When an hourly worker has no backup plan before a shift, Escalate gives them one

What the interview covers

• Nick Beadle asks how Escalate began. Sean and Sienna started as teachers in low-income areas, then ran workforce development nonprofits for twenty years. Many of the people they trained and placed lost the job within ninety days, because nothing was there to catch them when something went wrong before a shift.
• Sienna explains how a worker gets help with transportation. The worker texts the problem in the Escalate app, and a coach asks a few questions to understand what is going on. When the reason is valid, the worker has a way to get to work within about a minute or two, such as a rideshare voucher or, in rural areas, a local taxi.
• Sean explains why employers pay for it. The McDonald’s franchisees Escalate works with put the cost of one call-out at $350, from overtime, slower sales and customers who see a long drive-thru line and do not join it. Sean adds that call-outs are a real problem for the workers and their families too, because they are the people who most need the paycheck.
• Nick Beadle asks what policymakers should notice. Sean says people want to work, and that the obstacles are practical, such as buses in Prince George’s County, Maryland, that do not run on weekends. Sean and Sienna also explain why workers can still lack a safety net at higher wages.

If you can get someone past their first 90 days, they are much more likely to make it to the year.

Sean Segal, co-founder of Escalate, in Jobs That Work

It’s really just about making sure that, within about a minute or two, they have a solution that will allow them to show up to work that day and show up on time.

Sienna Daniel, co-founder of Escalate, in Jobs That Work

Jobs That Work is a newsletter on American workforce development by Nick Beadle, a former workforce chief of staff at the Department of Labor. Read the full interview on jobsthat.work.