If the Pandemic has made us rethink the way we work, we will leave out a large portion of the workforce that still shows up for work in person every time. frontline workers in critical industries don't have the basic tools they need to do simple tasks like switch shifts, ask HR a question or see when their next paycheck arrives as knowledge workers explore the virtual office.
There is a business imperative right now and there is an exciting opportunity to create more paths to the middle class.
Clauson and Young-Jae Kim met while studying at the University of Georgia. The gap in communication between deskless workers and their employers was identified through their research interests.
[There are] 2.7 billion people globally, who never sit at computers to do their jobs. So they never worked from home over the pandemic and they never will because they can’t actually do their job that way. So most often folks think of manufacturing, distribution — basically anybody who’s out there working with their hands on the field on the floor.
These folks do not use software, and especially work software, they just in general do not and the reason being is they’re not sitting at computers, they’re not going to use something on a desktop. They’re probably not using email [and] they probably don’t even have an email address. And they’re also increasingly not downloading or using apps on their phone — or they don’t even have a phone that you can use an app on.
In-person workforce attrition is a big issue for employers. Many workers aren't necessarily fluent in the language of their workplace and face other barriers to connecting at work, creating turnover issues The one sure-fire platform that reaches everyone and doesn't let anyone fall through the cracks is what Anthill offers, a non-app way for employers to communicate with workers.
If we wanted these people to stay in our studies we had to text them. We are bullish on technology that meets people where they are, works within the fiber of how they already work, and doesn't force them to learn a new suite of technologies.
The idea is to give workers a way to get any information they need in a text message. A way on the employer side to automate as much of that as possible makes sense, as well as offering a full portal of resources without forcing people to download apps or jump through hoops that aren't everyone's cup of tea.
In the interest of making access to those resources more equitable, Anthill automatically translate its services into more than 100 languages.
Clauson said that a lot of family members have not been able to participate in benefit adoption or know how to have any kind of outside of work community through their employer because of language.
There are a lot of people who can work in English, but that doesn't mean they will be able to navigate their ability to work in other languages.
Manufacturing, distribution, and agriculture are some of the core industries that will be focused on by the company. Kim and Clauson see opportunities for connecting deskless workers with employers in retail and healthcare, but note that those areas have more tech than other sectors.
Kim said that they focused on individual-level needs. Kim said that the workers need the answer immediately. Managers can save recent answers to commonly asked questions and personalize the resources in a way that is more tech-focused with the help of Anthill.
AM radio and an old fashioned corkboard are the two modes of communication that Anthill replaces most frequently.
We try to stay focused. Clauson said that they are focused on manufacturing workers inside of plants or distribution workers in trucks. We saw the biggest pain points at that location.
A paid pilots version of the product was released in the following year. The company launched a full version of the platform and currently operates in over 300 job sites in the U.S., with global contracts in the future
A test run with a single distribution center or a cluster of regional sites is usually what large employers try out. It is easy to scale the platform up and out if it is a good fit. Kim and Clauson have observed swift adoption of the services, starting with the first worker who has a question answered successfully.
The most overlooked, under-appreciated population of the workforce that has an increasingly important voice is the one we get to work with.
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