may2023 - 18

Cover Story
" I think that was the gen " We've
started as prescriptive and now it's become predictive.
esis of the idea. "
When he first joined
Unifi, Thakkar would ask
frontline employees what
information they wanted
at their fingertips. The
common responses included
access to pay and related
salary information as well
as using paid time off and
Our model seems to be improving over a period of time, " Thakkar
says. " It keeps rewriting itself twice a week, so the model
is improved.
" Moving from a prescriptive to a predictive model, from
Through WorkJam, Unifi
is able to use the mobile
app to foster employee
engagement, improve morale
and reduce attrition.
managing shifts.
" All of that, we essentially automated, " Thakkar says.
" We have almost a 60 percent adoption rate for WorkJam, " he
continues. " The ease with which they can access information
is important. That improves their experience of working with
us, and we believe that if we can take that experience out of the
hands of the managers and supervisors - basic information -
and pass it to the frontline employees, themselves, it just gives
them a better way of actually managing their time. "
Because each of Unifi's markets have different hourly contracts,
WorkJam allows corporate management to centralize
this information and ensure accuracy when issuing paychecks.
" Frontline employees depend a lot on their weekly or biweekly
paychecks. We wanted to rein all that in so that we had
control, and we wanted to make sure there were zero errors, "
Thakkar says.
Migrating from manual processes to WorkJam has been a
huge transformation for an organization the size of Unifi.
" I commend the HR and the technology teams and the operators
for adopting it because it was something that was very
much needed in the field, " Thakkar says. " Their ability to take
that and put it to use so that it creates a very streamlined process,
I think, is wonderful to see. "
WorkJam officials have continued to work with Unifi to add
additional functionalities and ensure new features fit the company's
needs. For example, WorkJam implemented a feature
that allows employees to receive fractional pay prior to established
pay days. Unifi has also worked with WorkJam to pilot a
function that allows employees to swap shifts with one another.
" There are different things that we're trying, " Thakkar says.
" The idea and the sole purpose is to have easy access to information
so you can do your job better and improve your employee
experience for the time you're spending with us. "
Data Modeling
Unifi has also enhanced safety by implementing a predictive
data modeling program in collaboration with Microsoft and
Artis Consulting.
The system offers two phases which allows operation managers
to predict what might happen and offer solutions to avoid
problems. The predictive component of the data model analyzes
risks associated with organization safety, aircraft ground
damage and employee injuries. The prescriptive component
provides solutions to prevent risk.
18 || Ground Support Worldwide || May 2023
trying to figure out what happened last week to actually doing
the root cause that's telling you this might happen this week - I
think it's a huge shift from our perspective, " he adds.
After piloting the artificial intelligence solution, Unifi is now
rolling it out to other stations across the country.
" The reception and the people who have started using it,
it's been great feedback for us, " Thakkar says. " Now it's about
increasing adoption and making sure people are actually using
it, so that our customers can see the value in it as well. "
The data modeling system is able to identify patterns and
learn from them. The system has access to 30 data points and
500 individual variables, which allows it to recognize potential
risk and other issues more effectively than humans.
Capturing that information gives Unifi tremendous insight
into what might happen, Thakkar explains.
" The model from the base case has improved dramatically
and it keeps improving to the point where, if there is an incident
of a worker injury or aircraft damage that has happened, there's
a 99 percent chance that if we had the tool in place, we would
have caught it, " he says.
Leadership
While technology has enabled Unifi to achieve several recent
successes, Thakkar also credits the people who have been
tasked with leading the company's transformation.
" If you take a look at the leadership team that we have, I think
that's a very important reason that we've been able to grow the
business, scale the business, " Thakkar says. " It's a very diverse
group of individuals with very diverse backgrounds.
" If you look at the people who are in the respective roles,
I think they are probably the best in the industry in terms
of what they do, which helps provide the kind of guidance
that we need. "
According to Thakkar, culture has been an important element
of Unifi's journey. He says company leaders wanted to
establish a culture that was more service-oriented. That culture
is established at the top.
" We may be corporate, but we are essentially working for the
frontline employees - not the other way around, " Thakkar says,
adding Unifi's goal is to improve the experience of its employees.
" We are trying to do whatever we can to make sure that they
are having a great experience working with us. "
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view former Service Leaders of
the Year, please visit:
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may2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of may2023
