Case studies:
The Somewhere Co
The client
Since 2020, The Somewhere Co. has been elevating lunch breaks and bougie picnics alike.
They’ve become the destination for the everyday modern woman, regardless of their stage in life, to find beautifully bright and fun products for home, work, baby and play. TSC services both wholesale and retail customers internationally.
Tara Brady, the Warehouse Lead at The Somewhere Co shared insights to the challenges casual warehouse staffing has brought on to their Brisbane warehouse.
The challenges
Ad hoc staffing requirements
The Somewhere Co are a seasonal brand with ad hoc staffing requirements.
They hire casual staff for two peak periods throughout the year; the wholesale peak and Black Friday/Cyber Monday peak, and training a whole new team for only a few weeks or a month of work is not the best way of using resources.
Sourcing last minute labour
During the peak periods, additional casual warehouse staff such as pick packers and forklift drivers are often needed on a last minute basis, for an unknown period of time.
Due to these fluctuations, it is imperative that The Somewhere Co have a reliable pool of casual staff ready at all times.
“Sidekicker was integral in expanding our team on short notice in the instance of an unexpected container arrival, as well as sourcing replacements for sickness.”
The solution
Access to labour 24/7
Using Sidekicker as their sole warehouse staffing agency, The Somewhere Co has 24/7 access to a pool of pre-vetted, skilled and experienced casual warehouse staff ready to assist with their peak periods.
On the Sidekicker platform, The Somewhere Co can make a request in a minute whenever the need arises, and find labour even to fill same-day sick calls.
“If there were absenteeism, we could post a shift to the platform and it would be filled right away.”
Easy way to manage casual labour
The Sidekicker platform allows The Somewhere Co to pick and choose their preferred workers based on their transparent profile, and maintain their favourite casual pick packer and forklift driver staff by saving them to talent pools in order to request the same workers onsite again.
To make it even more seamless to hire casuals, The Somewhere Co may use the auto-hire feature to allow the first applicant/s to be hired to the shift automatically, which helps quickly fill last-minute requirements.
The virtual timesheets on the platform make it really easy to view and approve workers hours.
“My favourite thing about the platform would be the talent pools and auto-hire. These functions were super helpful in maintaining the best team of workers.”
The results
Sidekicker has provided The Somewhere Co with the flexibility to build their own workforce of skilled and reliable staff, to successfully manage fulfilment during peak periods. The average star rating for Sidekicks given by The Somewhere Co is 5/5 stars.
“By having Sidekicks onsite, we were able to ensure the existing TSC team was not overworked. This positively impacted fatigue management, and resulted in more orders going out correctly.”
