We’re over halfway through 2018 and it’s been a hugely positive period for Syft. We’re growing our internal team and expanding our regional branches, taking on new clients and Syfters, refining the app and improving the service we offer, all to fulfil our founding goals: to raise wages and give control to workers; provide high quality, reliable flexible staff for employers; and demonstrate how technological innovation can benefit a variety of different sectors. Our success is grounded in the day-to-day work of our clients and Syfters, so we’d like to thank everyone for their hard work. Here are some particularly notable events as of late; stay tuned for many more!
We’ve made our first acquisition, expanding our hospitality operations
In April, we acquired the culinary recruitment agency PBL Chefs. They operated across the hospitality sector, providing 600 chefs – ranging from food preparation assistants to head chefs – to prestigious brands like the Hurlingham Club, Delaware North, Mews of Mayfair and many others around the country. PBL Chefs’ Managing Director and former chef Phil Houlihan joined us as Chef Director, to head the department which is responsible for over 1,000 chefs across the UK. Phil brought along his team and has proven invaluable in ensuring Syft’s continued growth. Since the acquisition, Syft has been able to offer businesses an even wider pool of talented, diligent workers; raised wages and offered perks to our new Syfters; and taken on a host of new clients that are aware of our increased capabilities. After this fantastic deal, we have no doubt that our next acquisition will be just as beneficial for everyone involved.
We’ve won awards, gaining industry recognition
In early May, we won the prestigious Recruitment Technology Innovation of the Year award at the Recruiter Awards, one of the industry’s most notable galas. Our CEO Jack Beaman stated, “Our whole team is over the moon… We will use this award to kick on and bring about further positive change to the industry.”
Later that month, Syft reached 7th place in the Startups 100, an industry ranking which has highlighted some of the most successful startups over the last decade. They noted: “(Syft’s) customer and investor base are laudable, so too are the aims of the business.”
In early July, Syft was awarded the Hottest Platform Economy / Marketplace trophy in Europe at The Europas 2018 run by TechCrunch; judges praised Syft as “TaskRabbit for the hospitality industry.”
Whether we’d won these awards or not, we’re constantly working to improve our operations. Since the beginning of the year we’ve instituted a host of updates to the app, all varying in size and importance but resulting in a simpler, smoother user experience. Workers have gained the ability to edit their clock-in/clock-out times, can select multiple cities to work, and receive alerts when their documents near expiration. Employers could create shifts for front of house and back of house separately, could create custom job titles, plus had the option to block workers. You’ll continue to see changes as the year rolls on- both to our app and awards cabinet!
We’ve published several opinion pieces and reports
Our team encompasses professionals with backgrounds in fields as diverse as hospitality, industrial, recruitment, tech and many others. We utilise this expertise to offer our clients and Syfters the best possible app and service we can; we’re also keen to get involved in some of the most pressing discussions in the industries we operate in, offering industry trend, analysis and actionable tips.
In recent months we’ve published:
Shifting Warehousing For Change, covering how industrial employers can benefit from contemporary technology, helping to improve the worker experience and aiding in staff retention.
Hospitality Staffing Technology Forecast 2018, analysing how hospitality employers have utilised technological innovations, such as instant messaging, to improve performance and considers the solutions they’ll employ throughout the year.
Targeting Talent In The Gig Economy: Recruitment Simplified?, looking at how technology can be an immensely useful tool for workers operating in the recently-emerged ‘gig economy’.
Brexit Risks To The Industrial Sector Analysis, providing an outlook of the current situation and offering workable strategies, including discussing the importance of a varied supply chain and using innovative solutions. We’re planning on launching a new resources hub on our website, so you’ll be able to access our diverse offerings from one source in the future!
We hosted our first event for industrial professionals
In late April, we hosted SyftLIVE: Future Logistics West London in Park Royal, Europe’s largest industrial estate. We sought to analyse the logistics sector and consider the most pressing issues, including innovations in packaging, diversity in workforce and drone technology. Representatives from influential sector bodies including West London Business, Women In Logistics and the OCPD shared their insights through presentations and panel discussions.
We’re over the moon we had the opportunity to collaborate with so many insightful people; the warm praise afterwards showed others found it worthwhile too. Plans are afoot for our next event, building on this success to further build conversations among varied professionals.
We visited job fairs across the country
While we provide a technology solution, we believe it’s vital to maintain our service standards: offering dedicated support to our clients, maintaining a dialogue with our Syfters over social media, and meeting jobseekers at different careers fairs. It’s a great chance to answer questions, better describe what we do and how it can benefit people, discuss local work opportunities and sign people up. Our team representatives have been drawn from our regional branches, the marketing team, the sales desk- even Syfters themselves. We’re proud of the effort everyone puts in and the passion they display when introducing Syft to new people. 
It’s great to be able to look back over the last few months and highlight so much positive progress. From doings things for the first time, such as making an acquisition and hosting an event, to carrying on with our regular functions, like onboarding job seekers and refining the app, every day been a step forward.
In a larger sense, it means that businesses across the country are running more smoothly with fantastic staff, thousands of workers have higher pay and perks, and we can continue our journey- the rest of the year looks set to be immensely busy!
