For hospitality businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a plummet in demand that stayed for months. But thanks to their sprawling seaside location, Half Moon Bay Golf Links — a world-class resort known for their two acclaimed golf courses — served as a safe and luxurious escape. As a result, they began to recover before many other businesses.
But as demand quickly grew, it became clear that they needed more staff to keep pace. In search of a solution, Half Moon Bay Golf Links turned to Instawork.
As business increased, Half Moon Bay Golf Links urgently needed to rebuild their team — but that was easier said than done. In the wake of the pandemic, several team members had left the hospitality industry for other jobs or gone back to school. Given the highly competitive labor market, hiring new folks — especially ones that were a good culture fit — was proving to be exceptionally difficult.
Restaurant Manager Marie O'Brian knew they needed help, but didn't want to go back to a temp agency as the workers sent were often unreliable and unprofessional. After searching for an alternative, she was quickly sold on Instawork.
"I knew that there was a 24-hour support system," O'Brian said. "I felt very confident."
O'Brian began using Instawork to fill shifts, from event servers to set up and takedown to dishwashers and more. Right away, she noticed that the quality of the workers was a major upgrade from the staffing agencies she had worked with in the past.
And any workers she rated highly were automatically added to her roster of favorite Professionals in the app.
"I love Instawork because I'm able to build a roster," O'Brian explained. "Every time I need somebody, I just go to that roster, and I'm able to select people who have already been here."
With a solid bench of over 150 top performers, Half Moon Bay Golf Links has all of their bases covered when it comes to staffing events.
"I have all these people in my roster, and it's great because a lot of them are so versatile that they can work in many different capacities," O'Brian said. "They can wash dishes, they can move furniture, they can be a server, they can work banquets, I mean, it's endless… they're always willing to jump in and help."
And O'Brian appreciates the high-tech touch that Instawork offers. She can see Pros' location on their way to a shift, communicate with them, and help with directions or other logistics if needed.
Since partnering with Instawork, O'Brian has used and trusted Instawork Professionals for nearly all of their events. And with 94% of all Half Moon Bay Golf Links' shifts filled — which rose to 100% in the last month — they know they can count on Instawork Pros to show up.
O'Brian maintains a small core team of in-house workers, then books as many Instawork Pros as she needs according to demand — at one of their recent 350-guest events, Instawork Pros made up 75% of the staff.
This allows Half Moon Bay Golf Links to be more agile, which is critical given the seasonal nature of their events business. That combined with the reliability and quality of the Pros, Instawork has been of great value and provides O'Brian with peace of mind.
"There are some very high profile events that we do here, and we get emails from people all the time saying how great the event was, and how friendly and wonderful the staff was," O'Brian shared. "They don't even know that they're temp workers — they just think that we're all one big family."
In fact, O'Brian said, "we are pretty much a family now," since Half Moon Bay Golf Links has been able to build relationships with the Instawork Pros who reliably come back to work for them again and again.
This consistency has also helped Half Moon Bay Golf Links save time when it comes to training. After a quick huddle to go over the event and everyone's roles, "I can just send [the Instawork Pros] on their way," O'Brian said. "It just makes our lives so much easier."
With the forecast for events looking bright in 2022, Half Moon Bay Golf Links looks forward to their continued partnership with Instawork.
"I'm so happy with Instawork," O'Brian said. "I really am."
