'Logical to expand here': Gig-work company Jitjatjo now in Houston

Houston is a natural fit for Jitjatjo, the mobile marketplace for real-time temporary employment in the hospitality sector, company CEO and Co-Founder Tim Chatfield said during an interview with the Houston Daily.

The company announced its arrival in H-Town earlier this month.

"We've been powering gig-work in major metro cities like New York, Chicago and DC, our platform continues to expand throughout the United States by offering three unique workforce applications, powered by an industry leading talent marketplace," Chatfield said.

Those three separate programs are now available and are user specific for small and medium businesses, active talent and end-to-end technology platforms with "a robust, white label solution for larger organizations," Chatfield said.

"Ondemand is the business facing app that provides SMB’s access to the Jitjatjo talent marketplace with no sign-up fees and no subscription fees," Chatfield said. "For talent, Flex is the app for workers to enter their availability, preferences, and manage their work schedule. Larger corporations leverage Network as a white-label solution that enables organizations to build their own internal labor pools while continuing to work with their preferred agency partners."

Jitjatjo is now in Houston and for good reason.

"Houston is the 4th largest metro-area in the US so it is logical to expand here next," Chatfield said. "Two of our largest clients have a major presence in Houston as well and have requested our support in the area."

Jitjatjo, which describes itself as "a disruptive internal talent marketplace for contingent labor needs," announced on July 12 that it had "rolled out their powerful workforce management platform throughout the greater Houston area."

Jitjatjo was founded in 2015 as a gig-work platform with leverages in artificial and empathic intelligence and an eye toward transforming how people work and business resourcing optimization. Jitjatjo provides flexible work and instant pay to workers, while also staffing on-demand to businesses, particularly in the hospitality industry, which includes conference centers, stadiums, hospitals, schools, hotels and restaurants.

All of those industries were hit very hard during the still ongoing pandemic, during which Jitjatjo has taken a very good look at itself.

"Over the past year, it has become abundantly clear that employers need to rethink how they engage and manage their workforce," Chatfield said in the company's Houston announcement. "Jitjatjo provides an invitation to work, not a directive. The key to success going forward, is embracing this new reality, creating policies and investing in technology that meets these new expectations."

Jitjatjo stands apart from other staffing services and platforms via its "white-label" technology to enterprise organizations, freeing those organization to run their own internal talent marketplace support by a network of external agencies. Jitjatjo's Flex app is the company's platform of artificial and empathic intelligence that matches the best available worker for the available job and generally provides instant Pay at the end of their shift. Jitjatjo on-demand staffing services provides all its employees with W2s, rather than the 1099s that independent contractors usually get, which holds Jitjatjo to a higher standard.

"Jitjatjo's community of talent is thoughtfully curated via an in-depth vetting process, requiring candidates to have prior work experience," Chatfield said. "They must pass an interview, background screening and multiple reference checks before working on-site with hospitality operators."

Houston is ready for the gig-work culture that Jitjatjo provides, Chatfield told Houston Daily.

"Houston is internationally recognized as a Mecca for hospitality and events so it makes sense it’s also home to a vast community of hospitality professionals looking for flexible work," he said. "While Leisure and Hospitality is the second largest sector in the state delivering month-to-month job growth, there are still 150K people looking for work right now in Houston."

Greater-Houston's regional unemployment rate, slightly higher than both state and national averages,  means "there is an enormous opportunity for Jitjatjo to connect businesses in need of staff with professionals looking for work," Chatfield said.

Any businesses that would like to connect with Jitjatjo's sales team quickly may email sales@jitjatjo.com, call (832) 462-6988 or visit the company's website.