This factory was severely short on workers. Then it offered flexible work

The Roper Corp., owned by GE Appliances, manufactures ovens and ranges in LaFayette, Georgia. Julie Holder for NPR hide caption

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LAFAYETTE, Ga. — The freedom to choose your work hours has been a game changer for many white-collar workers. Now, it has quietly become an option for some blue-collar workers as well.

With U.S. manufacturers struggling to staff up, a handful are opening the doors to people who may not be seeking a traditional career in the industry or even a 40-hour workweek.

It's a change that manufacturers including Stanley Black & Decker and Georgia-Pacific are embracing. And it has also taken hold in rural northwest Georgia.

Ruth Ransom calls it the best thing she has ever heard.

"I wasn't interested in working full time," says the 68-year-old grandmother, who considered herself retired when she learned of the opportunity to pick up shifts at the Roper Corp., a kitchen appliance plant owned by GE Appliances. "I was just wanting to work part time, maybe two days a week somewhere. You know, just to get out of the house."

Ruth Ransom, 68, likes having flexible hours and the option to choose what type of work she wants to do. Julie Holder for NPR hide caption

Today, Ransom is part of a pool of more than 900 workers who sign up for shifts via an app. Not only do workers make their own schedules, deciding how many four-hour shifts to pick up each week, but they also choose what kind of work they want to do. Assembly line jobs are fast-paced and physically demanding, so Ransom often opts for quality control, which she finds less taxing.

"It's your choice," she says. "I love it."

A COVID-era struggle leads to a "crazy" idea

GE Appliances first embraced flexible work out of necessity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company found itself inundated with orders and severely short on workers.

"People were buying appliances in record numbers, because they were staying at home and they were cooking," says Tony Gabbert, the plant's director of manufacturing operations. "It was a great time, great problem to have when you're just selling product so fast that you can't hardly make them quick enough."

The not-great problem was that workers were staying home, even quitting, because of COVID-19. On some days, the plant was hundreds of workers short. Salaried employees, including Gabbert, had to step in to keep the highest-priority lines moving.

Tony Gabbert is the plant's director of manufacturing operations. Julie Holder for NPR hide caption

Amid the crunch, Gabbert learned of a staffing firm called MyWorkChoice. Its pitch was intriguing. The firm would recruit and vet a pool of workers who could be trained to do different jobs, building ovens and ranges across the plant. The workers, who would remain employees of MyWorkChoice, would use an app to sign up for open shifts, covering for absences and helping out with increased demand.

Gabbert presented the idea to his boss, Bill Good, GE Appliances' vice president of manufacturing. Today, the two of them chuckle, recalling his response.

"I did say this is crazy," says Good, who has worked in manufacturing for almost four decades.

An industry that runs on consistency

The mantra in manufacturing, Good says, is that you need consistency to build a quality product. It's why, for generations, the proposition to workers was simple.

"We would say: Hey, we have a 40-hour job. We will pay you this amount. This is your benefits. You show up every day, and that is a nonnegotiable," says Good.

What was initially proposed felt like the antithesis of that: adding workers who could sign up for as little as two hours of work at a time.

"The two-hour increments scared the heck out of me, because I was envisioning people coming and going at a rate that we could not control," says Good.

In a typical week at Roper, about 450 flexible workers pick up shifts through the MyWorkChoice app. They work an average of 24 hours a week. Julie Holder for NPR hide caption

So they settled on four-hour shifts. They started out small, in just a couple of areas of the plant, and expanded over time. Today, in any given week, about 450 flexible workers — roughly half the pool — pick up shifts at the plant, with workers putting in an average of 24 hours a week.

Their contributions have been key to GE Appliances' $180 million expansion of the Georgia plant, completed last year, which added 600 new jobs.

Prizing flexibility over money and benefits

Good's hope is that some of the workers who make their way to manufacturing through MyWorkChoice will discover that they want a career in the industry after all.

"I think with the current workforce, the way that it 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," says Darcy Duvall, the plant's director of human resources operations.

She has found that people are comfortable with app-based work. Workers get rated on their reliability. Those with the highest ratings get the first pick of shifts.

"This is like the Uber of manufacturing," Duvall says.

She has also come to see that many workers prize flexibility despite the significant trade-offs — like lower pay and almost no benefits. MyWorkChoice employees can opt into their own group healthcare plan, but few do.

Kwame Crockett started working at Roper a few days a week to supplement his job managing properties in a mobile home park. He's now working full-time hours at the plant but is happy that he can take off time whenever he wants. Julie Holder for NPR hide caption

Kwame Crockett is among a sizable share of flexible workers who are putting in full-time hours at the plant. When he first started with MyWorkChoice, he saw it as a way to supplement his other job, managing and remodeling properties in a mobile home park. He'd sign up for shifts at the plant a few days a week.

"At the time, it worked out perfectly," he says.

More recently, he has been working five days a week. Under the agreement between GE Appliances and MyWorkChoice, Crockett could become a full-time employee of the plant and gain access to GE Appliances' full benefits package, which includes paid time off, paid holidays, on-site healthcare and even a 401(k) match.

But Crockett isn't interested — for now, anyway.

"I've thought about it," he says. "But I never know when my other remodeling or anything might kick up. So I might need a vacation or a little time off, you know?"

Keeping experienced workers on the job

The flexible work option has also helped GE Appliances keep longtime employees with decades of experience on the job.

Doris Hamby worked at the plant full time for 35 years. After her husband died, she might have retired. Instead, she went part time. These days, at 62, she works three to four days a week.

Doris Hamby worked at the factory full time for 35 years before going part time. Her schedule allows her to spend time with her grandkids and take care of her mother. Julie Holder for NPR hide caption

"That way I can spend time with the grandkids, and my momma's real sick so I'm having to take care of her too," she says.

After her move to part time, her boss got her back on the same line, so she's doing the same work, although for a couple of dollars less per hour. Being free to set her own schedule makes it worth it, she says.

"I got people asking me, 'When you going to retire? When you going to quit?'" Hamby says.

Last year, she told her co-workers maybe by the end of the year. Now, she's saying maybe by the end of this year.

"I'll probably be here a while," she says.