How to build a worker fleet

Marketplace platforms like Uber, Grubhub, and Instacart have the unique challenge of growing both sides of their business. On one side, the consumers who crave the product or service, and on the other, providers of that good or service, like drivers and couriers. With a groundbreaking product, consumers find and use their product easily. But it can be hard for the platform to find qualified workers to keep up with demand. Most marketplace platforms spend a majority of their time trying to source workers. Being able to quickly and efficiently find workers can be the make-or-break activity for a startup and determine how fast they can achieve escape velocity and scale. This challenge is often amplified seasonally when they must ratchet their workforces up or down to meet changing consumer behavior.

We’ve rounded up some of the best worker acquisition tactics from top marketplaces:

• Target workers where they are. The easiest way to find qualified workers is to reach them where they already are. Startups should consider what makes a worker successful on their platform, and figure out how they can find people who meet those characteristics. When Uber launched in a new city, they went to taxi queues and airport parking lots to talk to drivers and called up every limo company in the phone book. AirBnb responded to Craigstlist postings about homes available for short-term rentals. Wag actively targets veterinary school students, believing they would be interested and qualified to work as a dog walker.

• Simplify referrals from existing workers and customers. The people using a product can be the best advocates for knowing who will be a good worker. Every company should create an easy way for users to refer friends to become a worker or provider within the platform. Most startups know they should use word-of-mouth marketing for their customers, but they overlook that this should be extended to their worker base as well. If a company has a great product that users and workers alike love, they’ll happily evangelize the opportunity. Simple referral programs go a long way.
• Incentivize performance. The best marketplaces further optimize their referral programs by rewarding referrers (and sometimes referees) for performance on the platform. Most companies tie payouts to specific performance targets — for example, that a referral is not paid until the worker completes 10 tasks. This structure incentivizes referrers to find workers who are most likely going to meet the targets and perform well. It also encourages referrers to help their referees through the onboarding process, which can reduce a startup’s cost to onboard and get new workers on to the platform faster.
• Understand the value of part-time workers. While finding a small, productive core group of workers is key at launch, many startups pivot too slowly to getting a large number of part-time workers activated. Gig economy companies rely on a balance of dedicated workers who view this as their primary income source, and casual workers who only complete a few tasks per week. Established gig companies report that a majority of their work is done by the latter. Marketing teams need to ensure that they reach potential part-time workers in their outreach efforts.
• Anticipate seasonal hiring needs. Marketplace platforms have sophisticated worker procurement teams that leverage countless tools to scour for potential talent. It’s largely been the same channels of worker acquisition for the last 15 years with a mix of job boards, social media, and traditional advertising. It’s tedious, expensive, and stressful for the hiring managers accountable for their workforces. It’s no surprise that seasonal hiring pressures crescendo around the holidays where competition for workers intensifies. Some platforms increase their hiring by thousands, and others, by hundreds of thousands in the case of Amazon. The issue is not worker demand outstripping supply but rather the historical, inherent inefficiency in matching the demand for talent with the supply of talent.