Dive Brief:
- Snagajob is piloting a program set to fill restaurant job openings on-demand, The Post and Courier reports. Essentially, Snagajob is setting itself to become a leader in the gig economy.
- According to Snagajob, the workers will have flexibility in choosing a shift and employers can make staff changes as needed in real time, says Post and Courier. The service operates like a temporary agency, whereby Snagajob hires and pays the workers, offers benefits like workers’ compensation and bills the restaurants.
- Snagajob has a prototype of the service, called Husl, in Richmond, VA, where 500 workers signed up in the first week. About a dozen employers are participating, says Post and Courier. Snagajob plans to start the service in other locations.
Dive Insight:
Gig workers could make up most of the workforce by 2025, studies show. Therefore, it’s likely that more innovative hiring arrangements based on the gig-economy platform will emerge, as well as more protections for on-demand workers.
On-demand work could reduce the high turnover rates in some industries. Turnover is especially high among hourly workers in the food and beverage, arts, entertainment and recreation industries, and many are scrambling for solutions to staunch the talent leakage. Snagajob says workers typically pick up two or three shifts per week, which could give restaurants a steady labor pool.
The temporary agency model has typically served employers well by relieving them of administrative burdens and the responsibility of providing costly benefits, though with large fees.
The challenge with an on-demand service is having a stream of workers who can come in and immediately perform the work. In every industry, including hospitality, gig economy systems need to have training programs in place; a temp-like service such as Snagajob could serve that role, too.