When A Simple Need Says - “It’s Time to hyre”

A week ago, I was introduced to a new hospitality startup called "hyre", a Canadian startup aiming to reinvent event staffing. Founded by current CEO Eropa Stein, the budding talent source for hospitality help is impressive for quite a few reasons. First and foremost, Stein's idea for the platform reminds me of something the French poet, and essayist Charles Péguy once said, "It is the essence of genius to make use of the simplest ideas."

If Péguy was right, and I believe his logic has been proven correct many times, then "hyre" is a real stroke of brilliance. Here's more on this, and on reasons hospitality needs innovations like this.

Eropa Stein is a sharp young woman who's paid her dues the last 6 years in the event staffing arena. If human resources pragmatism and efficiency needed an entrepreneurial champion, this Ottawa business woman is a prime candidate. Stein, who holds a Master's Degree in Forensic Psychology, made her way through university working in event staffing, management, and consulting. It was from this experience that the concept of a more streamlined and reliable event staffing platform was conjured. Talking with Stein late last week, I was fascinated to learn just how painful it can be for organizers to find the right people to work their events. I've known from my own experience that conferences and summits are often understaffed, but the "ins-and-outs" of the business she relayed were a bit of a surprise.

For instance, I was really surprised to learn of the very high no-show rate of 20-30% that organizers expect when staffing their events. Imagine you're waiting to greet 500 conference attendees and one third of your staff fails to show. We talk about guest or customer experience all the time, so let your hospitality imagination run wild here. But Stein and her team came up with a way to reduce "no-shows" by simply instituting a staff rating and monetary penalty. Stein shared a few other event nightmares from her experience as well, but anyone in hospitality knows all the points of pain. What "hyre" does best is remove the "middle man" from the equation. Organizers such as catering or hospitality professionals don't so much need an agency in order to make the right staffing decisions, with hyre they can deal with staffing directly. So, Stein and her team are at work refining the connective tool, and are on the logical expansion going forward. I asked the Toronto native about plans going forward for the rest of 2017, and she had this to add:

"Hyre is looking to make an impact on the event staffing industry in 2017, particularly focusing on New York and London as our next cities."

Hyre is a straightforward platform that greatly simplifies the hiring process for event organizers, and for staff to find gigs. Event staff get to choose their hourly fees, find the gigs that best suit them, and receive ratings and feedback on their work. Event organizers get a fully customizable staffing dashboard that reveals a list of staff along with in-depth details on capabilities, etc.. Organizers get the assurance of vetted staff that have passed background checks and so forth, while staff enjoy benefits like flexibility and higher hourly wages. Hyre employs cutting edge quality control tools and is WSIB insured to protect event organizers as well.

So, in a nutshell "hyre" gives organizers complete control over price and quality, while at the same time empowering staff to book shifts at their price point and according to their schedules. The bottom line for me is, hyre is becoming the technological "middle man", or a highly efficient and certifiable tool employers and employees can trust. It's not rocket science, but it is brilliant. What's more, Stein and her team have a long-range plan that is as simple, and potentially game changing.

I'll leave you with another quote on simplification by the esteemed economist and thinker E. F. Schumacher:

"
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."

Henri Roelings
Founder & CEO
+31 6 5431 0152
Hospitality Net