{"id":73045,"title":"🇨🇦 Airwork - Canada's on-demand frontline workforce","tagline":"We connect Canadian businesses with the top 5% of general and skilled labourers within 2 hours","body":"**tldr; Canada is facing a skilled labour shortage. Airwork is solving this by connecting businesses with the top 5% of general and skilled labourers on a flexible basis. Companies can fill any shift within 2 hours, and workers can work on their own terms. Check us out at **[**airwork.io**](http://airwork.io)**!**\n\nHey everyone, 👋\n\nI’m [Gary](https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyjlin/), the founder of [Airwork](https://airwork.io). We’re a team of 5 building a marketplace to solve Canada’s labour shortage and give everyone the power to work on their own terms.\n\n### **Problem: Canadian businesses are struggling with staffing**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=73045\u0026key=user_uploads/425576/dbbd3422-576c-41db-aab8-2ae66e7c6bb0)\n\nIn Q4 of 2022, 36.9% of all Canadian businesses experienced difficulties hiring skilled labourers, led by construction (49.5%), manufacturing (47.4%), and food services (46.3%). We spoke to over 100 companies, and more than half have experienced one of these within the last 90 days:\n\n👎 Candidate doesn’t show up to interview\n\n👎 Candidate signs offer but doesn’t show up on the first day\n\n👎 Employee quit without notice\n\n👎 Employee consistently shows up late or leaves early\n\n👎 Skilled labour positions go unfilled for months due to lack of applicants\n\n### **🎉 Solution: Airwork 🎉**\n\nAirwork is an on-demand labour marketplace that lets managers book vetted workers online within minutes. We spent the last year building in private beta and are now launching in **public beta**! 💪 🚀 📈\n\nAirwork’s vetting process involves a resume screen, attendance test, background check, and video interview. As a result, out of tens of thousands of applicants, only the top 5% are selected.\n\nWe’re live the Greater Toronto Area, just expanded to all of Southern Ontario, and plan to expand across Canada.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=73045\u0026key=user_uploads/425576/78a4a429-d2f2-4752-82b5-83f74d4e9656)\n\nTo date, Airworkers have filled skilled and general roles for:\\\n1\\. Manufacturing plants\\\n2\\. Warehouses and logistics companies\\\n3\\. Construction companies\\\n4\\. Events, conferences, and weddings\\\n5\\. Commercial cleaning and facility services\\\n6\\. Commercial printing\n\nWorkers can download Airwork on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and apply to become an Airworker. Airworkers can book shifts nearby and get paid within the same day.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=73045\u0026key=user_uploads/425576/4fe06d68-03a9-44ec-b1d0-2a860ba9d9ff)\n\nOur business portal also enables managers to create shifts, manage rosters, trigger backfills, and track time sheets all in one place. We also automate administrative and compliance complexities, reducing the overhead of workforce management:\n\n✅ WSIB insurance coverage\\\n✅ RCMP-backed criminal record checks\\\n✅ Payroll and time-tracking\\\n✅ Automated backfilling\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=73045\u0026key=user_uploads/425576/8890f4bb-d0a4-41e8-9421-eb96fc0fbe05)\n\n### **Do you need workers?**\n\nAre you in Southern Ontario? Sign up for a free account at [airwork.io](http://airwork.io) and try us out! If not, reach out to [gary@airwork.io](mailto:gary@airwork.io) to join your city’s waitlist.\n\n### **Do you know someone that might need workers?**\n\nSend a referral to [gary@airwork.io](mailto:gary@airwork.io). Once your referee books 10 shifts on Airwork, we’ll give you a $1,000 CAD referral bonus! 💸\n\n### **Do you want to take control of your work schedule?**\n\nDownload our app on the [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/airwork/id1644979123) or [Play Store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.airwork.Llama) and get apply to become an Airworker today! 💪","slug":"J09-airwork-canada-s-on-demand-frontline-workforce","created_at":"2023-07-13T19:36:14.142Z","updated_at":"2026-05-24T22:32:48.370Z","total_vote_count":22,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/J09-airwork-canada-s-on-demand-frontline-workforce","share_image_url":"//bookface-static.ycombinator.com/assets/ycdc/yc-og-image-c440a0ad1dacfb86eeeb343717479cc54d256614449b4ef719977a0a451f8bc8.png","company":{"id":25753,"name":"Airwork","slug":"airwork","url":"https://www.airworkhq.com","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/56001462329ab8e4508e33bbe9a5568c23ef72a6.png","batch":"Winter 2022","industry":"B2B","tags":["Marketplace","B2B","Recruiting","Enterprise Software","AI"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/25753"}}