The impact of Brexit and COVID-19 on staffing across industries has left many businesses struggling to return to full capacity. Research has shown that during this period a range of sectors have been struggling to find workers, with around 2/3rds of businesses being unable to recruit and retain staff in sufficient numbers to cope with recent disruption.
GIG believes that to cope with future challenges in an increasingly uncertain world, embracing more flexibility is key. “We know it’s essential to build trained workforces for the future if we want to continue the prosperity and longevity of key industries,” said Antony Woodcock, MD and Co-Founder of GIG. “But we also need to allow people to choose flexible options that fit their lifestyle, whilst ensuring businesses can be reactive to shocks in real-time.”
But flexibility is not always easy to achieve or manage, which is why GIG have turned to technological solutions to make the process efficient and cost-effective. This is delivered via an app, where workers can search through roles, apply, and access payslips, all at the touch of a screen. For the workers, it means they can find flexible hours, whilst still being guaranteed minimum wage, and choose to work from a range of jobs, whilst also building up holiday and pension pay. The app provides a fair and transparent platform, giving them the freedom and choice to select the working opportunities they want. They manage their own shift patterns and build a better work/life balance whilst still enjoying all the benefits of employment, training & development. This system has proven popular, with GIG welcoming 3,500 new workers into employment in 2021.
Not only has this helped encourage more people into vital roles across hospitality and warehousing, but it also offers businesses new technology to help overcome the struggles of staff shortages, and maximise their efficiency.
Using GIG’s systems, businesses can post staffing and rota requirements that are instantaneously visible to all workers on the GIG App. This means workers are able to apply for the shifts that they want – basing their decisions on key factors such as job location, pay rate, and start time. Businesses then have the autonomy to screen and review applicant profiles to select the worker they feel is best suited to the role.
GIG’s technology now has huge pools of workers, fulfilling thousands of shifts across the whole of the UK.
The system came about after GIG discovered it was working so well to offer shifts to its workers, and now businesses are able to use it to manage their own internal workforce, and seamlessly post shifts to GIGs pool of workers. GIGTech ensures that agency spend is as efficient as it can be.
One company that hires staff through GIG said “without their system, our business would have struggled this year. Because of the changes to the workplace, we have had to focus on other areas of the business, taking our time away from hiring good, reliable staff. GIG has allowed our business to excel through one of the most difficult years.”
One of GIG’s other key goals was to get businesses to think outside the box, by moving from traditional shift patterns and staffing solutions. The technology allows businesses to trial new shift lengths, to find what best works for the individual clients, allowing them to save time and money in the future. By encouraging businesses to adopt forward-thinking approaches, and use innovative processes for how they hire and use staff, GIG can help companies not just survive, but thrive. Elements such as changing policies and procedures, having staff only when they are needed, and sharing workers with other companies, will help spread the pressures for the benefit of the whole industry.