Job-Filling & Job-Finding App Hela Job Launches as UK Gig Economy Doubles

With one in 10 UK adults now working on gig economy platforms, the Hela Job app is the first to focus on local job markets. Launching in London this week and then cities throughout the UK, the app will help business owners find local, part-time workers with a click on their smartphone and help job seekers find work in their own neighbourhood just as fast.

September 9th, 2019, London, UK – In the latest sign of the increasingly digital UK job market, Hela Job launched in London this week. The app is the first in the nation to focus on the HR needs of restaurants, retailers and other businesses that rely more than most on a local, part-time workforce. While other gig apps help businesses find contractors and freelancers for work that is primarily managed online, Hela Job helps local businesses find local workers.

“Just as entrepreneurs with skills focused on niche markets are the most successful in a gig economy, Hela Job is focused on the needs of local businesses and local job seekers,” said Hela Job Founder and CEO Ioannis Antypas. “While most job apps help companies find workers around the world, we help companies find workers around the corner."

A recent study by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that Britain’s booming gig economy more than doubled in size over the past three years and now accounts for 4.7 million workers. The study also concluded that one in 10 working-age adults now work on gig economy platforms, up from one in 20 in 2016.

While Uber, the ride-hailing smartphone app, is the most notable exception, most gig platforms are not focused on fulfilling the HR needs of local job markets.

Enter Hela Job, an app focused on helping businesses find local, part-time employees in an instant. How does it work? Once the business owner or HR manager posts a job on the platform, the most qualified local worker is notified instantly on their smartphone. Similar to Uber, if a worker doesn’t respond within a few seconds; the job automatically rolls over to the next local, pre-qualified worker. Also similar to Uber, when a worker accepts an offer, the app uses GPS to physically track them as they drive or, if they live in the same neighborhood, walk from their home to the job site.

HR managers in the UK who previewed Hela Job before this week’s launch, believe the app will save them time and money, allowing them to avoid paying large agency fees. Employers were particularly impressed by the app’s digital shift tracking feature, which allows employees hired through Hela Job to scan a QR code with their smartphones at the start of every shift and scan another code when their shift ends. This makes time-sheets digital, more accurate, and dramatically reduces the amount of time needed to track employee hours.

HR managers save even more time during the hiring process because Hela Job pre-screens and pre-interviews job seekers before they are eligible to be hired through the platform, a step that eliminates the time employers would use to interview job candidates themselves. In addition to interviewing prospective workers before the are eligible to be hired through Hela Job, they’re also subjected to an AI-powered security check.

Job seekers who previewed the app before its launch found it empowering. “The location feature is great, who doesn’t want to work closer to home?” said Sia Tehrani, a London resident who works part-time at a London coffee shop. “I like the freedom the app gives me. Just like Uber, when I want to work, I’ll turn it on and make myself available. When I don’t want to work, I'll turn it off. I’m in charge of my work schedule and I love it!”

After launching in London this week, Antypas plans to make Hela Job available in every major UK city by December. And later, to keep pace with the booming gig economy worldwide, the company will introduce its job-filling, job-finding app to international markets. Hela Job’s next target - the United States, where an estimated 57 million workers have joined the gig economy.

The company’s slogan, “Fill a Job, Find a Job with Hela Job”, will likely be translated into multiple languages as service industries in industrialized countries worldwide undergo a fundamental, digital transformation, relying less on full-time employees and more on part-time, local workers looking for jobs in their own neighbourhood.

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MEDIA INQUIRIES: To schedule an interview with a Hela Job Manager, please contact Gary Gabriel at the company’s London headquarters on 020 8080 2775 or gary.gabriel@helajob.com.