How to get your crew to use the app
Why crews push back on new apps, and a rollout that gets the clock, the daily log and the photos done without a fight.
Software the crew won’t use is worth nothing. Most crews aren’t against technology.
They’re against anything that slows them down, makes them look bad or feels like being watched. A rollout that works deals with all three before the crew has to ask.
Hear the pushback first
Listen to the complaints before you answer them. They’re usually some version of these:
- It takes longer than the paper did.
- There’s no signal on site.
- It isn’t in their language.
- It feels like being tracked.
- The last app didn’t last a month.
Each one has a real answer. Give the answer before you hand out the app.
Start with one habit
Don’t launch everything on a Monday. Start with the habit that pays the crew back fastest. For most companies it’s the time clock: two taps a day, and no arguments about hours on payday.
Give it two weeks. Then add the daily log, then photos, then safety talks. One new habit at a time feels like a small change. Five at once feels like a new job.
Make it faster than the old way
If the app takes longer than the paper or the text message it replaces, the crew will go back to the paper. Check these before day one:
- It works with no signal. Basements, new subdivisions and steel buildings often have none. The app has to save on the phone and send later.
- It’s in their language. Each person should see the app in the language they read best.
- They see only what they need. A labourer needs the clock, today’s job and the camera. Hide the rest.
- Talking beats typing. Nobody types a daily report with gloves on. If the foreman can talk through the day instead, the report gets done.
Set each person up before you invite them, so the first time they open the app it already shows their job.
Say what’s in it for them
To a crew, a new app sounds like more paperwork for the office. Tell them what changes for them:
- Their hours are on record the moment they clock in, not on a sheet that can go missing.
- Fewer calls asking where they are or what got done.
- Their name on the work they did, with the photos to show it.
- Fewer trips to the office with paperwork.
Be straight about location. If the clock records where people are, say so before they install it: when it’s recorded, when it isn’t and who can see it.
Some provinces and states require a written policy or notice before you monitor employees electronically, so check yours. Crews accept a rule they were told about. They resent one they discover.
Train on site, not in the office
Show people on their own phone at the start of a shift. Install it with them, sign them in and have them clock in once while you watch. That sticks better than a meeting in the trailer.
Find the person on each crew who picks it up first and make them the go-to. Questions get answered on site, in the crew’s own words, and the foreman isn’t the help desk.
Back it up every day for the first month
The first month decides it. If timesheets still get fixed from texts and sticky notes, the crew learns the app is optional.
- Pay from the app. Hours that aren’t in it get fixed in it, not on paper.
- Answer in the app. When someone posts a report or a photo, react to it, so they know somebody reads it.
- Thank the people who get it right, in front of the crew.
After a month, ask the crew what still slows them down. Fix those settings first, then add the next habit.
How CrewLog does it
Each person gets a ready-made setup, like Field crew or Foreman, that shows them only what their job needs.
Field crew log reports, photos, talks and hours, see the drawings and the schedule, and never see costs or change orders.
Invites open in the person’s own language, English, French or Spanish, and each person can switch any time.
Reports, tasks and notes show in each reader’s language, with the original a tap away.
The crew · , 7:00 AM
The clock works with no bars: the punch waits on the phone and goes in when there’s signal. The foreman can talk through the day, and CrewLog writes the daily report.
You choose location for each person: required, standard or off. It’s recorded only while they’re on the clock: where the shift started, where it ended and the latest position.
Nothing is recorded when they’re clocked out or the app is closed.
The time clock and team members are on Crew at $89 a month and Pro at $179. Compare the plans.
More on the time clock, who sees what and languages on the features page.