The online platform Coople is currently turning the Swiss job market upside down. It has grown explosively since the pandemic and now has access to over half a million registered workers.
Hairdressers are currently among the most sought-after workers.
Where have they all gone, the Büezer and employees? It’s a question most businesses are asking these days. Hardly any applicants respond to their job advertisements – especially not those who have the desired profile. And it is no longer just the search for notoriously scarce specialists such as IT specialists and nursing staff that has been fruitless for a long time. There is also a lack of waitresses, furniture movers, security guards and hairdressers. Many companies therefore have little choice but to reduce their offerings: they shorten their opening hours, no longer accept orders, save on customer service or even close down completely.
Or they go to Coople. The digital marketplace, also known as Tinder for job seekers, is the last resort for many companies in the desperate search for workers. The services of the personnel leasing company, which has replaced personnel consultants with algorithms, are now being used by 16,000 companies – and the trend is rising. Thousands of short-term job offers are published on the platform. The offer ranges from assignments for a few hours to those for a year or more.
The personnel lender can now fall back on a pool of half a million registered people. This makes Coople one of the largest employers in Switzerland. And every month more than 10,000 new people who want to be matched are added.
“A lot of companies are currently coming to us when they are in trouble. They then ask us: How can you help us?” says Coople boss Yves Schneuwly. He is sitting at a long wooden table in Coople’s headquarters in Zurich Albisrieden. The company employs 80 people here, in these five and a half meter high rooms, where there is a Japanese garden, a cozy coffee shop and a Swiss chalet corner with cowhide on the floor and a virtual view of the Matterhorn.
“Companies often come to us when there is a fire,” says Coople Switzerland CEO Yves Schneuwly.
For example, there was a “fire” at one of the major distributors during the pandemic. Within two days, this required 800 people across Switzerland to implement the new security requirements to contain the corona virus, which the Federal Council had decided shortly before. And Coople delivered. A few hours after the order was received, all the jobs were filled.
Or there was the nursing home, where almost all nursing and kitchen staff were absent during the pandemic because they were either sick in bed or in quarantine. Coople provided a replacement within less than 48 hours. “Such emergencies usually result in a recurring relationship,” says Schneuwly.
Companies are increasingly relying on flexible workers
However, the trend towards a more flexible workforce began well before the pandemic. In addition to their own core team with permanent employees, more and more companies are increasingly relying on flexibly deployable personnel in order to break through peak loads.
“The pandemic and the abrupt start of the economy after the corona restrictions were lifted have accelerated this development enormously,” says Schneuwly. In the months after the crisis in particular, temporary workers played an important role: they allowed companies to start up their operations again largely risk-free.
Unlike conventional recruiters, where customer contact is still the focus, Coople’s staffing is completely digital. The employers publish their jobs on the platform themselves and specify the hourly wage and the qualifications that the candidates must have. Job seekers, in turn, upload their CV and job references after registering. These are checked by Coople and stored in the user profile.
In a matter of seconds, the platform’s algorithm then selects the most suitable candidates for each advertised job. They each receive a real-time request via cell phone to apply. As a result, the employer receives the list of all applicants and selects those candidates that he wants to hire.
There are usually no job interviews at Coople. According to Schneuwly, this is not a disadvantage – quite the opposite. «Job interviews are always subjective. Our rating system provides a more objective picture of what companies and workers are getting themselves into.» In this way, employers can not only see where the candidate has previously worked and in which position, but also how they have been evaluated in previous work assignments. Jobseekers, in turn, refrain from a job offer if the employer has received a bad rating in the past.
More and more larger companies that need temporary workers for jobs in retail, hospitality, office and logistics are also relying on this fast and uncomplicated access to a huge pool of labour. Coople’s customer base includes the insurance companies Axa and Zurich, the retailers Migros and Zara and Swisscom.
Comparison with Uber lags
But the fact that everything is processed digitally on Coople also triggers skepticism. Because in many sectors in which Coople is strong – the hospitality industry, retail and construction, for example – it is about jobs in the low-wage segment. And not a few of these people are forced to take a second job on platforms like Coople because the main income is not enough for life.
Trade unions have repeatedly criticized the so-called platformisation of the world of work. For example, Uber or Uber Eats are content with providing a platform for taxi rides and food orders. Social security contributions, holiday compensation or subsidies for cars and bicycles are not planned for drivers and food couriers.
But the comparison of Coople with Uber lags. “All workers who find a job via our platform are also employed by us and are subject to the collective employment contract for staff leasing,” says Schneuwly. This includes, for example, that a minimum wage is not undercut or that social security contributions are deducted from the first hour of work. Furthermore, temporary employees are entitled to CHF 500 for further training from just 88 hours of work. “We offer a lot to temporary workers – and we’re proud of it,” emphasizes Schneuwly.
Labor shortages push up wages
For him, the rapid growth of the pool of employees at Coople is proof that the need for flexible working is generally growing. And this applies not only to companies that want to quickly cover unforeseeable bottlenecks. The number of employees who want to decide for themselves when, where and how much they work is also growing.
It’s golden times for them right now. The companies are willing to pay significantly more for workers in the hospitality industry or in the trades than last year. Cooks, for example, would earn up to 8 francs more per hour than at the beginning of the year.