As workforce regulations tighten and shift-based work grows more complex, scheduling is quietly becoming one of the most strategic—and risky—parts of HR operations. MakeShift is betting that governance-first technology is the answer.
The cloud-based workforce scheduling platform has announced a strategic partnership with edays, a UK-based leader in absence and HR management. Through the agreement, edays will offer workforce scheduling powered by MakeShift, giving UK organizations access to advanced, rules-driven scheduling designed to reduce compliance risk and operational friction.
The timing is deliberate. The UK is entering a multi-year period of employment law reform, with changes rolling out through 2026 and 2027 that raise expectations around predictable working patterns, shift notice periods, and protections for variable-hours workers. For employers in healthcare, retail, hospitality, and the public sector—where flexible staffing is essential—those reforms are turning scheduling from an operational task into a compliance challenge.
Scheduling Moves From Back Office to Front Line
Historically, workforce scheduling has lived in spreadsheets or basic tools focused on coverage and cost. That approach is becoming increasingly fragile. UK reforms are pushing employers to demonstrate not just that schedules work, but that they are fair, predictable, and policy-compliant by design.
MakeShift’s platform is built around what it calls a governance-first scheduling engine—one that enforces workforce rules at the point of schedule creation rather than relying on manual checks after the fact. Integrated with edays’ time, absence, and HR capabilities, the combined solution is designed to manage real-world complexity: employee availability, layered time-off rules, fatigue considerations, and contractual constraints.
The result is a more unified workforce management stack, particularly attractive to organizations that already rely on edays for absence tracking and HR administration.
Why This Partnership Matters Now
The partnership reflects a broader shift in HR technology priorities. As labor laws evolve, employers are under pressure to operationalize compliance rather than treat it as a reporting exercise. Scheduling sits at the center of that challenge.
Under upcoming UK reforms, organizations will face increased scrutiny around how far in advance shifts are published, how changes are communicated, and how variable-hours workers are protected from unpredictability. Manual scheduling or lightweight tools struggle under those demands.
By embedding MakeShift’s scheduling intelligence into edays’ platform, the two companies are positioning scheduling as a policy-enforcement layer, not just a planning tool.
AI Steps Into the Scheduling Engine Room
Beyond compliance, the MakeShift platform brings advanced AI capabilities aimed at reducing the administrative burden that often comes with rules-heavy scheduling. These include:
-
Demand forecasting to anticipate staffing needs
-
Automated schedule generation and optimization
-
Intelligent self-service that reduces manager and administrator workload
For HR and operations teams, that combination matters. Regulations may be tightening, but expectations around agility and responsiveness aren’t easing. AI-driven scheduling helps organizations adapt quickly—without sacrificing consistency or compliance.
Importantly, MakeShift’s AI is designed to operate within configured rules, not override them. That distinction is becoming critical as regulators and works councils take a closer look at algorithmic decision-making in the workplace.
A Strategic Step in MakeShift’s Global Expansion
For MakeShift, the edays partnership is also a clear signal of international ambition. While the company has seen strong adoption across healthcare, public sector, retail, and hospitality, the UK and EU represent markets where regulatory complexity creates both barriers and opportunities.
CEO Adam Greenberg framed the partnership as a response to growing workforce complexity and legislative change, emphasizing confidence and risk reduction as key value drivers. In practical terms, the alliance gives MakeShift a faster route into UK enterprises by pairing its scheduling engine with a trusted local HR platform.
edays, meanwhile, expands its footprint from absence and HR management into one of the most operationally sensitive areas of workforce management.
Employee Experience Meets Compliance
One of the more interesting dynamics in the partnership is how compliance and employee experience are converging. Predictable schedules, clear shift communication, and fair treatment of variable-hours workers aren’t just legal requirements—they’re also core drivers of engagement and retention.
Jon Maddison, CEO of edays, highlighted workforce visibility and streamlined people planning as key benefits. That visibility cuts both ways: employers gain better control and insight, while employees gain clearer expectations and fewer last-minute surprises.
As competition for frontline and shift-based talent intensifies, those factors are becoming differentiators, not checkboxes.
The Bigger HR Tech Picture
The MakeShift–edays partnership reflects a larger trend in HR tech: the elevation of workforce scheduling from niche tool to strategic platform capability. As organizations rely more heavily on flexible labor models, scheduling intersects with compliance, wellbeing, DE&I, and productivity.
Vendors that can handle that intersection—without overwhelming managers or employees—are gaining ground. The emphasis on rules-driven automation, rather than free-form AI, suggests a maturing market that understands the risks as well as the rewards of automation.
For UK employers facing a wave of regulatory change, the message is clear: scheduling is no longer just about filling shifts. It’s about building trust, reducing risk, and proving compliance by design.
With this partnership, MakeShift and edays are positioning themselves squarely at that crossroads—just as the stakes are rising.
As workforce regulations tighten and shift-based work grows more complex, scheduling is quietly becoming one of the most strategic—and risky—parts of HR operations. MakeShift is betting that governance-first technology is the answer.
The cloud-based workforce scheduling platform has announced a strategic partnership with edays, a UK-based leader in absence and HR management. Through the agreement, edays will offer workforce scheduling powered by MakeShift, giving UK organizations access to advanced, rules-driven scheduling designed to reduce compliance risk and operational friction.
The timing is deliberate. The UK is entering a multi-year period of employment law reform, with changes rolling out through 2026 and 2027 that raise expectations around predictable working patterns, shift notice periods, and protections for variable-hours workers. For employers in healthcare, retail, hospitality, and the public sector—where flexible staffing is essential—those reforms are turning scheduling from an operational task into a compliance challenge.
Scheduling Moves From Back Office to Front Line
Historically, workforce scheduling has lived in spreadsheets or basic tools focused on coverage and cost. That approach is becoming increasingly fragile. UK reforms are pushing employers to demonstrate not just that schedules work, but that they are fair, predictable, and policy-compliant by design.
MakeShift’s platform is built around what it calls a governance-first scheduling engine—one that enforces workforce rules at the point of schedule creation rather than relying on manual checks after the fact. Integrated with edays’ time, absence, and HR capabilities, the combined solution is designed to manage real-world complexity: employee availability, layered time-off rules, fatigue considerations, and contractual constraints.
The result is a more unified workforce management stack, particularly attractive to organizations that already rely on edays for absence tracking and HR administration.
Why This Partnership Matters Now
The partnership reflects a broader shift in HR technology priorities. As labor laws evolve, employers are under pressure to operationalize compliance rather than treat it as a reporting exercise. Scheduling sits at the center of that challenge.
Under upcoming UK reforms, organizations will face increased scrutiny around how far in advance shifts are published, how changes are communicated, and how variable-hours workers are protected from unpredictability. Manual scheduling or lightweight tools struggle under those demands.
By embedding MakeShift’s scheduling intelligence into edays’ platform, the two companies are positioning scheduling as a policy-enforcement layer, not just a planning tool.
AI Steps Into the Scheduling Engine Room
Beyond compliance, the MakeShift platform brings advanced AI capabilities aimed at reducing the administrative burden that often comes with rules-heavy scheduling. These include:
-
Demand forecasting to anticipate staffing needs
-
Automated schedule generation and optimization
-
Intelligent self-service that reduces manager and administrator workload
For HR and operations teams, that combination matters. Regulations may be tightening, but expectations around agility and responsiveness aren’t easing. AI-driven scheduling helps organizations adapt quickly—without sacrificing consistency or compliance.
Importantly, MakeShift’s AI is designed to operate within configured rules, not override them. That distinction is becoming critical as regulators and works councils take a closer look at algorithmic decision-making in the workplace.
A Strategic Step in MakeShift’s Global Expansion
For MakeShift, the edays partnership is also a clear signal of international ambition. While the company has seen strong adoption across healthcare, public sector, retail, and hospitality, the UK and EU represent markets where regulatory complexity creates both barriers and opportunities.
CEO Adam Greenberg framed the partnership as a response to growing workforce complexity and legislative change, emphasizing confidence and risk reduction as key value drivers. In practical terms, the alliance gives MakeShift a faster route into UK enterprises by pairing its scheduling engine with a trusted local HR platform.
edays, meanwhile, expands its footprint from absence and HR management into one of the most operationally sensitive areas of workforce management.
Employee Experience Meets Compliance
One of the more interesting dynamics in the partnership is how compliance and employee experience are converging. Predictable schedules, clear shift communication, and fair treatment of variable-hours workers aren’t just legal requirements—they’re also core drivers of engagement and retention.
Jon Maddison, CEO of edays, highlighted workforce visibility and streamlined people planning as key benefits. That visibility cuts both ways: employers gain better control and insight, while employees gain clearer expectations and fewer last-minute surprises.
As competition for frontline and shift-based talent intensifies, those factors are becoming differentiators, not checkboxes.
The Bigger HR Tech Picture
The MakeShift–edays partnership reflects a larger trend in HR tech: the elevation of workforce scheduling from niche tool to strategic platform capability. As organizations rely more heavily on flexible labor models, scheduling intersects with compliance, wellbeing, DE&I, and productivity.
Vendors that can handle that intersection—without overwhelming managers or employees—are gaining ground. The emphasis on rules-driven automation, rather than free-form AI, suggests a maturing market that understands the risks as well as the rewards of automation.
For UK employers facing a wave of regulatory change, the message is clear: scheduling is no longer just about filling shifts. It’s about building trust, reducing risk, and proving compliance by design.
With this partnership, MakeShift and edays are positioning themselves squarely at that crossroads—just as the stakes are rising.
Join thousands of HR leaders who rely on HRTechEdge for the latest in workforce technology, AI-driven HR solutions, and strategic insights
