Software’s Helping Hand for Labor

April 14, 2022
As ground service providers wrestle with the workforce issues of the day, technology is easing some of the burden.

Ground service providers face a number of labor issues, from scheduling workers to ensuring on any given day that they are fit for work, but one issue has hung over the industry larger and longer than any other. Employee retention and hiring was a problem pre-pandemic and has only been exacerbated by the events of the past two years.

“The Great Resignation, or Big Quit, is still with us,” says John Brant, VP for platform strategy and resource acquisition, ARCOS.

 “Data last week from the BLS showed job resignations are up 23 percent over levels before the pandemic hit,” he continues. “But a lot of those folks are quitting one job to take a higher paying one elsewhere. Employers are paying more and looking for ways to attract talent. Employees are re-examining what they want from their work life.”

John Gemmell, senior aviation advisor for Predictive Safety, adds that, by far, the number one issue is employee recruitment retention due to COVID and its effects on the industry.

“And the ID process at airports, in the larger ones takes up to 30 days. So, people come in the pipeline, interested in the job, and then they know they can't get on for 30 days without being paid and go through all these background checks. So, the attraction for the wages versus what's outside that they can start work almost immediately, a McDonald's, a Walmart or something. It's been the biggest challenge, by far, the last two years in the industry,” he adds.

Gemmell says that high turnover has always been an issue in the industry but was usually manageable. COVID has brought it now to near unmanageable levels and it will stay that way for a while.

“It's going to be for the foreseeable future, but it's starting to show signs of lessening. In that people now feel they can commit to a job and not be interrupted by COVID interruptions where the operation shuts down, flights shut down,” Gemmell says. “Most major companies in aviation are experiencing a shortfall on a daily basis of 30 to 40 percent under head count. How do you make up for that? Tons of overtime. What happens when you give tons of overtime? People get tired, they get burnt out, they get fatigued.”

Uschi Schulte-Sasse, senior vice president, Aviation Division for INFORM GmbH, says adding to the problem is that Generation X, Y and Z are much more interested in a work-life balance and want to be involved in decision-making regarding their assignments and schedules.

“As a result, the industry is more widely applying next-generation technologies to better manage workers and accommodate their preferences. This was not previously the case. Today, we’re seeing all sectors of the industry deploy workforce management solutions to address shift preferences, ensure that workers are assigned tasks for which they have the proper skills, and also to ensure adherence with service level agreements,” she says.

Staying Alert and Safe

As noted, a solution to under staffing is scheduling current employees for greater work. But the increased workload can lead to fatigue and other mental states not conducive to a safe environment.

“Because of the labor shortage, people are working so much, meaning longer hours and being driven for overtime, that it's becoming difficult to keep safety metrics in line,” says Jeff Sease, VP operations for Predictive Safety.

And that’s where Alert Meter comes in, giving employers a tool to measure the cognitive state of their employees. Through puzzle solving, a user can tell if they are overly fatigued for their assigned duty, for example.

“You set your own test pattern and cognitive awareness by taking 10 tests randomly to build that baseline. So, you're always competing against yourself, no one else. It's against your own cognitive awareness when it's measured as being stable,” Gemmell says.

“AlertMeter is a game-like app that can be executed on a mobile device or via a tablet or a computer browser that is entirely shape-based, language-independent and non-discriminatory,” adds Sease. “And the process to take the assessment is that basically, you play the AlertMeter game, and you look at a series of shapes and you choose -- are one of the shapes different, or are they all the same? And it also has a memory component tied into it. So, you have to see a shape. And then, a little bit later, distinguish that shape from a field of other shapes.”

Each test is evaluated in four different ways and works on a user’s personal baseline, evaluating speed, accuracy, situational awareness and consistent cognitive behavior.

“People develop personal proclivities to different shapes and it evaluates how they're performing today on those shapes compared to how they normally perform. And in a recent clinical trial with Denver University, it was found to be more sensitive to fatigue than the current gold standard psychomotor vigilance test that's used in clinical environments,” says Sease.

Officials at Predictive Safety recommend everybody on a crew uses the AlertMeter prior to shift, so it becomes part of the clock-in routine. And many of their clients will also use it at the lunch break and/or prior to performing a critical task. If a user struggles with the test twice in a row, eliminating the chance of false positives, they can be moved to a task that’s less mentally taxing.

“If I have a measurement on every shift of the cognitive ability of my workforce, and there's two staff out of 10 staff members working a flight, and two of them tested that they're on the edge of stress, or impairment, or fatigue. I can have a brief conversation and say, ‘You're not on the main deck loader today. You're not fueling the aircraft. You're going to be counting bags. You're going to direct traffic or something.’ It just gives you another management tool to produce a safe environment,” says Gemmell.

Sease stresses that AlertMeter isn’t meant to deny people work but produce safer workplaces.

“It's about engendering a more effective leadership within your organization and recognizing the fact that your leaders rarely have time in their day to look everybody in the eye and ask them, ‘Hey, did you get enough rest last night? Do you feel like you're good to go? And you're going to be safe today?’ They just don't have time to do that. So, what AlertMeter is doing is it's generating conversations that would not have happened otherwise,” he says.

Shift Management Satisfaction

Of course, one way to keep employees from becoming overworked and maintaining the much sought-after work-life balance is through proper shift management.

INFORM’s GS (GroundStar) WorkforcePlus solution is a flexible staff scheduling solution that leverages artificial intelligence and uses an innovative deduction system that enables employers to automatically generate work schedules that accommodate specific conditions and goals, while addressing demand fluctuations, details Schulte-Sasse.

“The impetus behind the software was to meet the industry’s need for having the right workers at the right place and right time. From a systems standpoint, products like Excel and existing legacy systems simply could not meet today’s complex workforce management demands,” she says.

Brant says ARCOS offers two software solutions. RosterApps manages airline ground crew shift management, shift bidding, swapping and PTO that mirrors labor union rules, and it’s accessible from desktop and mobile devices. ARCOS Ascend automates the process of finding qualified, available crew members to fill open trips or shifts due to a call-off or an irregular operation (IROP).

“We created RosterApps as an automated solution for airline managers who struggled to staff shifts by hand and keep up with changing schedules because of IROPs, frequent shift trading and overtime issues that occur much more frequently in the airline industry than other industries,” he says.

With any shift software, it’s not so much about automating a manual process, but improving on it.

“People often want to reproduce what they’re already doing manually. For example, maybe they want software to restrict the deluge of trading and shift-claiming by workers, since, with their manual processes, they were overwhelmed checking rules before approving requests. But why not configure the software to automatically vet requests vis-a-vis policies, so managers can expand trading opportunities for everyone and make decisions instantaneously?” he says.

Schulte-Sasse says too that management needs to recognize that there has been a clear paradigm shift in workforce management; it is no longer driven from management down, but rather, it has become more of a two-way relationship.

“Within the aviation industry, workforce management also has become more complex with many more criteria to address. Manual processes and/or inflexible systems that don’t enable adjustments to be made and interfaces easily configured are no longer viable. Today’s workforce management solutions must be adaptable and able to address each clients’ specific priorities across areas of cost, service level agreements, shift planning and employee satisfaction,” Schulte-Sasse describes.

As such, GS WorkforcePlus can be adapted to each client’s requirements.

“It is based on innovative deductive intelligence technology that enables it to adapt to a wide range of requirements without classical development. Its application of artificial intelligence (AI) ensures clients gain optimized staff rosters, with full views of staff assignments via an employee portal that can be accessed from any mobile device, and which enables an easy flow of information from schedulers to employees,” she says.

Brant describes RosterApps as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) scheduling solution for ground personnel, utilized by airlines such as JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and United as well as ground handling contractors.

“Managers log into RosterApps with a desktop or mobile device, and the system integrates workers’ schedules with time and attendance software and HRIS for real-time reports on shifts, schedule changes and openings. RosterApps simplifies filling ground crew shifts and does it quickly, while accounting for complex scheduling rules. Workers log in to their mobile device to see and get control over bidding and swapping shifts, which boosts satisfaction and retention,” Brant says.

Airlines can be up and running with RosterApps in little as a few weeks, adds Brant, but for airlines wanting to include a large amount of software integrations, the timeframe could potentially be longer.

For GS WorkforcePlus, Schulte-Sasse there are many variables affecting how long it takes to implement the solution such as how many interfaces exist, whether the project specifications have been clearly defined in advance, etc.

“Generally, however, GS WorkforcePlus will require a minimum of three months to complete,” Schulte-Sasse says.