Slivers-of-Time v. Job Creation

You have a body of work to be done. Let's assume there's a budget of £100,000 to do it. That could create 4 or 5 full-time jobs for a year once overhead is included. But it could equally give 100 local people a minimum of two hours work a week for a year in a newly launched Slivers-of-Time marketplace. Which option is the better use of your cash?

The answer depends first on your priority. Is it:

Getting the work done cost effectively?
Boosting local employment?

1) Getting work done cost effectively

Not all types of work are suited to this new form of labour. If your tasks demand focused relationships with customers, or skills acquired over months, or detailed knowledge that takes weeks to accumulate then you're better off with traditional part or full-timers.

However, your work may be much better done Slivers-of-Time if it is:

Unpredictable in its times of demand
Easily taught
Better served by flexibility, reliability and a willingness to be held to account than formal skills

Types of Work suited to Slivers-of-Time

image_bluepeople Imagine the work you need is a range of tasks aimed at improving a local area. Typically it would include: (a) rubbish removal (b) painting external areas (c) landscaping (d) adding features (e) leafleting residents about the improvements. This workplan could easily be broken up into small chunks of time with Slivers-of-Time sellers from the local community booked as required to report to a project leader.

In terms of getting the work done, the advantages of this include: slivers of time vs job creation

Enormous flexibility. Weather is bad? Postpone the work and don't book anyone today. Truck due with a lot of materials? It takes 30 seconds to book 3 people for an hour to unload it. And so on.
Immediacy. Instead of advertising for workers then sifting applications and conducting interviews after which you must wait for candidates to become available you can turn on your market as soon as the funding is secured. Work with an agency, or use a job brokerage service, for a turn-key payroll solution. Leaflet potential sellers, ensure swift registration and you could have the market running and work underway within a week.
Effortless sorting of the talent pool. Some of your sellers will turn out to be particularly adept at the work, rank them as team leaders in the system and ensure one is booked for every shift.
Motivation. You may get lucky with the full-time workers but it's possible they'll become complacent or bored. Slivers-of-Time sellers are only as good as their last booking. And they are working when they want around other commitments, not fitting life around work. They could be very grateful and enthused for a two hour burst of activity. If they're useless, don't book them again.
If part of your requirement is Slivers-of-Time and the rest is for conventional workers, the marketplace can be used as a recruitment filter. A couple of clicks will tell you who the constantly reliable sellers are, who's highly rated by your staff and getting re-booked constantly. Those people may not interview well for all sorts of reasons, but they really should be on the shortlist for your next vacancy.
Community ownership of the enhancements. This isn't a task carried out by outsiders while locals sit back. 100 immediate households have a member who was part of the effort.

2) Boosting local employment

Using your £100,000 to get a local market for Slivers-of-Time off the ground may require a bit of extra effort. You may need to take some steps to accelerate the spread of available work through the market in its early days. In particular, the money will have the most impact if your project allows you to:

National Community Forum

Break the workplan up into very short chunks, ideally about two hours, per booking.
Book at short notice, allowing sellers to be flexible in their ability to work right up to the last minute.
Avoid developing a small pool of favoured sellers, consciously look to book new people as much as the ones you know. The system can help with this.

The benefits for local employment of using your project to kick-start a Slivers-of-Time marketplace could include:

Individuals who can't hold down a formal job have been allowed to work on their own terms at the times of their choosing.
The funds seed something much bigger than the £100,000 would otherwise have bought. As your pool of sellers begins to build a collective track record of reliability they become a valuable asset for a range of local employers who can come into the market. (See business case for buyers.)
Minimal "leakage" of skills. Hire 5 full-timers and they would be as likely to leave the area or go back on benefits at the end of the assignment as enhance the local workforce. With Slivers-of-Time, the Enhancement Project leaves behind 100 people who have learned some soft skills, been incentivised to master computers and had regular exposure to the disciplines of work.

Doing the maths

Of course, the 100 figure is a variable. As a rule of thumb assume a conservative hourly charge of £10.00, including employment costs, for this type of work. Now think of the £100,000 as 10,000 hours of local people. That could be 50 people getting 4 hours a week for a year, 25 people getting 8 hours around each week's commitments in their life. Even 200 people getting 2 hours a week for 6 months.

Either way, if the type of work is right, there's a good chance that your Slivers-of-Time marketplace can get it done more efficiently, by a more willing workforce. And the project could leave behind a growing employment resource for the community.

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