Grafter

On-Demand Labour Platform

Grafter is an online worker network where employers and workers find each other and arrange work directly. Taking on temporary staff is a good way to keep staffing costs down and productivity up, but recruiting temps through a staffing agency is expensive enough that many companies skip it altogether.

Platform:

Web, iOS, Android

Industry:

SaaS

Team size:

8 people

Country:

United Kingdom

Project Duration:

1 year

The year started & completed:

2019 – 2020

We built a web, iOS, and Android platform that puts employers and temporary workers in direct contact across six industries, with three commercial models covering businesses of any size.

Scope and Objectives

Worker and Job Search

Search across both sides of the network, built to stay fast and usable as the user base grows into the tens of thousands.

Arranging Work

Employers and workers interact on the platform and arrange work between themselves, rather than through an intermediary.

Cross-Platform Access

A web application alongside native iOS and Android apps, so workers can find and accept jobs away from a desk.

Industry Coverage

Six industries: Building & Construction, Farming & Landscaping, Leisure & Events, Industry & Business, Driving & Logistics, and General & Other, which takes in retail and cleaning services.

Challenges Identified

Search at Scale

The team knew the application would potentially be used by tens of thousands of people looking for employees or for work. Organising that search so it stayed efficient and convenient was the primary challenge the developers faced, and it shaped the choice of Elasticsearch and AWS for storing the data.

Two Sides of One Marketplace

Employers and workers want different things from the same product. One is filling a shift, the other is filling a week. Both journeys had to work well without splitting the platform in two.

Three Commercial Models on One Platform

The same system had to serve a sole trader paying as they go, a subscribing enterprise managing a high volume of Grafters across multiple business users, and bespoke clients needing their own interfaces.

Results of the project

An online worker network covering six industries and three commercial models.

Grafter is an online worker network where employers and employees interact and arrange work. The project currently covers six industries: Building & Construction, Farming & Landscaping, Leisure & Events, Industry & Business, Driving & Logistics, and General & Other, which includes retail and cleaning services.

Grafter also offers three solution options, so businesses of any size can use it according to their requirements.

Business Value

A cheaper route to temporary staff.

Temp Hiring Without Agency Fees

Employers reach workers directly, removing the agency cost that leads some companies to give up on temporary staffing altogether.

A Model for Every Size of Business

Pay-as-you-go for sole traders, subscription for enterprises, bespoke for clients with their own systems. One platform rather than three products.

Search Built for Growth

Elasticsearch on AWS means the network can keep adding employers and workers without search becoming the thing that breaks.

Six Industries, One Network

Coverage from construction to cleaning gives employers a single place to staff shifts, and gives workers more of the market to draw on.

Tools & Technologies

Laravel

AWS

Jenkins