Square Buys Workplace Messaging Platform Crew

Square has bought frontline employee platform Crew, which works to consolidate and streamline workplace operations, according to a press release.

Square plans to use Crew’s services to scale labor management tools and meet the needs of bigger sellers, the release stated.

“Square’s mission of economic empowerment started with enabling anyone to easily begin taking payments, and since then, we’ve built an innovative ecosystem of tools to help sellers start, run, grow and adapt their businesses,” said Square Point of Sale General Manager Saumil Mehta in the release. “As sellers grow their businesses and teams, we’re committed to helping them easily manage the daily operations of their workforce. That’s why we’re thrilled to add Crew’s powerful technology to our ecosystem and welcome an extremely experienced and knowledgeable team to the Square family.”

In addition, Square said in the release that buying Crew will give it more advantage in terms of what it can offer customers for messaging, scheduling, tracking and more. Many U.S. companies pay their employees hourly and could be aided by better communication tools.

Crew Co-Founder and CEO Broc Miramontes said in the release the company’s operations would be bolstered by Square’s expertise.

“Crew has always been focused on connecting employees and leaders in a streamlined way that provides them with the information, communication and motivation needed to accomplish their work, together,” he said in the release.

In related news, Square will be debuting a new version of its ubiquitous point-of-sale (POS) terminal, in which it will be even more streamlined with more tap-to-pay compatibility. This will improve on the original 2013 terminal, which needed an external device to handle phone payments and tap-to-pay cards.

The Square POS device has become a well-known sight at places like coffee shops and boutiques. It’s often used at bigger retailers as well.