And the ACE Award Goes To...Instawork!

Last year, the ACE Awards added a new category for Best Innovation, which aimed to celebrate an innovative product that has helped solve a problem for the catering and events industry.

Instawork walked away with the top prize for how they were able to revolutionized how the industry finds staff for their businesses while managing new worker expectations, providing catering businesses peace of mind knowing they can easily staff their events and dial up or down their staffing based on their unique needs.

Best Innovation

Instawork’s platform stems from its focus on a “high-tech, high-touch” philosophy, combining technology with human intelligence to ensure high quality and reliable staffing -- at scale.

Instawork has built a rich database of the hourly professional universe including historical employment, certifications, education, training, personal/professional connections, and dozens of other relevant data points. Using predictive algorithms with machine learning, Instawork is able to identify the best hourly workers (Pros) and on-board them seamlessly and quickly into the platform. This creates a non-biased, fair, and fast experience for Pros to get access to shifts that will increase their earning opportunities and also ensure our business partners (Partners) experience great outcomes.

With over 1.5 million Pros, Instawork has built a highly scalable dispatch and matching system. By leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), we are able to match the right Pro with the right Partner across a multitude of position types, geographies, and work requirements. This intelligent system is also trying to optimize payout rates for both Partners and Pros to ensure Pros are earning as much as possible while Partners get the best value.

Instawork is not just a gig matching platform to connect workers and catering businesses. Instawork collects dozens of data points around Pro behaviors like attitude, reliability, job performance, specialized skills (e.g. mixology) and more. Using sophisticated AI and ML, we are able to identify the right training opportunities in order to continually improve our base of Pros and match them with businesses who need their specific skills and experience.

Instawork’s business has accelerated dramatically over the past 15 months as it adapted to the significant labor market shifts created by COVID-19, quickly expanding its marketplace to help address an imbalance of labor supply and demand. Shifts available via Instawork have grown 8X in less than two years, with thousands of new Pros building profiles in its marketplace

According to their award submission, their favorite aspects of the staffing platform are:

• Ease of use and the ability to immediately see desired outcomes are two of the most important aspects of our digital marketplace. A catering business can easily become an Instawork Partner and quickly find the workers they need for anything from a corporate dinner to a large multi-day event. Through Instawork, they know the workers that arrive to a shift are ready to work, dressed appropriately, and have the necessary skills to perform as expected. Instawork Pros are rated based on their performance at other previous jobs, eliminating concerns for our Partners that staff will be late, won’t show, or won’t be properly prepared for their shift.
• Instawork uses a two-way rating system between our Pros and Partners, allowing them to rate their experiences. On average, our Pros have a 4.3 star rating (out of 5), and our Partners have achieved a 4.7 star rating (also out of 5). These ratings combined with the quality and reliability of Pros filling shifts have led to our Partners experiencing increased revenue, with some exceeding their annual revenue goals in just a few months. This is a relief for many business owners working to recover from the devastation of COVID-19, particularly in hospitality.
• Meanwhile, the app is simple to use for those looking for work in food service. Instawork Pros across the U.S. can create a profile, find a food service shift that matches their skills and interests, and often start working in under 24 hours. Thousands of new Pros build profiles in our marketplace daily for jobs with restaurants, caterers, and other hospitality industry Partners.