HOUSTON – A big problem during and after the pandemic is staffing issues. Most stores and restaurants have “now hiring” signs in their window. Well, there is a ‘QWICK’ solution linking hospitality workers to available shifts, and it is a win-win for workers and businesses alike.
Alli Jarret is the owner of Harold’s in the Heights a restaurant located on 19th Street in Houston Heights. Long term locals may remember Harold’s being a clothing store back in the day. In fact, in the main dining room used to be the ladies dressing room and the original mirror still stands. While Jarret loves that she can preserve Harold’s history, she is also quick to think to the future and embrace new technology.
“It is easy to get short staffed. Particularly if someone calls out of a shift or if you have a big event,” said Jarrett. And, when this does happen, the team at Harold’s turn to QWICK, an app that links restaurants to a network of freelance hospitality professionals.
“Getting started is really easy,” said Retta Kekic, from QWICK. Restaurants can create a profile within the app and use this to post the shift they need to fill. Retta said QWICK can match an available professional to the shift within minutes or hours, “…versus days with traditional staffing agencies…we can fill it in real time so that you’re able to get through that dinner rush successfully.”
Fabian Hatchett is a freelance QWICK Professional. He said he found the app especially helpful when he first arrived in Houston from Michigan. “I ended up downloading it and it took me to another level…jobs just started coming my way like, every day… And I was like, oh wow, this is really neat.”
QWICK put the power to choose in Fabian’s hands when it came to picking up a shift. “You can accept it. You can deny it. You get paid like right then and there. Right when you get done with your shift. Which is amazing,” he told Houston Life.
Watch the video above to see what Melanie Camp discover about the QWICK app solution to staffing shortages when she visited Harol’s in the Heights.