Speakers: Joshua James, Owner, Orion Pax Inc
What specific challenges were you facing before switching to 2on2off, and how has the platform helped you solve them?
Joshua James: So the challenge I was facing before switching to 2on2off is that my manager complained about how much time it took to produce the schedule. And so I was one of these DSPs with a high paid manager. We started out just using Google Sheets to, you know, blow out the schedule from Google Sheets. I moved to Homebase and so when my manager was complaining about how long it was taking to do the schedule, I was using a scheduling app called Homebase, which is I think one of the industry leaders. And, so, I was also going through a point in time where my insurance had tripled, and so I was looking at ways to cut costs, and one of those significant costs was my high paid manager, and so I switched to 2on2off And, honestly, it was just super easy to use. I love the UI and the interface, much easier to use than, like, the industry leader Homebase, which was surprising, and I think maybe because 2on2off is built for DSPs, but it allowed me to get rid of that manager and I just put the function of managing the schedule on the dispatchers. And the reason why they were able to manage the schedule is because when people go into the 2on2off schedule, they have their schedule blown out for them in perpetuity. Whereas, my manager, he was producing the schedule every week. And, so, every week he would produce a new schedule that was cumbersome on him because he would have to go through and remember who said they wanted off. But then at the same time, the team never really knew what their schedule was until the Thursday, Friday, sometime Saturday before the next week. And, so, switching to 2on2off just really made things easier, allowed me to get rid of my, my ops manager and just go with two dispatchers, front half, back half, and they manage the changes on the schedule.
What impact has 2on2off had on your team—especially your drivers—and your bottom line?
Joshua James: So I think the biggest impact 2on 2off has had with my team is one, it removed the high paid manager that was complaining about managing the schedule. Two, I think it boosted the morale of the team, because now they have their schedule, and they know what it is 3 months from now, a month from now, whereas before they only knew their schedule a week ahead. Additionally, they're able to manage their own schedule. So if they have to take off 3 months in advance, they say, hey, I'm gonna give up my my day on this. On June 29th and somebody else is able to pick it up and all of that's managed through my dispatchers and so now I've gotten rid of my manager my ops manager, and the dispatchers are running the show, but they're more engaged with, you know, who's gonna show up for the day, who's scheduled for the day. And so I think the third thing is just for my sanity and I guess the, dispatcher's sanity is just the the UI, you know, how easy to use 2on2off is. You just click on the day, it shows you how many people are scheduled, and then you can just keep clicking and move through the days and see how many people are scheduled. And that's on the app. So as soon as I pull up the app, it's right there, And, I know how many people are scheduled for the day. And then the dispatchers. Can put in notes, this person called off, this person didn't show up, And then we're able to use that the next week to, change the schedule if we need to. And, so it's just, it's just an ease of use with 2on 2off that that I really appreciate.
What would you say to another DSP who’s on the fence about trying 2on2off?
Joshua James: What I'd say to another DSP who's on the fence about using 2on2off: make the switch! It's gonna be easier than anything that you're currently using. Like I said, we went from Google Sheets, which I didn't think was too difficult, but as we grew, and I, you know, I offboarded that responsibility to other people, I think it was difficult for them to manage. And so then I moved to Homebase, which is a scheduling app, and there was still difficulty and and even when I logged in, it was hard to tell how many people were scheduled and things like that. Um, 2on2off, the user interface is really easy to use, and I think it's just gonna make your life easier and the fact that it's designed by a DSP owner, it just functions better for, what we're doing. In addition to that, I would say that, you know, when I launched it, I used, I, didn't use the 2 days on, 2 days off. I made custom schedules, and so that's another thing that I like about the UI and the functionality of 2on2off. So I created custom schedules, and I just moved everybody on the team over to a custom schedule that was the same schedule that they were already on. And so that made the transition really, really easy because people didn't see a change in their schedule, but then they got this all this added functionality of being able to switch days, you know, raise their hand for extra voluntary time or raise their hand to, take extra voluntary time off, and so I, think, I think the easiest way for me to when I did it was just creating custom schedules, moving everybody over to a custom schedule and then from there, new folks that come in, they can go on the 2on2off schedule or they can go on to a custom schedule, but it's just so easy to just look at the monthly calendar and see how many people you have scheduled each day. And know what your capacity is and be able to hit, you know, hit, the demand that Amazon is forecasting, so.
