Case studyPlatform concept · interactive prototype
Gig Shift
Shift coverage from both sides
A shift-coverage concept for Australia, connecting available workers with businesses that need cover, from bartending and event crew to plumbing, trades, and retail.
- Project
- Shift coverage and flexible work platform concept
- Designed for
- Australian hospitality workers, tradespeople, retail teams, and event crews
- Focus
- Shift posting, applications, acceptance, maps, and schedules
What it does
Gig Shift explores flexible work in Australia across hospitality, trades, retail, and events. A bar needs a bartender for the weekend rush, a plumbing crew needs another skilled pair of hands, or an event needs extra crew: the aim is to connect open work with someone available and suited to the role.
The concept brings the role, hours, pay, location, and application into one workflow. Businesses can review applicants and confirm cover, while workers can find opportunities that fit their skills and schedules.
The problem
Short-notice coverage often starts with calls and group chats. The concept needed to make role, hours, pay, urgency, and location visible before an application, then give the team a clear way to choose one person.
Our approach
We modeled both sides of the workflow: teams post shifts and review applicants, while workers browse, apply, and follow their schedules.
Acceptance updates the selected application, declines competing pending applications, and claims the shift together in the browser’s state. The broader Gig Shift concept applies that interaction pattern to other kinds of shift work.
Research and context
Gig Shift is a flexible-work concept for Australia, spanning hospitality, trades, retail, and events. ABS estimates of casual employment provide local context for these industries. They describe the workforce, not open shifts or demand for Gig Shift. [1]
Casual employment across selected Australian industries
Australia, August 2025. Estimated casual employees by industry of main job, expressed as people.
Preparing chart. The exact figures are available below.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services | 484,000 |
| Retail trade | 425,200 |
| Construction | 141,000 |
| Arts and recreation services | 72,200 |
ABS Working arrangements, “Casual employees, by industry,” 2025 column. Published estimates in thousands are multiplied by 1,000; this conversion does not increase their precision. Coverage is employed civilians aged 15+ within the Characteristics of Employment survey scope.
Casual employment is not a count of vacancies, shifts, or platform workers. Selected industries are broader than individual roles such as plumbing or event crew. Survey estimates have sampling error and exclude some populations and very remote areas; they are not Gig Shift results.
What was built
A filtered shift board
The original prototype supports search, shift-type filters, urgency, and dates.
One acceptance workflow
Accepting an applicant claims the shift and declines its other pending applications in the prototype’s state.
Applicant triage
Teams review applicants for a single shift or across their open work.
A shift map
The map and list connect locations to the shifts shown on screen.
A professional schedule
Claimed shifts can be reviewed in a calendar or list, alongside the professional’s profile and applications.
State that survives a reload
Shift edits and application decisions persist in the same browser.
Product walkthrough
Browse open work
The prototype’s shift board shows role, time, pay, urgency, and location.
Review the applicants
The team portal brings pending applications into one decision view.
Follow the acceptance
Confirming one applicant claims the shift and closes its competing pending applications in browser state.
See the schedule
The professional’s calendar and list show the claimed work.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
The outcome
The implemented prototype connects shift posting, applications, acceptance, and scheduling. Gig Shift carries that workflow into a broader flexible work concept for hospitality, trades, retail, and events.
Scope and next steps
The recordings show the original ShiftLink prototype with sample healthcare roles. Bartending, plumbing, and other industries are part of the broader Gig Shift concept, rather than a role catalog implemented in the recorded demo.
The prototype uses seeded records, browser storage, and mock authentication. It has no real backend or operating staffing service.
Credential verification and server-side compliance enforcement belong to separate design work and are not implemented features of this demo.
Sources
Australian Bureau of Statistics · December 12, 2025; August 2025 reference period
Working arrangements, August 2025The 2025 column of “Casual employees, by industry” supplies the four workforce estimates.
Australian Bureau of Statistics · August 2025 survey; checked October 1, 2026
Characteristics of Employment, Australia methodology, August 2025Survey coverage, main-job concepts, weighting, and estimate limitations.
Project evidence
Gig Shift’s broader hospitality, trades, retail, and events direction comes from the product brief. Reviewed implementation and recordings are the original ShiftLink healthcare frontend prototype with seeded shifts and browser storage. The broader role catalog, real staffing operations, and platform adoption have not been demonstrated.
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