Best On-Demand Staffing Services
On-demand staffing services, commonly referred to as mobile marketplaces, allow businesses to hire temporary workers for single shifts or short-term positions. Mobile marketplaces let job seekers create online profiles, share work portfolios (if relevant), and search the available job openings based on filters and qualifications.
Some on-demand staffing services partner with staffing agencies, while others provide direct connections between job seekers and employers. Once job seekers apply for a gig or shift, employers can approve or deny the job or shift on their end. Beyond the gig they are hired for, applicants typically do not need to sign any extensive paperwork or make any additional commitments. Following a completed shift or one-off task, both the worker and the hiring company can review their experience, and this data will affect the search placement and reputation of both parties for future users.
Sourcing job seekers through mobile marketplaces differs from sourcing through freelance platforms in that these positions are often one-off projects or shift-based. On-demand staffing platforms are commonly leveraged by hospitality businesses and can also be used for entry-level office work and general labor tasks.
To qualify for inclusion in the On-Demand Staffing category, a services provider must:
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99designs is the world’s largest on-demand design marketplace, connecting a global community of freelance designers with businesses of all sizes to complete their design needs.
- Design
- Marketing and Advertising
- 77% Small-Business
- 10% Enterprise
- 10% Mid-Market
Upshift is an on-demand staffing platform connecting businesses to its high quality, pre-vetted, W2 workforce. Upshift's strict vetting procedures and accountability processes lead to success rates of
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- Food & Beverages
- Hospitality
- 47% Small-Business
- 43% Mid-Market
- 10% Enterprise
Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) operates a marketplace for work that requires human intelligence. The MTurk web service enables companies to programmatically access this marketplace and a diverse, on-d
- Research
- 66% Small-Business
- 24% Enterprise
- 7% Mid-Market
Near helps US mid-market enterprises and fast-growing startups hire outstanding remote talent, from Latin America for any role from senior leadership to entry-level positions. Near delivers a 360 solu
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- Marketing and Advertising
- 53% Small-Business
- 33% Mid-Market
- Staffing
- Recruiting
- RPO
DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.
- 70% Small-Business
- 15% Mid-Market
- 10% Enterprise
Thumbtack is an online service that helps people find handymen, housekeepers, tutors, photographers, wedding planners, and others for temporary employment.
- Photography
- 79% Small-Business
- 14% Mid-Market
- 9% Enterprise
Taskrabbit is a task managment application that allow user to choose from a list of popular chores and errands, connect you with a skilled Tasker and Tasker arrives, completes the job and bills direct
- 60% Small-Business
- 27% Mid-Market
- 7% Enterprise
Wonolo provides a B2B marketplace that allows businesses to find vetted talent immediately, it removes the friction for companies to find talent for on-demand hourly or daily job needs, while creating
- 75% Small-Business
- 20% Enterprise
- 5% Mid-Market
Transforming the recruitment industry with hourly recruiting Fingerhut Recruiting is a boutique hourly recruiting firm based in Chicago that helps companies with key hiring and ongoing growth. W
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- Computer Software
- Information Technology and Services
- 56% Small-Business
- 28% Mid-Market
- 4% Enterprise
- Tech Recruiting
"TLDR: Hyyer's clients benefit from exclusive access to Silicon Valley level talent at a fraction of the cost. Hyyer connects startups and enterprises with top-notch bilingual talent with experti
- 100% Small-Business
TC View : Uber of Tech Hiring The TC View Hiring Platform enables hiring managers, talent acquisition specialists, and HR leaders to access time-tagged recordings of interviews, customised assessm
- 57% Small-Business
- 43% Mid-Market
Founded in 2015, Helpware is a company taking a modern approach to the outsourcing industry. We created the company to change perceptions of what outsourcing is and can be, and we did that by building
- 45% Mid-Market
- 45% Small-Business
- 7% Enterprise
- Customer support
- Technical support
- Back-office support
Remote People connects businesses with top-tier remote talent in 150+ countries across any industry. We provide seamless international recruitment and Employer of Record (EOR) services to help you eas
- Overview
- Software Expertise
- Pros and Cons
- Information Technology and Services
- Marketing and Advertising
- 49% Small-Business
- 34% Mid-Market
- 16% Enterprise
- International Recruitment
- Executive Search
- International Staffing
Ondemand by Jitjatjo' puts a community of vetted, experienced workers at you and your team’s fingertips. Jitjatjo is the workforce management and on-demand staffing platform connecting experienced wo
- 80% Small-Business
Ukrany specializes in comprehensive workforce optimization, offering a suite of services that encompasses talent sourcing, management, and optimization. Services: - Talent Acquisition: We utilize di
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- Design
- 71% Small-Business
- 14% Mid-Market
Learn More About On-Demand Staffing Services
Why Use On-Demand Staffing Services?
When you bring in freelancers to fill a temporary role, they will work alongside your full-time employees and serve as equal contributors to the team for as long as you need them. When creating profiles or offering their information to these providers, these gig-based candidates are ensuring a certain degree of expertise with the topic at hand, and many of these providers will do background checks to confirm they are qualified. When you hire someone for these short-term opportunities, they can immediately meet with your trained staff to go over the tasks and get up to speed.
Small businesses and startups will often have random needs that arise, creating a demand that is just above the current level of staffing. These situations can include full-time employees calling out sick, sudden surges in business traffic, and complications that create urgency in certain areas. On-demand staffing enables team leaders to distribute these assignments and get the work done on time without the need for full-time hires and the laborious process involved—not to mention the budget. The traditional recruiting process can cost a business thousands of dollars when all is said and done, due to the length of the process and the resources required. Bringing in a temp worker using on-demand staffing will, comparatively, cost your business next to nothing.
If you run a business that can benefit from some form of temporary labor, such as a restaurant, retail store, construction company, or traditional office, these gig economy marketplaces are a modern solution to the problem. For example, if you manage a restaurant and a cook calls in sick, you can find a suitable local replacement to perform these duties for whatever period of time that the sick employee must miss work. Even if your particular industry does not typically work with freelancers or temps, you might benefit from the increasing popularity and normalization of the on-demand workforce. More people than ever are choosing gig-based work as a source of income, and the level of talent available on these platforms increases each day.
Who Uses On-Demand Staffing Services?
The flexible nature of on-demand platforms allows for a wide range of use cases. While some products in this category are focused on the needs of those working in certain industries, others are more broad in scope, using filters and keywords to guide the process for users in any industry. There are select lines of work where demand staffing capabilities may be more practical on a regular basis, such as the service industry or jobs with manual labor.
Below are a few key user groups who leverage on-demand staffing for their hiring needs.
Managers — Whether you run a tech startup or a bustling coffee shop, managerial roles are a cornerstone of your workforce. Staff managers and team leads are the closest to the action and should have their fingers on the pulse of day-to-day staffing in relation to what work has to be done. These individuals also tend to have an understanding of team dynamics, scheduling practices, and how temporary hires can best fit into the picture.
Managers may be the ideal use case for on-demand staffing. They can jump onto these platforms upon learning of a new demand or an incident that will create a staffing shortage and quickly find a person whose skills, personality, and availability meet the criteria. Once an agreement is sent out and signed off on, the manager can then update the information on their employee scheduling software so it reflects the contribution of this temporary staff. Beyond simply finding and booking temp workers through these services, managers can be directly involved with any necessary onboarding or training once the contract employees arrive or assign the task to other employees.
Human resources — The human resources (HR) department within a traditional organization is often a liaison between teams and new recruits. They will frequently assist with posting jobs, screening applicants, scheduling interviews, and organizing paperwork when it comes to filling new roles. They are also usually a direct link between the staff and the accounting team, helping to ensure employees receive the proper compensation and benefits and addressing any issues as they arise.
Your HR department can make use of on-demand staffing platforms to facilitate the scouting, onboarding, and placement of a contingent workforce. If a manager identifies a need for temp workers but would prefer assistance with the staffing process, they can request help for the internal HR department, who can then leverage these platforms. Used alongside more traditional HR software, the solutions in this category can enable HR specialists to jump in and fill roles that keep the company moving forward and tackling its various projects without gaps in labor.
Recruiters — Recruitment specialists, whether part of an office staff or an external agency, can leverage these systems as part of a larger recruiting software stack. These individuals are experts in navigating various pools of talent and selectively picking the best possible candidates for different roles. This can often involve social networks software, job boards software, and other digital resources. On-demand staffing tools can be a well of qualified, motivated people with a wide range of backgrounds and specializations. Even if these platforms are mostly meant for short-term hires, the employees discovered through these channels can easily transition into more complete positions if there is a perfect fit and a mutual desire to continue the work. Recruiters can help place the right people into growing brands and jumpstart a reliable, ad hoc relationship or plant the seeds for a career.
