today we serve over 500 businesses across diverse industries, including healthcare, retail, hospitality, sports, food and beverage, and more. Our purpose is to give shift workers some time back to focus on what really matters.
Tell us about yourself?
My background is in building teams and growing revenue. I entered the technology space quite by accident and have been fascinated from the outset by how technology improves lives and makes our businesses and communities run better. If you look at MakeShift, for example, consider that according to HRDC and CMHA, one of the number one things that negatively affect the mental health and well-being of shift workers is a lack of control over their schedules. An example of this is a shift worker missing a child’s soccer game or dance recital because they cannot find someone to cover a shift. On the flip side, think about a business owner who can’t grow because they cannot find enough staff to serve customers, or they can’t invest in their business because they are paying too much overtime to the few staff members they have. MakeShift, as a technology company, solves these issues by making it easy to set one’s availability, create schedules, track overtime, swap shifts, bid on open shifts, etc. MakeShift gives people their time back to focus on what really matters.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Well, hindsight is always 20-20, as the saying goes, and I certainly don’t look backwards with regret, but if I had one piece of advice for the future me, it would be to focus on desired outcomes. Don’t spread yourself too thin.
What problem does your business solve?
We give shift workers more control over their schedules and, in the process, give them some time back to focus on other things that really matter. For business owners, we improve outcomes by reducing the challenges associated with labour shortages, employee fatigue, overtime, and turnover, to name a few.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
The inspiration behind the business was to streamline, simplify and modernize nurse scheduling. The founder’s daughter-in-law was a nurse who was exasperated by the manual and error-prone scheduling processes and lack of tools (especially mobile) related to her schedule. Late-night calls, spreadsheets, overtime, missed shifts, etc. were all huge problems affecting not only staff but patient outcomes.
What is your magic sauce?
MakeShift is incredibly easy to use, quick to set up, and incredibly inexpensive. The user experience is modern and friendly, and built-in algorithms help scheduling managers proactively see challenges before they become real problems. Our ability to integrate deeply with other third-party applications ensures there is no duplicate or manual data entry, reducing opportunities for error. MakeShift is global, social, mobile, and analytical
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We have plans to grow and serve even more businesses with a focus on health care and retail. As I said earlier, I believe that business is a force for good. The state of healthcare in our communities is concerning, and much of the issue relates to staff shortages. Furthermore, the lack of control over one’s own schedule affects not only patient outcomes but the mental health and well-being of our healthcare workers. MakeShift can address this extremely quickly and effectively.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Covid-19 was the biggest single event that made us change course. We had to completely reimagine the way we did business, not only in how we operate as a company internally but how we served the super quickly evolving needs of our customers. Helping our customers with vaccine and Covid-19 testing tracking, hybrid working, working from home, capacity limits at the office, and more all required fast innovation. Our own teams also had to work from home, leaving expensive office spaces empty, which had to be accounted for. The other big challenge is funding. We are looking for a financial partner to help us take the business to the next level. We believe that we are truly on the cusp of explosive growth and that the demands for our services are exponentially greater than ever before.
How can people get involved?
If you are looking for a staff scheduling solution, check out our website at www.makeshift.ca and sign up for a free trial. If you are looking to invest, reach out to me at agreenberg@makeshift.ca and let’s talk.