The episode opens with a 25-second first-person vignette: a third-shift line worker who almost lost steady work after a single bus route change, then kept the job after a site shuttle began running.

This 20-minute episode translates that human moment into a pragmatic playbook for staffing teams and ops leaders: why modest, targeted transport supports often beat big programs; a contrarian tactic - micro-stipends for predictable anchor departures and neighborhood-based shift clusters that reverse conventional scheduling logic; and how to run a 30–60 day pilot with a $2k–$5k budget at one site.

Hosts Jennifer, Sam, Rod, and Shelbie convene a front-line recruiter, an operations scheduler, and the worker from the vignette to surface real tradeoffs.

Listeners leave with concrete eligibility rules (e.g., distance >2 miles or documented transit gap), scripted outreach lines, pilot metrics (show-rate lift, time-to-fill, 30-day retention).