{"id":9395,"date":"2017-09-27T13:06:48","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T13:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/legion-raises-10-5m-to-roll-out-an-automated-employee-scheduling-tool.html"},"modified":"2017-09-27T13:06:48","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T13:06:48","slug":"legion-raises-10-5m-to-roll-out-an-automated-employee-scheduling-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/legion-raises-10-5m-to-roll-out-an-automated-employee-scheduling-tool.html","title":{"rendered":"Legion raises $10.5M to roll out an automated employee scheduling tool"},"content":{"rendered":"


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There\u2019s a lot of talk about employees wanting much more flexible work schedules, and a lot of that is thanks to the emergence of companies like Lyft and Uber that allow people to work on their own schedules. But that ability still doesn\u2019t exist for the rest of the world, especially when it comes to hourly jobs with rigid schedules.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean that employees don\u2019t want those kinds of schedules \u2014 or that they vary a lot \u2014 and that\u2019s the reason why\u00a0Sanish\u00a0Mondkar started Legion<\/a>. The startup uses large amounts of data, all the way down to the weather near a store, to try to predict how busy it will be and how to intelligently staff that store and prepare for the foot traffic. It also works to sort out the best possible schedule for each employee, whether they want to work a regular shift at the same hours or vary from week to week and trade shifts a lot. The company is rolling out with Philz, one of Silicon Valley\u2019s favorite coffee projects, to try to prove out such a concept.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can recognize the fact that there are some employees on your roster that are looking for predictable, 40 hours a week, with full benefits,\u201d Mondkar said. \u201cOthers, today especially, are on the opposite side of the spectrum and want gig-like jobs, owning their schedule. Legion lets you provide that full spectrum of options. Employees choose where they want to be on that spectrum. It leads to better retention, an empowered culture, that to me is very important going forward for any business that employs a large hourly workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

To continue to roll this out, Legion has raised a $10.5 million series A led by Norwest Venture Partners, with Norwest\u2019s\u00a0Sean Jacobsohn joining the board. Earlier investors\u00a0First Round Capital, XYZ Ventures, and Webb Investment Network also participated in the financing round, which has helped flush the enterprise startup with the kinds of capital it needs to expand beyond just a business like Philz and into the larger hourly retail field.<\/p>\n

Legion\u2019s goal at the end of the day is to try to accurately predict traffic and labor forecasts, helping each employee find the slot that fits them best for the schedule and lifestyle they want. By starting there, Mondkar wants to try to help employees feel better about their jobs and their lives \u2014 which, in the end, helps them be happier at their jobs and deliver a better experience to customers. While there may have been some stabs at intelligent scheduling, it\u2019s largely been on the managers to spend the nearly dozen hours to ensure that everyone gets what they want.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe solution you would design today, versus three or even five years ago, would be very different because the kinds of enablers that are uniquely available today,\u201d Mondkar said. \u201cMachine learning and AI is at a point that\u2019s at least accessible in a form that can be applied to solve these problems. Both need a lot of data, and data now \u2014 especially in retail thanks to the adoption of cloud point of sale devices and traffic counters \u2014 is available that just wasn\u2019t available three or five years ago that would drive these algorithms.\u201d<\/p>\n

For starters, the company has begun deploying in Philz as a proof-of-concept to show that it ends up having a positive impact on the workforce. Philz CEO\u00a0Jacob Jaber wasn\u2019t able to articulate exactly why it took up until recently for a product like Legion to exist, but said it was an issue for the company \u2014 and any retail company \u2014 that was dying for some kind help. The other part of the equation, he said, was that it had to be constructed with all sides in mind: the business, the manager, and the employee.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to think more holistically and you have to have empathy for multiple parties,\u201d Jaber said. \u201cI\u2019d say there hasn\u2019t been a lot of progress in the workforce as a whole and I think they\u2019ve been left behind to some extent and working class. I think [businesses] are now getting to scratch the surface in thinking about them more and how we can make sure as a company and as people we\u2019re respecting them and giving them a very good environment to work and grow in. Scheduling is a really big part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will, of course, be challenges for Legion. Over time, employee priorities may change and the service will have to keep up with that. It makes sense for Legion to plug into other HR dashboards like Zenefits for now, but they may see the opportunity to go after the problem with a robust set of data on employees. There are also a lot of startups trying to create a simple employee scheduling application, such as When I Work<\/a>, that may see an opportunity in the low-hanging fruit that large public data sets and more accessible machine learning tools have to offer. Mondkar\u2019s hope is that starting with Philz as a launching point and eventually gunning for a schedule that fits everyone\u2019s needs automatically will be the one that wins in the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is basically a very large problem that impacts a lot of lives and a lot of people,\u201d Mondkar said. \u201cThe core of that problem, scheduling and matching people optimally and in a consistent manner, is a very fundamental step toward solving that problem. Today, as I was saying before, approaching that problem in a whole new way makes a lot of sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunchIt\/~3\/Ua4f10yI8tk\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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