Find employee pooling software and use it correctly
Would you like to have access to a pool of qualified, flexible employees who can step in immediately when needed? This is exactly what employee pooling software organizes. Instead of resorting to rigid employment or expensive agencies, you build your own, agile personnel pool and...
Would you like to have access to a pool of qualified, flexible employees who can step in immediately when needed? This is exactly what employee pooling software organizes. Instead of resorting to rigid employment or expensive agencies, you build your own, agile personnel pool and manage it completely digitally.
Manage staffing needs flexibly
Every planner’s nightmare? A large, short-term request for which there simply isn't enough staff. You're probably familiar with this: the phone rings, an important customer spontaneously needs more people for an event at the weekend, but your permanent staff are already completely scheduled. And this is exactly where the stress begins.
The classic problem without software
Without a central system, an incredibly tedious search begins. You call dozens of temporary workers and freelancers, send countless emails and quickly lose track of who has accepted, who is available and who has the necessary qualifications. This manual process is not only very time-consuming, but also a huge source of errors. In the end, you may have found a stopgap solution, but the journey there was tough and anything but productive.
Let’s take the “Alpen-Genuss” catering service. You need it for a company party that is scheduled at short notice 20 additional service staff, five chefs and three Logistician. The dispatcher spends a whole day on the phone and in his email inbox just gathering people.
The solution with employee pooling software
One Employee pooling software completely turns this tables around. It becomes your central command center for flexible workforce. Instead of manually contacting each individual, you send a request to everyone in your pool with a single click.
Employee pool software is essentially a digital tool that masters the balancing act between unpredictable personnel needs and the quick finding of qualified employees. It replaces chaos with clarity and manual work with automated processes.
With the software, the dispatcher at “Alpen-Genuss” would proceed completely differently:
- Define need: He enters the number of staff required and the required qualifications (e.g. experience in banquet service, valid driving license) directly into the system.
- Send request: The software automatically sends a notification via app or email to all employees in the pool who match the profile.
- Collect feedback: Workers confirm their availability directly in the app. The system shows the dispatcher in real time who has accepted.
- Occupy shifts: He can fill open shifts with the right people with just a few clicks and create a binding deployment plan.
The entire process takes minutes instead of hours. It solves the core problem of flexible personnel planning: reacting quickly and reliably to unforeseeable requirements without losing quality or overview. The right software helps you to intelligently control your deployment planning. More information about how a well thought out Operations planning software makes your everyday work easier can be found in our further article.
What the software really has to be able to do: The core functions in the practical test
Good employee pooling software is much more than just a digital contact list. It is your command center, the heart of your flexible personnel planning. Let's take a closer look at which functions really make the difference in everyday life.
Imagine you manage a restaurant. The weekend is just around the corner, a huge reservation bursts in and you need more people at short notice. This is exactly where the software reveals its full strength.
Check availability with a click
Gone are the days when you had to laboriously search through phone lists or send countless WhatsApp messages. Modern software takes care of this whole circus for you. You create a request for the open shifts and send it to your entire pool with one click.
Your employees will immediately receive a push notification on their smartphone and can accept or cancel directly in the app. On your dashboard you can see who is available in real time - without any double bookings or annoying misunderstandings.
This simple process visualizes the path from the initial requirements planning to successful deployment.
The graphic shows it clearly: The software acts as a central hub that connects the personnel requirements with the available forces and accelerates the entire process.
Fill shifts intelligently and quickly
As soon as the feedback comes in, the actual planning begins. A good one Employee pooling software doesn't leave you alone here, but makes intelligent suggestions. Based on previous assignments or reviews, the system can show you who is best suited for the demanding evening shift.
You assign the open shifts directly to the available people. The roster for the weekend is available with just a few clicks, and everyone involved is automatically informed about their assignments. This not only saves a tremendous amount of time, but also ensures that the work is distributed fairly and transparently.
Filter qualifications specifically
One of the most powerful functions is the qualification filter. You don’t just need service staff for your weekend shift. You need someone with a barista certificate and someone fluent in French to serve the international guests.
With the qualification filter you are no longer looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, you let the software specifically find the right experts for you.
Instead of searching through your entire pool, you simply filter by the required skills. The software immediately shows you which employees from your pool meet the criteria and are available. This way you ensure that the right person is in the right place for each task.
Time recording – digital and crystal clear
Correct and punctual billing is the be-all and end-all for the satisfaction of your people. A built-in digital time recording makes this process child's play and, above all, error-free. Your temporary workers can conveniently clock in and out at the beginning and end of their shift via the app.
The recorded hours automatically end up in the system and are available for you to use for payroll. Discussions about lost timesheets or unclear working hours? Belonging to the past. Everything is digitally documented and absolutely understandable for both sides. This transparency creates trust – the basis for any good collaboration.
Incidentally, many of these functions are also the heart of a professional Software for scheduling temporary employment, where quick and accurate casting is just as important.
Why having your own employee pool pays off for you
The idea of building your own employee pool sounds like a lot of work. Understandable. But the benefits you gain often pay off faster than you think. Let's look at the solid arguments in favor of building your own pool.
The most obvious point is this Cost savings. Every time you rely on external recruiters or temporary employment agencies, you pay a significant commission per assignment. These fees add up quickly and become a real budget drain.
With your own pool, which you can access via a Employee pooling software If you pay taxes, these brokerage costs are completely eliminated. Sure, you make a one-off investment in the software and the structure of your network, but you save money with every single use.
More flexibility when it matters
Having your own pool gives you unbeatable flexibility in your personnel planning. Order peaks, short-term sick calls or unexpected large orders no longer seem frightening. Instead of panicking, just fall back on your proven strengths.
Imagine a hotel during high season: A banquet is expanded at short notice and at the same time two room service employees call in sick. Previously, the manager would have had to book expensive agency staff who didn't know the hotel at all and had to be trained first.
Today he uses his employee pooling software. With just a few clicks he sends a request to his pool of certified temporary staff for room service and reception. Within minutes he has confirmation from qualified people who are already familiar with the hotel's processes.
The software transforms unforeseeable staff shortages from a crisis into a plannable task. You don't just react, you act - quickly, specifically and with full control.
This agility is a clear competitive advantage. You can say “yes” to short-term customer requests while the competition has to say no.
Quality and reliability you know
An often underestimated point is the significantly higher quality of the work. Employees from your pool know your company, your standards and your expectations. You hardly need any training time and fit seamlessly into existing teams.
This creates a whole other level of reliability. You know exactly who you are booking for an assignment. The quality of your service remains consistently high, which has a direct impact on the satisfaction of your customers. The introduction of one Employee pooling software can lead to a clear Increased productivity and efficiency lead.
A strategic advantage in the shortage of skilled workers
The shortage of skilled workers is a noticeable reality, especially in Switzerland. Companies that systematically build up their own talent pools gain a decisive advantage here. You can reduce your recruitment costs reduce up to 30% and the time until a position is filled shorten by about 20 to 40%.
In summary, the advantages are obvious and measurable:
- Less costs: You save yourself the high commissions for external recruiters.
- Higher speed: You fill open shifts in minutes instead of days.
- Better quality: You work with people who already know your company and your requirements.
- Greater independence: You reduce your dependence on external agencies and the tight labor market.
These arguments not only help you make the right decision for your company. They are also the perfect points to convince internal decision-makers to invest in employee pooling software.
Concrete use cases: Where employee pools make the difference
Employee pooling is no longer just a theory, but rather a tried-and-tested model that solves real problems in many industries. To give you a feel for where the real opportunities lie for your business, let’s look at a few concrete examples.
You will quickly notice: the basic challenge is almost always the same. It's about fluctuating staffing needs and the pressure to find qualified people quickly. But the way in which one Employee pooling software tackles the problem is always perfectly tailored to the respective industry - from hectic event logistics to sensitive care planning.
Events and gastronomy: The predictable chaos
In the event and catering world, unpredictability is the norm. Large festivals, spontaneous company celebrations or the first sunny day in the beer garden after weeks of rain – all of this requires a very flexible staffing level. Here, having your own pool of proven service staff, chefs and logistics helpers is worth pure gold.
Imagine an event agency that manages a large music festival. Instead of relying on expensive and often unknown external service providers for every area, from the bar staff to the construction team, it manages its own pool of hundreds of freelance employees.
With the right software, the agency can easily:
- Advertise customized shifts: She is not just looking for “personnel”, but specifically for people with experience in cocktail mixing or with a valid forklift license.
- See availability in real time: One click is enough and the planner knows exactly who still has capacity on the crucial festival days.
- Respond to outages in minutes: Is a bartender out sick on Saturday morning? No problem. The open shift immediately ends up back in the pool and is often filled again within a few minutes.
This approach not only reduces costs, but also ensures a consistently high quality of service. Why? Because the agency works with trusted people who know how everything works.
Healthcare: When every minute counts
In the health sector, especially in hospitals and nursing homes, seamless personnel planning is not only important - it is vital. Absences due to illness can quickly lead to critical bottlenecks. An internal pool of qualified nursing staff who can step in flexibly is an immense relief for every ward management.
A hospital network can have one Employee pooling software use to organize a cross-location jumper pool. If a nursing staff is unavailable for the night shift in a hospital, the need is advertised not only locally, but throughout the network's entire pool.
A centrally managed employee pool not only ensures patient care in the event of bottlenecks. It also increases employee satisfaction because they have more control and flexibility in their work scheduling.
This means that nursing staff from another location who would like to take on an additional shift can easily accept the service. The software ensures in the background that only personnel with the exact qualifications and certificates for the respective station receive a notification.
Security and logistics: flexibility on a project basis
Security services and logistics companies make their living from project business. Sometimes security personnel are needed for a three-day open-air concert, sometimes a logistics center needs additional warehouse helpers for six weeks for the hot phase of the Christmas business.
A security company that looks after various objects and events uses its employee pool to put together teams that fit perfectly. Guarding a company premises requires people with specific training in property protection. For a concert, however, employees with experience in admission control and de-escalation are particularly in demand. With the right software, the right people can be found and booked quickly.
The market for personnel services in Switzerland is huge - in 2022 there was a turnover of around 11.28 billion Swiss francs achieved. Modern software tools are an important driver of this growth. They help to close the gaps in the skilled labor market by quickly connecting qualified candidates with open vacancies. You can find out more about this in the current ones Trends in Swiss personnel placement on de.statista.com.
This table summarizes how employee pooling software specifically addresses the specific pain points of each industry.
Compare use cases by industry
This table shows how employee pooling software solves specific challenges in different industries.
| Industry | Typical challenge | Solution through employee pooling software |
|---|---|---|
| Events & Gastronomy | Extremely short-term and seasonal staffing peaks. | Quick activation of a pool of well-known, trained temporary workers with specific skills (e.g. barista, logistician). |
| Healthcare | Critical staff shortages due to unforeseeable absences (illness). | Cross-location springer pool that quickly fills open positions based on qualifications to ensure supply. |
| Security & Logistics | Strongly project-based needs with variable requirement profiles. | Targeted compilation of teams based on required certificates and experience for each individual order. |
At the end of the day, it becomes clear: employee pooling software is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, it is a flexible tool that adapts to the DNA of your industry to solve real problems and make your business more agile and resilient.
How to choose the right software for your company
The market for employee pooling software is large and constantly growing. But how do you find the right tool for your specific requirements in this jungle? A hasty decision can end up costing you dearly. Use this section as your personal decision-making aid to keep a cool head and make a truly informed choice.
Before you jump into the first demo appointments, you should do your own homework. Define clearly what you really need. What are the essential functions for your daily business? And what are some nice additional features that you could do without if in doubt?
Your checklist for software selection
When making your assessment, always think about everyone who has to work with it: your dispatchers, the administration and of course your people in the pool. Software is only really good if everyone accepts it and - in the best case - even enjoys using it.
Here are the crucial criteria that you should put through their paces:
- Ease of use: Is the interface intuitive or does it feel like a cockpit? New users should find their way around quickly without having to complete days of training. The mobile app for your employees in particular must be child’s play.
- Scalability: Your company is growing – is the software growing with it? Determine whether the system is equipped with a pool of 50 runs just as smoothly with people as it does with them 500. Also ask directly how much additional users or locations cost.
- Important interfaces: Does the new software work with your existing systems? A clean connection to your payroll accounting is practically mandatory in order to eliminate manual data transfers and the associated sources of error.
- Data protection (GDPR compliance): There are no compromises here. The provider must clearly and clearly guarantee that all personal data is processed and stored securely in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. Get this in writing.
Cloud solution or in-house operation?
This is a fundamental strategic question. Both operating models have clear advantages and disadvantages that you must carefully weigh for your company.
Cloud-based software (SaaS):
- Advantages: You have a low initial investment, you don't need your own server infrastructure and the provider takes care of updates and maintenance. Plus, you can access it from anywhere.
- Disadvantages: You pay ongoing monthly costs and are dependent on the stability and continued existence of the provider.
Self-hosted software (on-premise):
- Advantages: You retain full control over your data and IT security. After the one-off initial investment, there are usually no more monthly license fees.
- Disadvantages: The initial costs for licenses and the necessary hardware are high. You are also completely responsible for maintenance, updates and security.
For the vast majority of SMEs, a cloud solution is now a much simpler and often more cost-effective option.
The decision to purchase software is not a one-off purchase, but rather the beginning of a partnership. Choose a provider whose support team is easy to reach and who truly understands your business challenges.
Questions you should ask each provider
Don't be blinded by glossy presentations. Prepare for the conversations and ask the questions that will really help you separate the wheat from the chaff.
- Support: How quickly can I get help if there is a fire? Is there a direct contact person or will I just end up in an anonymous ticket system?
- References: Can you tell me about customers in my industry who have successfully used your software?
- Roadmap: What new features are coming next? 12 Months planned? Is the product being actively developed further?
- Introduction: How exactly do you support us in introducing the software and training our employees?
Careful selection of the right software is the foundation for successful and flexible personnel planning. To get an even better overview of the Swiss market, read our detailed one Comparison of different workforce planning software for SMEs. With this checklist and the right questions, you can find the tool that suits you perfectly - and avoid expensive mistakes.
Frequently asked questions about employee pooling software
You now have a good overview of what employee pooling software can do and where it has the greatest leverage in practice. Nevertheless, specific questions often remain unanswered when deciding on such a system. Here we clarify the most common points briefly and concisely so that you can start the next phase of your planning with complete confidence.
This section is your quick stop to get the last question marks out of the way.
How quickly can you introduce employee pooling software?
The speed depends primarily on two factors: the size of your employee pool and the quality of your existing data. However, many modern cloud systems are ready for use within a few days.
A medium-sized event company with a pool of around 150 Freelancers often only need one for the entire process - from the decision to live operation two to four weeks. This includes system settings, data import and short training for the dispatchers.
The biggest time booster is good preparation. If you prepare your employee data - contacts, qualifications, contracts - digitally and neatly in a table in advance, the starting signal will go even faster.
A clean data import is the be-all and end-all. This means your team can immediately get started with core functions such as availability queries and shift planning, instead of wasting valuable time on manual data entry.
How much does such software cost on average?
The pricing models for Employee pooling software are usually flexible. Most providers rely on a so-called SaaS model (Software as a Service), where you pay a monthly fee.
This fee is usually based on the number of active employees you manage through the system per month. Smaller companies often come up with amounts in between 100 and 300 Swiss francs per month cope well. Larger organizations with several hundred pool employees should expect four-digit amounts per month.
When choosing, pay attention to possible hidden costs:
- Setup fee: Is there a one-time fee for setting up the system?
- Training costs: Are the first training courses for your team included in the price?
- Support packages: Is access to support free or do you have to pay extra for quick help?
A transparent pricing model that grows with your company is always the best choice.
How secure is my employees’ data?
Data security is not a nice extra, but an absolute must - especially when it comes to sensitive personnel data. A reputable provider must fully guarantee compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Specifically, this means:
- Server location: The servers on which your data is located should ideally be located in Switzerland or at least within the EU.
- Encryption: All data must be encrypted according to current standards, both during transmission and storage.
- Access rights: You need to be able to control in a fine-grained manner which of your internal users can see and edit which data.
Ask the provider specifically about their security certificates and let them show you the technical and organizational measures (TOMs) for data protection. This gives you the necessary security that you are legally on the clean side.
How do I convince my team and the employees in the pool?
The best software is of no use if no one uses it. Acceptance from your internal planners and external forces is the linchpin for success. The key to this is clear and honest communication.
For your internal team (dispatchers, HR):
- Focus on relief: Show them how much time they will save by automating processes. Fewer phone calls, less Excel chaos, less stress in the event of short-term failures.
- Early involvement: Include the future main users in the selection process. Your practical experience is worth its weight in gold and creates identification with the new tool right from the start.
For your pool employees (temporary workers, freelancers):
- Emphasize the benefits for them: A modern app makes it much easier for you to report your availability and accept job offers with a click. No questions, no uncertainty.
- Transparency and fairness: Explain that the software ensures comprehensible operational planning and correct, timely billing.
- Easy to use: Choose software with an intuitive mobile app that is self-explanatory and does not require a long training period.
A simple set of instructions or a short explanatory video at the start can work wonders to break down initial hurdles and get everyone on board quickly.
Are you ready to simplify your personnel planning and efficiently manage your own flexible employee pool? job.rocks offers you the right software solution to manage availability, deployment and billing centrally and digitally. Discover now how you can save time and increase your planning quality.