Employee Allowance Platform
The platform behind the programs
that keep Florida working.
Built and operated by Way Out West to power the on-site fittings, voucher management, subsidy calculations, and HR self-service behind real safety footwear, apparel, and PPE programs.
Everything a real allowance program needs.
Two portals. Six subsidy workflows. 8 self-service reports. A live event queue board. Every capability below is shipping in production today.
QR codes that can't be redeemed twice.
Every voucher generates as a unique token with an embedded QR, delivered via branded email, SMS, or both. Reuse protection is enforced at the database — re-scan attempts return a clear error with the original use date.
- Email and SMS delivery — no paper vouchers, no lost copies
- Employees check in with their phone — no badge, no paper, no waiting on staff to look them up
- Items chosen at fitting carry to checkout automatically — no double entry, no lost selections
- $0 voucher support for fully company-paid programs
The old way
HR prints vouchers, hands them out, tracks who got one, replaces the ones that get lost. Workers show up to the event with paper in hand — or without it. Reception fields phone calls all morning.
The WRKForce way
Vouchers are emailed and texted directly to employees the day before the event. They show up, hold up their phone, scan in, walk to the fitting station. No paper. No reprints. No phone calls.
Three steps of paper-based admin, replaced by one scan.
The fitting floor, instrumented end-to-end.
Every event runs through a four-stage flow — Check-In, Queue, Fitting, Checkout — with live wait times, priority sorting, and a wall-mountable queue board that auto-refreshes every eight seconds.
- Long waits over 15 min flag automatically in red
- Skip-fitting flow for repeat customers
- Fit notes saved to the employee record
- Receipt reprint in two clicks from any past transaction
Six billing models. One engine. Zero overrides at the register.
Every contract is different. WRKForce ships with six distinct subsidy workflows, locked at the company level. Receipt math, tax allocation, settlement labels, and AR routing all adapt automatically.
01
Subsidy + Employee Overage
Subsidy applies; employee pays the overage at the register. Company is invoiced for the subsidy.
Settlement: Register + Invoiced
02
Subsidy + Payroll Deduction
Subsidy applies; the overage plus employee tax is auto-deducted from their paycheck. Company is invoiced for the subsidy.
Settlement: Payroll + Invoiced
03
100% Invoiced
Company covers 100%; employee pays nothing. Receipt top total reads "Total Invoiced".
Settlement: Invoiced
04
Payroll Deduction
Company fronts the entire purchase via invoice; the full amount is payroll-deducted from the employee.
Settlement: Payroll
05
Company Card
Full purchase swiped on the company card at the register. Receipt top total reads "Total Charged to Card".
Settlement: Company Card
06
Company + Employee Overage
Split tender at the register: subsidy on the company card, employee pays the overage themselves.
Settlement: Company Card + Register
The numbers your CFO asks for, before they ask.
Most managed programs send a quarterly spreadsheet. Maybe an annual summary. By the time you have the data, the questions have already been asked and the answers don't matter anymore.
WRKForce gives HR and finance teams 8 self-service reports through the client portal — pulled in real time, filterable by department, exportable on demand. Year-to-date spend, subsidy utilization, voucher activity, employee participation, budget pace versus forecast. Everything HR, safety, and finance ask for, available the moment they ask.
Behind the portal, the WRKForce operations team runs another 14 reports covering inventory valuation, vendor purchasing, sales analysis, and tax filing — so your team doesn't have to.
SPENDING
- · Spending Summary
- · Spending by Employee
- · Spending by Department
- · Spending by Event
UTILIZATION
- · Subsidy Utilization
- · Voucher Activity
- · Employee Participation
PURCHASING
- · Purchase Detail
Plus 14 additional reports run by the WRKForce operations team
Pulled the moment they're needed.
Live data, not last quarter's spreadsheet. Filter by date, department, event, or employee. Export to CSV in one click.
Year-end ready.
Pre-built reports for OSHA documentation, insurance reviews, and audit prep. The same data your auditors want, in the format they accept.
Payroll-ready exports.
Payroll-ready CSV exports formatted for major HRIS systems. No spreadsheet rebuilds. No manual reconciliation. HR submits to payroll the same day a fitting event closes.
Custom reports for Pro and Enterprise.
Pro programs include 1–2 custom reports per year, built to spec by the WRKForce team. Enterprise includes unlimited custom reports plus HRIS integrations and SSO.
If your finance team can ask the question, the answer is already in the portal.
From signing to ready — in days, not weeks.
WRKForce onboarding is among the fastest in the industry. Most accounts are configured, approved, and ready for an on-site event within days.
Discovery & setup
We meet your team, learn your roles and compliance requirements, and build your custom approved-style list.
Roster & subsidies
Upload your roster. Set department-level subsidies. Every employee inherits eligibility automatically.
Launch event
Mobile fitting truck, in-store visits, or online ordering. QR vouchers go out by email or SMS. Employees scan, fit, check out.
Ongoing program
HR monitors spend and runs reports from client.wrkforce.io. We handle fulfillment. You get a clean invoice.
How WRKForce compares.
Most managed-allowance programs run on infrastructure that wasn't built for them. Here's where WRKForce sits against the alternatives.
| WRKForce | Spreadsheets + email | Off-the-shelf POS | Catalog vendors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curated approved-style lists | limited | — | — | |
| Six subsidy workflows, locked at the register | — | — | — | |
| QR voucher engine with reuse protection | — | limited | — | |
| Live queue board for fitting events | — | — | — | |
| Department-level subsidy inheritance | — | limited | limited | |
| HR self-service portal | — | limited | — | |
| Payroll-ready export formats | manual | limited | — | |
| Full audit log on every action | limited | — | — | |
| Custom Employee Purchase Agreements | — | — | — | |
| Operator-run on-site fitting events | — | — | — |
What makes WRKForce different
Compliance isn't a checkbox. It's a curation.
For over 15 years, our team has been answering one question: what's the right gear for this job?
We don't sell catalogs. We curate a list.
For every employer we partner with, we build a custom approved-style list — based on the job, the environment, the union contract, the OSHA standard, and what we've seen actually hold up in the field for a decade.
A lineman doesn't need the same boot as a patrol officer. A citrus grove worker doesn't need what a cafeteria manager needs. Off-the-shelf programs don't make that distinction.
We do — for every role, every site, every employee.
Approved-Style List
Florida Public School District
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LinemanASTM F2413 · 8" leatherRed Wing 2245 · EH-ratedEH
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EMSSlip-resistant · waterproofThorogood Soft StreetsSR
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Plant MaintenanceSteel-toe · punctureTimberland Pro 6"ST
-
PatrolSide-zip · ankle supportBates 8" tacticalTC
Curated by role. Filtered to OSHA + union spec. Updated when contracts change.
Built for the people who run safety programs.
Whether you're protecting workers, managing benefits, or controlling spend — WRKForce gives every stakeholder the tools their role demands.
For Safety Directors
- Curated style lists matched to ASTM/ANSI standards for every role
- Documentation ready for OSHA audits and insurance reviews
- Fit notes and purchase history archived for every employee
- One vendor, one record, one accountable partner
For HR & Benefits
- Self-service portal for issuing and tracking vouchers
- Department-level subsidies that scale with your org chart
- Two-way messaging with our team — no more email chains
- Custom Employee Purchase Agreement aligned to your union contracts
For Finance & Procurement
- Negotiated program pricing across footwear, apparel, and PPE
- Annual budget tracking with pace, forecast, and alerts
- Branded invoices with net terms and payment routing
- Full audit log for every transaction, price change, and reset
From 50 to 30,000 employees on the same platform.
Pick your workforce size to see how a program is structured. Pricing is negotiated per account and lives with the Way Out West team.
Workforce size
Negotiated program pricingConcierge setup recommended
Configured and approved within a business day or two. Multi-department subsidies, branded invoicing, full HR portal.
Frequently asked questions
Both, depending on which company you're talking to. WRKForce is the platform — built and operated by Way Out West. Way Out West is the operator that runs managed safety footwear, apparel, and PPE programs on the platform. If you're evaluating the technology, you're at the right site.
Way Out West currently operates across Florida — concentrated in Polk County and the I-4 corridor, expanding statewide. If your workforce includes Florida operations, we should talk. Multi-state expansion is on the roadmap.
Way Out West programs typically start around 50 employees, but the platform itself supports any size. The right starting size depends on workforce mix, compliance complexity, and the structure of the subsidy program.
Faster than you'd expect. Self-Setup takes about 20–30 minutes for account creation, department setup, and roster import. Concierge Setup runs on a similar overall timeline, but the work happens on our side instead of yours — chosen by most teams managing 500+ employees, multiple departments, or union contracts.
WRKForce exports payroll-deduction data as payroll-ready CSV files formatted for major HRIS systems. After each event, HR runs the export, attaches it to a payroll submission, and the deduction flows through with no spreadsheet rebuilding or manual reconciliation. The data stays consistent across vendor invoicing and payroll deduction so the books match on both sides.
Once your account is approved and your curated style list is built — usually within a few days of signing — we're ready when your team is. We schedule on-site events across Florida and work backward from the date that fits your operation, not ours.
30+ active employer programs across Florida — public works departments, school districts, utility cooperatives, manufacturing clients, and municipal governments. Customer references available under NDA on request.
See the platform run.
A real conversation with the team that built it — admin.wrkforce.io, client.wrkforce.io, the queue board, voucher engine, and subsidy workflows. Built for procurement-grade diligence.
The Platform
The full operating layer for managed allowance programs.
Two portals. Six subsidy workflows. 8 self-service reports. A live event queue board. Camera-based scanning. Audit logs on every action. Every capability documented below is shipping in production today — running 30+ active employer programs across Florida.
Two-Portal Architecture
Operations and HR don't share a screen.
WRKForce is two distinct applications running on a shared data layer — admin.wrkforce.io for the operations team and client.wrkforce.io for HR and safety leads at each client company. Each user sees only what their role demands. Data isolation is enforced at the SQL layer, not by convention.
admin.wrkforce.io
The operations team's workspace. Multi-company management, full inventory across warehouses and trucks, purchasing and receiving, branded invoicing, 14 reports, and a four-stage operational flow tied to the active fitting event.
Login is gated by both an Event and a Location selection — every check-in, queue entry, fitting, and checkout is automatically scoped to the operator's session. Switch context only by logging out and back in.
client.wrkforce.io
The HR portal. Self-service voucher issuance, real-time budget tracking, 8 company-scoped reports, and two-way messaging with the operations team. Roster manager tested against 30,000-employee organizations.
Each client login is scoped to a single company — clients see only their own employees, departments, vouchers, invoices, and reports. The data isolation runs at the SQL layer on every endpoint, not as a UI filter.
Same data, two completely different products.
Paperless Operations
From voucher issuance to receipt — no paper required.
Vouchers ship as unique QR tokens. Check-in is camera-based. Products scan by UPC, SKU, or Style ID. Signatures are captured digitally. Receipts email automatically. The optional 80mm thermal print is a convenience, not a dependency.
Voucher Engine
Each voucher generates as a unique token (VCH-XXXXXXXXXXXX) with an embedded QR image, delivered via branded HTML email, Twilio SMS, or both. Recipients get the voucher code, QR, subsidy amount, event details, and expiration in a single message.
Reuse protection: applied vouchers cannot be re-scanned. Re-scan attempts return a clear error with the original use date.
Camera + Wedge Scanning
Phone or laptop camera scans QR codes for check-in and UPC/barcode for products. Keyboard-wedge scanners work identically. Leading zeros stripped automatically for UPC-A and EAN-13.
Cart persistence: a fitting session becomes a cart. Re-scan the same voucher at checkout and saved items load instantly.
Digital Signatures + Emailed Receipts
Employees sign on a touch pad at check-in — captured signature stored against the transaction record. Receipts email automatically post-checkout, with the same two-section ledger as the on-screen preview.
$0 vouchers supported for fully company-paid programs — the SMS, email, and landing page hide the zero amount.
How the voucher arrives.
Branded HTML email or Twilio SMS, often both. Recipients see the code, QR, subsidy amount, event details, and expiration in a single message. Reuse-protected and scoped to a single fitting event.
Six Subsidy Workflows
Six billing models. One engine. Zero overrides at the register.
Every contract is different. WRKForce ships with six distinct subsidy workflows, locked at the company level. Receipt math, tax allocation, settlement labels, and AR routing all adapt automatically based on the company's chosen method. The cashier sees a read-only badge — no overrides, no AR mistakes.
01
Subsidy + Employee + Overage
Subsidy applies; employee pays the overage at the register. Company is invoiced for the subsidy.
Settlement: Register + Invoiced
02
Subsidy + Payroll Deduction
Subsidy applies; the overage plus employee tax is auto-deducted from their paycheck. Company is invoiced for the subsidy.
Settlement: Payroll + Invoiced
03
100% Invoiced
Company covers 100%; employee pays nothing. Receipt top total reads "Total Invoiced".
Settlement: Invoiced
04
Payroll Deduction
Company fronts the entire purchase via invoice; the full amount is payroll-deducted from the employee. Receipt bottom reads "Employee Deduction".
Settlement: Payroll
05
Company Card
Full purchase swiped on the company card at the register. Receipt top total reads "Total Charged to Card".
Settlement: Company Card
06
Company + Employee Overage
Split tender at the register: subsidy on the company card, employee pays the overage themselves.
Settlement: Company Card + Register
Tax allocation honors the company's exemption status — but the employee always pays sales tax on their overage, regardless of the company's tax-exempt status. Subsidy calculation runs from department first, falling back to employee-level. Every detail is calculated before the cashier sees the screen.
Live Event Operations
The fitting floor, instrumented end-to-end.
Every event runs through a four-stage operational flow — Check-In → Queue → Fitting → Checkout — with live wait times, priority sorting, and a wall-mountable queue board that auto-refreshes every 8 seconds.
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1Check-In
Identify by employee autosuggest or voucher scan. Capture signature. Record agreement.
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2Queue
Live wait-time tracking. Priority sorting. Skip-fitting flow for repeat customers.
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3Fitting
Search products by Style ID, UPC, SKU, or name. Save fit notes. Persist cart.
-
4Checkout
Two-section receipt. Subsidy auto-calculated. Print or email. Done.
The Live Queue Board
A full-screen, dark-themed display designed for a wall-mounted TV near the fitting area. Four stat tiles at the top: Checked In, In Fitting, Ready for Checkout, Checked Out today. A live list of waiting employees with wait times, status pills, and assigned locations. Auto-refreshes every 8 seconds.
Long waits — anything over 15 minutes — flag automatically in red so staff can prioritize.
The board only shows today's check-ins and checkouts, with automatic rollover at midnight Eastern. When an Admin user opens the board, the event filter drops and check-ins from every active event appear together — useful when the operations team is running multiple companies in parallel.
The page is read-only. Click events are ignored. Safe to leave running unattended on a dedicated mini-PC.
Skip-Fitting Flow
A checked-in employee can jump straight from check-in to checkout — useful for repeat customers who already know what they want, or single-item sales. The checkout page exposes the same product search used in fitting, so items can be added at the register.
Cart Persistence
A fitting session becomes a cart. Re-scan the same voucher at checkout and previously saved items load instantly. Add more, adjust quantities, or remove lines on the spot.
Fit Notes History
Session-level fit notes (e.g. "wide foot, steel toe preferred, half size up on Red Wing") save to the employee's record. The next fitter sees prior feedback automatically without asking.
Receipt reprints in two clicks.
Every transaction stays accessible from the Checked Out tab on the queue page. If an employee says they didn't get their receipt, look them up by name, click the receipt icon, reprint without leaving the operational floor. No reports search required.
Self-Service for HR
HR runs their own program. No tickets. No phone tag.
The client portal at client.wrkforce.io is built for HR and safety teams to do their work without involving operations. Issue vouchers. Track budgets. Run reports. Message the team. All scoped to the company, all available 24/7.
What HR teams actually do here
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Issue and resend vouchers
Search the roster, pick the employee, choose delivery method (email, SMS, or both), send. Resend with the same code on a fresh delivery, or cancel before use to free the slot for a replacement.
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Manage departments and subsidies
Create departments, set subsidies, and every employee in the department inherits the benefit automatically. CSV/Excel template, import, and export supported for bulk setup.
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Track the annual budget
Live progress widget on the dashboard. Dedicated Budget page with KPI cards, pace gauge, monthly bar chart with linear-target line, year-end forecast based on daily run rate, and per-department breakdown.
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Run 8 company-scoped reports
Spending Summary, Spending by Employee, Spending by Department, Purchase Detail, Spending by Event, Subsidy Utilization, Voucher Activity, Employee Participation. CSV export and branded print on every report.
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Send messages to the operations team
Two-way threaded inbox with category and priority tags. Open tickets, get replies, mark closed. Red unread badge on the sidebar surfaces waiting threads from any page.
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Customize the Employee Purchase Agreement
Store custom contract text — union clauses, return windows, anything — that displays above the signature pad at check-in and on the printed receipt. Falls back to a generic system agreement if no custom text is set.
Need something the standard reports don't cover?
Pro and Enterprise programs include custom reports built to spec by the WRKForce team — for OSHA audits, board reviews, union negotiations, insurance reviews, or anything else procurement asks for. Pro programs include 1–2 custom reports per year; Enterprise programs include unlimited.
Audit-Ready Compliance
Every action, recorded.
WRKForce was built for environments where “who changed what, when, and why” is a real question with real consequences. The audit log isn't an add-on — it's wired into every material action in the platform.
Authentication & Access
Logins. Logouts. Failed login attempts. Account lockouts after 5 failed attempts with 15-minute timer. Role changes. User creation and deactivation.
Financial & Operational
Every checkout. Voucher issuance and redemption. Price changes (per-variant, with old/new values, type, and free-text note). Subsidy modifications. Department changes. Inventory adjustments and imports.
Configuration & System
Settings changes. Application reinitializations. Company creation and updates. Employee imports. Custom Employee Purchase Agreement edits.
Every entry is stamped with the user's ID, IP address, full context, and timestamp — Eastern time on display, UTC on storage. Immutable. Searchable.
The technical foundation underneath.
Data Isolation at the SQL Layer
Every client-side query is scoped to the logged-in company. Clients never see other companies' employees, orders, invoices, or reports. The isolation is enforced on every endpoint at the SQL layer — not as a UI filter that could be bypassed.
SHA-512 Password Hashing with Salt
Per-user salt. Plain-text passwords never stored. Failed-login lockout after 5 attempts. Forced password change on onboarding and after admin reset. Email-based usernames with uniqueness enforced across the entire system.
Parameterized SQL Queries
Every database query uses parameterized cfqueryparam with explicit types and precision. No string concatenation of user input into SQL — anywhere in the codebase. SQL injection isn't mitigated; it's architecturally impossible.
Technical Foundation
Engineered for production.
Multi-Tenant Architecture
Single-platform support for unlimited client companies. Each company's data is isolated at the SQL layer with parameterized queries on every endpoint.
Mobile-First Responsive
Phones (≤768px), tablets (769–1366px), desktop (≥1367px). Data tables stack to cards on phones for one-handed event-floor use.
PWA Installable
iOS, iPadOS, and Android home-screen installable. Standalone mode keeps navigation inside the app. Status bar matches the dark WRKForce theme.
Timezone-Aware
UTC stored, configurable display timezone (Eastern by default). Global helpers convert on every render — dates and times match the wall clock.
Camera + Wedge Scanning
Phone or laptop camera scans QR and barcodes. Keyboard-wedge hardware scanners work identically. Leading zeros stripped for UPC-A and EAN-13.
CSV / Excel Round-Trip
Companies, employees, products, vendors, inventory, and departments all support template, import, and export. SheetJS parses Excel client-side. UTF-8 BOM on exports for clean Excel encoding.
SMS via Twilio
Voucher delivery via Twilio SMS, branded HTML email, or both. $0 voucher support for fully company-paid programs.
Branded PDF Generation
Invoice and PO PDFs generated server-side with company logo, status badges, line items, and terms. One-click email-with-attachment delivery.
Want to see it run?
A real conversation with the team that built the platform — covering admin.wrkforce.io, client.wrkforce.io, the queue board, voucher engine, and subsidy workflows. Built for procurement-grade diligence.
Or explore the platform on your own — every section above is a real, shipping capability.
Industries
Built to flex with your industry's compliance reality.
Every industry has its own ASTM ratings, union contracts, environmental hazards, and procurement workflows. WRKForce was built to handle that variability — and the team running programs on the platform has worked across every category below.
Utilities
EH-rated footwear for the people keeping the lights on.
What the workforce needs
Utilities crews work in environments where the wrong boot is a safety incident. Line crews need ASTM F2413 EH-rated footwear that meets electrical hazard standards. Gas crews need puncture-resistant soles and metatarsal protection. Substation work demands non-conductive construction. Field crews in Florida add heat, humidity, and saw palmetto to every spec sheet.
Apparel adds another compliance layer — FR-rated shirts and outerwear for arc-flash environments, hi-vis garments meeting ANSI/ISEA 107 standards, weather-rated rainwear that doesn't compromise the FR rating.
What the platform handles
Curated approved-style lists matched to your specific role categories — line, gas, distribution, substation, meter, field service. Subsidy structures that flex by department, so line crews can be funded differently from office staff. Year-end reports ready for OSHA audits and insurance reviews. Custom Employee Purchase Agreements that capture union contract language verbatim.
For multi-department utilities, the department-level subsidy inheritance means HR sets the budget at the org-chart level and every employee inherits automatically — no individual updates required when a contract renegotiation moves the number.
WRKForce currently runs utility programs for Duke Energy's Florida operations, Lakeland Electric T&D, Kissimmee Utility Authority, and Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) — covering investor-owned, municipal, and regional utility operations across Central Florida.
Municipalities & Public Sector
Built for procurement-grade workflows.
What the workforce needs
Municipal workforces span remarkable range — public works crews need steel-toe and slip-resistant footwear, water and wastewater operators need chemical-resistant options, parks and rec staff need lighter outdoor footwear, vehicle maintenance crews need oil-resistant soles. Each role has its own ASTM and ANSI requirements, and the procurement department needs documentation for every one.
Apparel and PPE add hi-vis garments meeting ANSI/ISEA 107, hard hats meeting ANSI Z89.1, and high-visibility outerwear sized for actual work conditions, not catalog photographs.
What the platform handles
Net-30 invoicing with branded PO and invoice PDFs ready for AP. Sales tax handling that respects municipal tax-exempt status while still correctly charging the employee on overage portions. Branded receipts and Employee Purchase Agreements that match your existing procurement language. Audit logs that survive a public records request.
For larger municipalities, the multi-department structure handles separate subsidies for utilities, public works, parks, fleet, and administrative staff — all under one company account, all reportable in aggregate or by department.
WRKForce currently runs municipal programs for the City of Lakeland, City of Haines City, and City of Winter Haven — including the City of Lakeland's 700+ employee public-works workforce.
Schools & Education
For the maintenance, transportation, and food service teams that keep schools open.
What the workforce needs
K–12 districts have three primary safety footwear populations. Maintenance and grounds crews need standard ASTM F2413 protective footwear. Transportation staff — drivers, mechanics, fleet crews — need slip-resistant and oil-resistant options. Food service teams need slip-resistant footwear designed for kitchen environments, where ANSI/ASTM slip ratings matter more than steel toes.
Each population has different needs, different replacement cycles, and often different funding sources within the district budget.
What the platform handles
District-wide programs with department-level subsidies — a separate budget for maintenance, another for transportation, another for food service — all under one district account. Annual budget tracking with pace gauge and forecast, so the district business office can answer "how much have we spent this year?" without an internal audit.
School board–compliant procurement through branded invoicing and net-terms billing. Approved-style lists curated by role so a cafeteria manager doesn't see options designed for a roofer. Employee Participation reports help HR identify staff who haven't claimed their benefit yet — useful at the start and end of each school year.
WRKForce currently runs the program for Polk County School Board.
Agriculture
For Florida's foundational industry.
What the workforce needs
Florida agriculture is its own category. Citrus operations need waterproof, puncture-resistant footwear that holds up to wet groves and rough terrain. Cattle operations need durable leather work boots with reinforced toes. Sugar producers and nurseries need slip-resistant, chemical-resistant options. The common thread is gear that survives sustained heat, humidity, and physical demand.
Workforce structures complicate procurement. Many ag operations run mixed full-time and seasonal workforces, with significant headcount swings between harvest and off-season. Standard per-employee SaaS pricing penalizes those swings; standard programs don't accommodate them.
What the platform handles
Per-voucher billing — only employees who've actually been issued a voucher count toward the active employee total. Seasonal crews who don't participate aren't billed. The roster manager handles 30,000+ employee records; bulk CSV/Excel import and archive/restore make seasonal headcount swings operationally trivial.
Department-level subsidies handle the typical ag structure where field crews, processing staff, and management have different gear allowances. On-site fitting events accommodate operations where a workforce can't easily come to a retail location — the team comes to the operation.
WRKForce currently runs the program for Florida's Natural.
Manufacturing & Industrial
Steel-toe, puncture-resistant, plant-floor specific.
What the workforce needs
Manufacturing footwear specs are a function of the plant. Heavy fabrication needs steel-toe with metatarsal protection. Chemical processing needs chemical-resistant soles with specific ASTM ratings. Food processing combines slip-resistance with sanitation-friendly construction. Plants with significant electrical work add EH-rated requirements on top.
Many manufacturing workforces are unionized, which means contract-specified benefits, contract-specified return policies, and contract-specified timelines. The program needs to honor the contract verbatim — not interpret it.
What the platform handles
Custom Employee Purchase Agreements per company — the platform stores the contract text and displays it above the signature pad at check-in and on the printed receipt. Union return windows, allowance limits, and documentation requirements all get reproduced exactly as specified.
Subsidy workflows that include payroll-deduction options for contracts where the employee covers overage through paycheck deduction rather than at the register. Six subsidy workflows total — every common contract structure is one of them.
For multi-shift operations, on-site fitting events can be scheduled to cover shift changes. The platform's check-in flow runs equally well at 6 AM as at 2 PM.
WRKForce currently runs manufacturing and industrial programs for Cemex, James Hardie Building Products, Forterra, ER Jahna, Evergreen Packaging, Colorado Boxed Beef, and Cheney Brothers — covering building materials, fiber cement, industrial sand, food processing, and food distribution.
Public Safety
For the people who answer the call — patrol, fire, corrections, and emergency response.
What the workforce needs
Public safety footwear is three distinct compliance worlds in one category. Law enforcement needs durable patrol boots with side-zip access for fast on-and-off, tactical units need higher-cut puncture-resistant options, motors officers need motorcycle-rated boots, and corrections staff need ASTM-rated work boots that meet facility uniform standards.
Fire services is a different category entirely — structural firefighting boots meeting NFPA 1971, station boots meeting NFPA 1975, and EMS-specific footwear for emergency medical response. Apparel and PPE add another compliance layer with NFPA-rated turnout gear, station wear, and uniform regulations.
Corrections and emergency response add their own variants. Each agency category brings its own uniform code, contract structure, and procurement workflow.
What the platform handles
Approved-style lists curated by role and uniform regulation — patrol officers see patrol-appropriate options, fire crews see NFPA-rated options, corrections sees corrections, EMS sees EMS. Employees never see options that violate their uniform code.
Agency-grade procurement: branded invoicing, net-30 or net-45 billing, sales-tax-exempt handling, and detailed audit trails. Quarterly or annual reporting suitable for budget reviews and union negotiations.
For larger agencies with multiple divisions, the department-level subsidy structure handles separate funding for patrol, fire, corrections, dispatch, civilian staff, and specialized units — all under one agency account.
WRKForce currently runs the program for the Haines City Fire Department.
Construction & Trades
Foundation to finish — gear that holds up.
What the workforce needs
Construction crews need ASTM F2413 protective footwear with steel toe, composite toe, or alloy toe options based on jobsite preference and metal-detector requirements. Roofers need soft-toe options with aggressive tread. Concrete and masonry crews need waterproof and chemical-resistant soles. Electricians need EH-rated footwear. Each trade has a default and a list of acceptable variants.
Crew composition changes constantly. New hires arrive throughout the year. Subcontractor relationships shift. The program needs to onboard quickly, scale with hiring, and not generate administrative overhead during ramp-ups.
What the platform handles
Self-service onboarding — a new company is configured in under 60 seconds of admin time. Bulk roster import via CSV or Excel handles seasonal hiring waves. Voucher issuance scales from individual employees to entire crews with one click.
Department-level subsidies allow different funding by trade — electricians, masons, framers, finishers, foremen. The same program structure scales from a 50-person GC to a 500-person commercial operation. On-site fitting events can be scheduled jobsite-by-jobsite when needed.
WRKForce currently runs construction and trades programs for American Roofing FL and Lake Conway Landscaping — covering roofing and landscape contracting.
Healthcare
Slip-resistant, comfort-focused, all-shift wearable.
What the workforce needs
Healthcare footwear is comfort-and-safety, not steel-toe. Nurses, techs, and clinical staff need slip-resistant footwear that meets ASTM F2913 slip ratings, with cushioning and arch support that survives 12-hour shifts. Facilities and maintenance staff need standard work boots. EVS (environmental services) and food service teams need slip-resistant footwear designed for cleaning and kitchen environments. Each population has different needs and different shift patterns.
Healthcare workforces also include significant per-diem and contract staff — workers who may rotate through multiple facilities. Program structures need to handle that fluidity.
What the platform handles
Approved-style lists curated by role — clinical staff see clinical-appropriate options, EVS sees EVS, facilities sees work boots. Employees only see what's right for their job.
Voucher-based eligibility means per-diem and contract staff can be added to the roster, issued vouchers when eligible, and not billed when inactive. The system supports the natural fluidity of healthcare staffing without manual cleanup.
Reporting suitable for hospital administration, including department-level utilization and participation tracking — useful for staff engagement metrics and benefits review.
What's consistent across every industry
The platform underneath stays the same.
Industry compliance varies. Workforce contexts vary. Contract structures vary. The infrastructure under all of it doesn't.
Two-Portal Architecture
Operations runs admin.wrkforce.io. HR runs client.wrkforce.io. Same underlying data, two role-scoped applications.
Six Subsidy Workflows
Every contract structure handled by one engine. Cashier-locked at the register, configured per company.
8 Self-Service + 14 Admin Reports
8 reports HR and finance teams run themselves through the client portal. 14 more — inventory, vendor purchasing, sales analysis, tax filing — run by the WRKForce operations team. Pro and Enterprise programs add custom reports built to spec.
Audit-Ready Compliance
Full audit log, SQL-layer data isolation, SHA-512 password hashing, parameterized queries on every endpoint.
Currently running 30+ active employer programs across Florida — across every industry above.
Don't see your industry?
The platform handles more than what's listed here.
The eight industries above are where WRKForce currently runs active programs in Florida. The platform isn't industry-specific — it's contract-and-compliance specific. If your workforce wears safety footwear, apparel, or PPE under an employer-funded program, WRKForce handles it.
Logistics and warehousing. Hospitality facilities. Aviation ground crews. Marine and shipyard operations. Energy and renewables beyond traditional utilities. Public works categories not yet listed. Federal contractors with specific compliance requirements.
If your workforce category isn't above and you're evaluating a managed program, the conversation starts with Way Out West.
See how the platform handles your industry's specifics.
A real conversation with the team that built the platform — covering your industry's compliance requirements, contract structures, and reporting needs.
About WRKForce
Built by operators.
For operators.
WRKForce wasn't built by a software company looking for a market. It was built by Way Out West — a Central Florida managed-program operator with 15+ years of running real fitting events, real subsidy structures, and real procurement relationships in the field.
The Origin
A platform that started as a problem.
Every managed safety footwear program runs on the same workflow: a fitting event, a voucher, a subsidy calculation, an invoice, a return policy, an audit trail. For 15+ years, the team behind Way Out West ran that workflow on a patchwork of spreadsheets, voucher PDFs, off-the-shelf POS, and email threads. It worked. Barely.
Every fitting event surfaced the same gaps. The cashier accidentally overrode the wrong subsidy method and created a billing dispute. A duplicate check-in took an hour to untangle. An HR director called for a year-end report that nobody had time to build. A union contract changed and the agreement on the receipt didn't.
The team had two choices: keep running programs on infrastructure that wasn't built for them, or build the platform they actually needed.
WRKForce is what they built.
Every feature in WRKForce exists because someone running a real program needed it. The product is the playbook.
Built by Way Out West
The operator behind the platform.
Way Out West is a Central Florida–based operator running managed safety footwear, apparel, and PPE programs for utilities, schools, agricultural operations, and public-sector employers across the state.
The team has been doing this work for more than 15 years. They know which boot lasts the longest in citrus fields, which EH-rated footwear actually meets utility line-crew specifications, which slip-resistant sole holds up in a school cafeteria, and which return policy clauses actually appear in Florida union contracts.
That field knowledge is what's encoded in WRKForce — not as documentation, but as default behavior.
Today, Way Out West runs 30+ active employer programs on WRKForce — including Duke Energy, Florida's Natural, City of Lakeland, Polk County School Board, Cemex, James Hardie, Florida Municipal Power Agency, Forterra, Kissimmee Utility Authority, Lakeland Electric — across utilities, manufacturers, municipalities, schools, and agricultural operations. The program footprint is concentrated in Polk County and the I-4 corridor, expanding statewide.
Florida worksite · operator + technology
15+ years on the fitting floor.
Photography swap-in slot — line crews, citrus harvesters, plant maintenance, school transportation, public-safety officers. Real Florida work, real wear, real environment.
Leadership
Founded by Susan Anders.
Way Out West was founded by Susan Anders and operates as a minority and woman-owned business. Susan and the leadership team bring decades of combined experience in safety footwear curation, retail operations, and regulated-industry compliance — and they're the operators whose feedback shaped every iteration of the WRKForce platform.
For Susan's full background, the team's bios, and the broader Way Out West story, visit wayoutwest.com.
Why operator-built matters
Most platforms are built by people who've never run an event.
The managed allowance category is full of software built by people who've watched the workflow from the outside. They've interviewed customers. They've taken notes. They've shipped products that look right on a feature comparison sheet.
The result is software that fails in small, expensive ways at the moment of truth.
- A subsidy method that can be overridden at the register — and is, by a tired cashier on a 200-person event day, creating an AR mess that takes weeks to clean up.
- A queue display that refreshes every 30 seconds — long enough that staff at the back of the room can't tell if the wait is moving.
- A voucher system that lets the same code be redeemed twice, because the original use date wasn't tracked.
- A reporting suite that gives you transactions but not subsidy utilization, leaving HR with no answer to “how much have we spent this year?”
These aren't theoretical failures. They're the lived experience of running real programs on systems that weren't designed for them.
WRKForce was built by the people who'd been bitten by every one of those failures. Each capability in the platform exists because the operating team needed it — not because a competitor had it on their feature list.
The product is the playbook.
What WRKForce powers today
Real programs, real workforces, in production now.
Every capability documented across this site is shipping in production. WRKForce is currently running programs for utilities, schools, agricultural operations, manufacturers, and public-sector employers across Florida.
30+
Active employer programs
Including Duke Energy, Florida's Natural, City of Lakeland, Polk County School Board, Cemex, James Hardie, and FMPA
8
Industries served
Utilities, Municipalities & Public Sector, Schools, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Public Safety, Construction & Trades, Healthcare
22
Reports available
14 admin, 8 client — plus custom reports for Pro and Enterprise programs
6
Subsidy workflows
Every contract structure handled by one engine
WRKForce is operated by Way Out West in Central Florida.
WRKForce & Way Out West
Two brands. One operation.
WRKForce is the platform. Way Out West is the team that built it and runs the programs on top of it. Knowing which is which makes everything else easier.
WRKForceThe employee allowance platform.
WRKForce is the software — admin.wrkforce.io for operations teams, client.wrkforce.io for HR and safety leads. Two portals, six subsidy workflows, 8 self-service reports, full audit trail. Built to run managed allowance programs at scale.
You're here: wrkforce.io
The team that runs Florida's programs.
Way Out West is the operating company — the team that designs curated style lists, runs on-site fitting events, manages relationships with employer customers, and partners with HR and safety leads to build programs that work. Founded by Susan Anders. Minority and woman-owned.
Visit: wayoutwest.com →If you're looking to start a managed program for your workforce, the conversation starts with Way Out West. If you're evaluating the platform that powers those programs, you're already in the right place.
Want to see how the platform runs?
A real conversation with the team that built it — admin.wrkforce.io, client.wrkforce.io, on real data, with the operators behind both.
Schedule a call
Let's talk.
Whether you're evaluating the WRKForce platform or looking to start a managed program for your workforce, the conversation starts the same way — with a real human who knows the product and the work behind it.
Start a conversation.
Most of our customers tell us they decided in the first 20 minutes of talking to the team. Pick the channel that fits and we'll take it from there.
Send an email
For longer context or attachments. We'll route it to the right person and reply within one business day.
No auto-responders. A real human reads every message.
Send a message
A short form for when you want to get your thoughts down before talking. We'll follow up within one business day.
Best for sharing workforce details or specific questions in writing.
Where to find us
Headquartered in Central Florida.
The WRKForce team is based in Central Florida — concentrated in Polk County and the I-4 corridor, where most of our active employer programs run. On-site fitting events are scheduled across Florida.
Already a customer? Sign in to client.wrkforce.io →
Before you reach out.
Both, depending on which company you're talking to. WRKForce is the platform — built and operated by Way Out West. Way Out West is the operator that runs managed safety footwear, apparel, and PPE programs on the platform. If you're evaluating the technology, you're at the right site. If you're looking to start a program for your workforce, the conversation starts with Way Out West — and that's the team you'll talk to either way.
Way Out West currently operates across Florida — concentrated in Polk County and the I-4 corridor, expanding statewide. If your workforce includes Florida operations, we should talk. Multi-state expansion is on the roadmap; let us know if your timing matters.
Way Out West programs typically start around 50 employees, but the platform itself supports any size. The right starting size depends on workforce mix, compliance complexity, and the structure of the subsidy program.
Faster than you'd expect. Self-Setup is online and takes most companies about 20–30 minutes to complete the account creation, department setup, and roster import. Way Out West reviews and approves typically within a business day or two, and your client portal is live.
Concierge Setup runs on a similar overall timeline, but the work happens on our side instead of yours — we handle account configuration, employee data ingestion, department and subsidy structure, and a kickoff session with your HR and Safety leads. You review and approve.
For most teams managing 500+ employees, multiple departments, or union contracts, Concierge is the path most customers actually choose. You're not buying speed — you're buying accuracy and time saved on the parts of setup that benefit from someone who's done it 100 times before.
That depends on you. Once your account is approved and your curated style list is built — usually within a few days of signing — we're ready when your team is. Some customers schedule their first event for the following week; others time it to a fiscal year, a hiring wave, a union contract cycle, or a seasonal lull in operations.
We schedule on-site events across Florida and we'll work backward from the date that fits your operation, not ours.
30+ active employer programs across Florida — including Duke Energy, Florida's Natural, City of Lakeland, Polk County School Board, Cemex, James Hardie, Florida Municipal Power Agency, Forterra, Kissimmee Utility Authority, Lakeland Electric.
We respond within one business day.
No auto-responders that go nowhere. No sales sequences. No drip campaigns that won't unsubscribe. Just a human reading what you sent and figuring out the right next step.