Case studies:

The client 

The Finders Keepers is a design market that features the work of independent makers and designers from across Australia. Founded in 2008, The Finders Keepers has now grown to be Australia's leading design market. More of a festival than a market, the events combine design, art, good food, live music and a fun community spirit under one awesome roof in major city locations.

With events held in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, the market promotes and supports over 1200 sellers each year and the number of event attendees varies from 15,000-30,000 people. 

The challenges

Sourcing casuals in 3 cities

The Finders Keepers Market has been recruiting Event Assistants through Sidekicker as their chosen events staffing agency since 2017, having previously relied on traditional events staffing agencies or their internal casuals. 

We had the absolute pleasure to chat to Lindsay Pepper, the National Events Manager at The Finders Keepers, who’s provided insights into their past experiences with temporary staff.

“In the earlier stage we used casuals that we worked with from other agencies, or who we found through networking. Some were casuals working at the same city events, some semi-permanent staff who flew around to another city event which became costly.” 

Payroll admin

Like numerous other businesses, handling payroll administration can prove to be a challenging and time-consuming task.

“Keeping up with the payroll and superannuation was also expensive, and we always want to make sure we’re paying people appropriately as we value their time and work.” 

The solution

As Sidekicker operates across the major cities such as Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, The Finders Keepers is now able to source local staff at each city - no more flying casuals across the country!

They’ve also appreciated the different features on the platform, with Talent Pools proving particularly beneficial. The Finders Keepers group their Sidekicks into Talent Pools according to their role and city, simplifying the process of contacting the appropriate pool of Sidekicks for future work requests.

“Now we have a core team, and all our casuals come through Sidekicker. Being able to easily find people who have done the same role 6-months ago at our events that we can offer the role directly for is definitely a benefit.”

The results

Time saved on administrative tasks

By streamlining candidate sourcing and payroll management, Sidekicker has effectively minimised the staffing-related workload for The Finders Keepers. This allows them the freedom to concentrate on creating memorable events loved by so many, and providing support to their small business sellers.

Letting Sidekicker take care of the workers payroll, and having transparency on the workers and their contact details on the platform has reduced the admin tasks. 

“It’s definitely a time saver on resources, because I don’t have to do a huge reach out if people are available in 3-6 months time. Being able to keep up with the awards is good - and we don’t have to keep a separate spreadsheet of the workers and make sure it’s up-to-date.”

Worker retention

The ability to effortlessly request the same local Sidekicks for their city-based events has also demonstrated a positive effect on worker retention. Lindsay also mentions the good opportunity Sidekicker could provide for their sellers, who set up their stands for 5-days before each event.

“We’re able to retain people who are professional, and come back time after time. We would encourage our small businesses to also use Sidekicker for the event setup, which offers additional opportunities for Sidekicks on the platform, and a value-add for the businesses onsite having somebody even just for 4-hours or the whole day.” 

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