A quiet revolution is taking place on factory floors across the country, and Houston’s sprawling manufacturing sector is paying close attention. A handful of U.S. manufacturers, including Stanley Black & Decker and Georgia-Pacific, are embracing flexible, app-based shift scheduling to attract workers in a tight labor market — and the model could have significant implications for Houston’s industrial workforce.
The approach, pioneered by companies like MyWorkChoice, allows workers to sign up for shifts via a smartphone app, choosing how many hours to work each week and even what type of work to do. It functions like “the Uber of manufacturing,” as one human resources director described it to NPR, giving workers unprecedented control over their schedules while giving manufacturers access to a pool of trained labor without the commitment of full-time hiring.
The model was tested at the Roper Corporation, a GE Appliances kitchen appliance plant in LaFayette, Georgia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the plant found itself hundreds of workers short on some days as orders surged. Tony Gabbert, the plant’s director of manufacturing operations, learned of MyWorkChoice’s pitch: recruit and vet a pool of workers trained to do different jobs, with workers using an app to sign up for open shifts. Bill Good, GE Appliances’ vice president of manufacturing, initially called the idea “crazy” — but it worked.
Today, roughly 450 flexible workers pick up shifts at the Georgia plant each week, averaging 24 hours per week. The approach helped justify a $180 million expansion that added 600 new jobs. Workers like Ruth Ransom, a 68-year-old grandmother who considered herself retired, now works part-time picking up quality control shifts. “It’s your choice,” Ransom told NPR. “I love it.”
For Houston, a city with one of the nation’s largest manufacturing workforces, the flexible model could be transformative. The Houston metropolitan area is home to thousands of manufacturing operations, ranging from petrochemical processing along the Ship Channel to fabricated metal products, machinery, and food processing. Many of these employers have struggled with chronic labor shortages, particularly for entry-level and production-line positions.
The flexible work model addresses several barriers that traditional manufacturing jobs cannot overcome. Workers who cannot commit to a 40-hour week — because of childcare, education, other jobs, or retirement — can contribute on their own terms. The four-hour shift minimum makes it possible to fit work around other responsibilities. And the ability to choose job types within the plant means workers can gravitate toward tasks that match their physical abilities and interests.
However, the trade-offs are significant. MyWorkChoice employees typically earn less than full-time workers and have minimal benefits. They can opt into a group healthcare plan, but few do. This has raised concerns about the creation of a two-tiered workforce in manufacturing, where a core of full-time employees enjoys good wages and benefits while a growing periphery of flexible workers does not.
Despite these concerns, the model is gaining traction. Darcy Duvall, the Georgia plant’s director of human resources operations, told NPR that the current workforce has changed. “It’s not the way that it was 20 years ago, where you come, you stay at a job and you work those hours,” Duvall said. Workers are comfortable with app-based scheduling and rating systems, where those with the highest reliability ratings get first pick of shifts.
Houston manufacturers facing similar staffing challenges are watching experiments like Roper closely. The city’s manufacturing sector employed roughly 250,000 workers before the pandemic, and many employers report ongoing difficulty filling positions. Traditional recruitment methods — offering 40-hour weeks, fixed schedules, and standard benefits packages — have not been sufficient to attract enough workers.
The flexible model also helps retain experienced workers. At the Georgia plant, Doris Hamby worked full-time for 35 years. After her husband died, she might have retired entirely. Instead, she went part-time through the flexible program, working three to four days a week at age 62. That kind of retention preserves institutional knowledge that is expensive to replace.
For Houston employers, the question is whether the flexible model can be adapted to industries beyond appliance manufacturing. Petrochemical plants, for example, operate continuously and require highly trained workers for safety-critical roles, making it harder to use untrained flexible labor. But for lighter manufacturing — packaging, assembly, food processing, and warehousing — the model could be a natural fit.
As Houston continues to grapple with workforce shortages in manufacturing, the app-based scheduling model offers a potential solution that trades consistency for flexibility. Whether local employers will embrace it as enthusiastically as GE Appliances remains to be seen, but the early results suggest the factory floor of the future may look very different from the one most Houston workers grew up with.
The flexible manufacturing model also intersects with Houston’s demographic trends. The city has one of the most diverse populations in the country, with large immigrant communities that have historically been underrepresented in manufacturing. Flexible scheduling can make factory work more accessible to workers who may have other obligations — language classes, childcare, or caring for elderly relatives — that make traditional 40-hour commitments difficult. By removing the rigid schedule requirement, manufacturers can tap into a broader talent pool.
However, labor advocates in Houston have raised concerns about the two-tiered workforce that flexible scheduling can create. Workers in the flexible pool may earn significantly less over the course of a year than their full-time counterparts, and the lack of benefits — particularly healthcare and retirement contributions — can create long-term financial insecurity. The Houston chapter of the AFL-CIO has called for policies that would ensure flexible workers receive pro-rated benefits, though such measures have not yet been enacted in Texas.
