Matt Laurinas

In 2018 Bluecrew was launched to address the need for companies to streamline how they hired flexible staff. Businesses that needed workers to fill roles for seasonal needs or projects would either look to temporary staffing agencies or hire full-time or part-time employees themselves. While agencies can supply workers quickly, the quality and commitment of these workers can vary to the extent that training and replacement hires could prove costly; and the investment associated with hiring W-2 workers is impractical for short-term and project needs. 

Enter Bluecrew, whose vision is to provide employers with the stability and quality of W-2 workers on a temporary and project basis. Bluecrew handles the complexities that a 1099 employer would normally pass onto their contractors like tax withholdings, FICA taxes, and worker’s compensation insurance. 

Bluecrew employees, in turn, can have a flexible work schedule, and receive training for each type of business. This way employees build skills and qualifications to be employed in various organizations. 

BlueCrew’s company clients get a pre-screened and curated workforce compliant with labor laws and regulations. All of the workers have profiles, pictures, ratings, and a list of their previous experiences.

A New Climate

As Bluecrew matured, its growth coincided with another trend - worker independence. Workers desire flexibility, not only in terms of shifts but also pay, location, and responsibility. Workers want to be able to pick shifts that meet their compensation requirements and schedule, they also want to find roles that help them build skills that match their desired career path in desirable locations. 

By providing tools that help workers meet these requirements, Bluecrew's digital staffing platform ensures that teams can quickly scale to meet business demand while supporting the goals and objectives of the evolving workforce. 

This approach ensures business customers refrain from investing in unnecessary staffing costs.  Employbridge’s technology, powered by Bluecrew provides improved transparency and 24/7 access to instantly match job openings with high-quality talent. All actionable data and analytics including seasonal trends and wage tracking for your area help businesses hire quickly, pay fairly, and retain a quality workplace. 

“I am super passionate about Bluecrew’s mission to help hourly workers. If I could support any mission, it would be providing support to blue-collar workers, who truly are the backbone of our country but don’t always get the credit — or opportunities — they deserve. I hope to continue providing avenues for continued education, upskilling, and growth to the hourly workforce.” -Matt Laurinas, Chief Customer Officer, Bluecrew 

Bluecrew is hyperfocused on providing W-2 workforce-as-a-service for industries that count on a scalable hourly workforce. As Matt Laurinas, Chief Customer Officer of Bluecrew states, "hourly workers are the backbone of the economy, these workers make everything happen behind the scenes. From warehouse to event staff and logistics support, front-line workers make our lives easier." 

By focusing on these workers and providing them with the stability of regular paychecks, Bluecrew matches hourly workers with roles that last months or even years, while offering the flexibility and choice as other gigwork platforms. Allowing workers to decide where and when they want to work while also giving them the freedom to choose for how long. 

These features make Bluecrew uniquely positioned to support both employers and workers as we move into the age of flexible work and technology-enabled hiring for frontline staff.

Bluecrew is at the forefront of meeting the demands of the modern workforce. In 2023, Employbridge conducted the Voice of the American Workforce survey. The results of the survey indicate that flexibility is a primary concern for workers.

Roughly 35% of logistics workers surveyed said they would prefer four-day, 10-hour shifts, and more than half of all workers said they are interested in a schedule that would allow them to choose which four- to six-hour shifts they want to work. More than 80% of hourly workers across all verticals said they were willing to use an app to manage their work, choose their schedule, or find a job, according to the survey.

Worker flexibility is only becoming more important. Bluecrew sees worker choice as a permanent fixture on the workforce landscape and continues to build features that improve the experience of hourly workers. Providing these workers with stability, opportunities to learn, fair wages, sick pay, and perks that keep them engaged is Bluecrew’s approach. Truly a unique perspective that is shaping the future of work!