WorkWhile Innovation & Technology Culture

What types of products or services does your engineering team work on/create? What problem are you solving for customers?

At WorkWhile, the engineering team is building a smarter marketplace that connects hourly workers with flexible, better-paying jobs and helps businesses reliably fill shifts. Behind that simplicity is a set of complex systems designed to predict how likely a shift is to be filled and determine which workers see which opportunities first.

The team uses traditional AI algorithms for shift prediction and tier management, ensuring that preferred workers — those with strong reliability and past performance — are shown jobs first before the pool expands. That helps companies fill shifts faster and workers find consistent, fair work.

Beyond the worker-matching engine, the team is also focused on reducing operational overhead. We’ve developed an LLM-powered tool that lets non-technical teams query internal data using natural language, making it possible for anyone to quickly get the insights they need without relying on engineers.

Tell us about a recent project where your team used AI as a tool. What was it meant to accomplish? How did you use AI to assist?

One of the team’s recent projects centered on reducing the day-to-day operational burden for support and marketplace operations teams. Historically, these teams often needed engineering help to pull custom data or generate reports, which created bottlenecks. To solve this, our engineers built an internal LLM-powered interface — essentially a natural-language data assistant — that lets anyone ask questions like, “Show me unfilled shifts in San Francisco this week,” and get real-time answers without writing SQL or waiting on engineering time. The goal was to make data access effortless and empower non-technical users to act faster. 

On the engineering side, we also use AI tools like ChatGPT Codex and code-review agents to handle routine tasks. These save valuable hours and keep engineers focused on building scalable systems that power our labor marketplace. AI isn’t replacing our engineers; it’s helping them work smarter and enabling every team to move faster.

What would that project have looked like if you didn't have AI as a tool to use? How has AI changed the way you work, in general?

Without AI, the project would have required team members to manually fulfill every data request and maintain custom reporting tools — a process that could take a long time and divert valuable time from product development. By introducing an LLM-powered interface, data access now happens instantly, and non-technical teams can self-serve insights without waiting on engineering bandwidth.

Across engineering, AI has become a powerful enabler. The team is encouraged to experiment with tools that improve efficiency — from code review assistants to auto-completion — but no one is required to use them. Adoption happens naturally when a tool proves valuable. This flexible approach keeps engineers in control while fostering a culture of curiosity and experimentation. AI isn’t a mandate at WorkWhile; it’s a multiplier, helping people work smarter, move faster and focus on building meaningful systems that empower hourly workers.