By Ander Iruretagoyena and Tasha Seitz

There are 80 million hourly workers in the US, representing 56.7% of the workforce, of which 15 million work in the restaurant industry. Despite these large numbers, SMBs and employers with shift workers are understaffed 50% of the time and they bear over $155B in costs of finding, retaining and training hourly workers. Besides these material costs, severe understaffing can lead to overworked employees, who tend to suffer from higher levels of stress, leading to decreased productivity, increased turnover, and higher incidences of workplace accidents. Workers themselves are struggling with a plethora of issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic including confusing job application processes and declines in job stability, safety and work satisfaction.

Former workers represent an important opportunity to combat these challenges. More than 60% of hourly workers leave their jobs on good terms, 50% are interested in picking up shifts to earn supplemental income, and another 15% are interested in being rehired into full-time or part-time roles. Hiring former employees means workers can be productive on day one.

Solution

HourWork’s initial product is a network of hourly workers for the restaurant industry, allowing employers to reach and engage former employees and applicants to fill existing part-time and full-time roles as well as picking up shifts to generate supplemental income. Its SaaS workforce solution helps managers achieve their labor goals by reducing costs, improving compliance, and increasing engagement.

In addition, HourWork plans to build out stackable certifications to enable workers to build their skills through on-the-job training and improve their earning potential. Furthermore, by granting workers the ability to provide reviews of their former workplaces, HourWork is creating an opportunity for owners and managers to improve work culture and environments. HourWork’s vision is the liquid universal workforce designed to save the American Dream for the 80 million shift-based workers in the US.

Why We Invested

Staffing challenges are a top priority for restaurant owners/operators, and a shortage of workers is leading restaurants and other small businesses to close or limit their capacity because they do not have enough employees to serve the resurging demand. Furthermore, although HourWork has achieved impressive initial traction within the QSR category , there is significant opportunity to expand beyond QSR to fast casual, food services, home health care, retail, and other industries that heavily rely on hourly workers. Once the company has built a critical mass of hourly workers, HourWork can start to expand its offerings to benefit workers, including stackable credentials and portable benefits.

The founding team at HourWork has proven themselves to be learning oriented, mission driven, and committed to the well being of the hourly worker. They have surrounded themselves with a board of directors who shares in this mission and Rahkeem Morris’ (CEO & Co-Founder) impressive background and involvement in the board of trustees for a local community college lends credibility to his ability to continue building on the impact of this business. Rahkeem is also in a position to recommend policies as a member of the 17-person Massachusetts special commission to study the Future of Work that was established as part of the 2020 economic development and jobs bill signed into law in January 2021.

Impact

We believe that HourWork has the ability to make a positive impact by empowering worker lives and helping redefine the future of work. In addition to creating more job stability and opportunities for supplemental income, HourWork plans to impact hourly workers along three other dimensions:

Universal stackable certificates: guide shift-based workers to greater economic opportunity through credentialing skills learned through on-the-job training and enabling a platform that allows workers to use those skills anywhere that will accept them. Certificates are stacked to unlock different income opportunities and eventually stack with certificates earned from accredited educational institutions.
Financial and portable benefits management: give workers a tool for personal financial management designed for the future of work, inclusive of a platform for portable benefits for workers that provides improved financial stability and outcomes.
Employment “passport” and matching: virtually eliminate all barriers to hire, enabling workers to instantly obtain additional income from “good jobs” enabled through a feedback mechanism to owners and managers on their workplace environment and culture. Instantaneous hiring and feedback are designed to fuel a virtuous cycle where employers drive improvements in their culture and practices.