16
February
2023
February 16, 2023
The crisis that is currently plowing through industries such as hospitality, healthcare and social services, to name a few, is not simply a matter of finding reliable workers, but a manifestation of a much deeper problem. The problem is the lack of care for and appreciation of the talents working these industries. This directly translates from low pay, demanding working hours and a poor work-life balance. All of these constraints have been building up for decades, and has culminated to talents leaving entire industries despite still being extremely passionate about their work and practice their profession through a love for it.
This is why Brigad exists. Since its creation in 2016, Brigad has offered everyone the opportunity to pursue their passion and still feel valued, considered and, above all, free. By giving talents the means to pursue their passion as independent work, Brigad allows them to enjoy control over their schedule, regain a healthy and fulfilling life balance, and continue to advance in their career.
The model that appeals to all professionals, across all industries
Brigad is one of the solutions contributing to the change we are seeing in the working world - that the desire to be self-employed (i.e. freelance) is reaching new sectors, much further beyond the industries that freelancing has traditionally existed (e.g. nurses, developers, photographers, recruiters, plumbers).
Skilled professionals are now looking for more freedom, flexibility and a good work-life balance. In particular, the hospitality and healthcare industries have experienced a rise of more independent workers recently. This is good news for both large companies and smaller independent businesses, who are always looking for competent and passionate people for sporadic support. But Brigad isn’t fighting for a world without employees - it enables professionals in these sectors to have the opportunity to work on their terms, if they choose, supporting the permanent employees and therefore access all the advantages of the self-employed lifestyle.
Technology to enhance the value of work
60% of the professionals who use the application say they would have left their industry and given up on their passion if they had not known about Brigad. By finding the control over their time and therefore, a better balance between their personal and professional lives, they say they are more confident, happier and once again proud of their skills.
“I have a family. I always felt a bit burnt out, and now that I have the choice, I have a much more balanced professional life. I get to spend time with my kids, take them to school in the morning." Wolfe Conyngham, self-employed chef.
It is this lack of care and appreciation for talent and hard work that has caused hundreds of thousands of skilled professionals to leave their industry and move on. This shortage may have been highlighted during the COVID crisis, but in fact, it has existed and continued to grow for many years now.
“I had lost the desire to work, I no longer had the pleasure of getting up in the morning to go to work. Since I discovered Brigad, I feel like I've rediscovered my job: Brigad has changed my life!” Ornis Lodi, self-employed carer.
Raising €33 million to make Brigad accessible to a greater and wider variety of professionals and businesses
In 2022, Brigad supported 200,000 missions to be carried out by more than 15,000 qualified self-employed professionals in 10,000 user establishments in France and the UK. Thanks to this fundraising, Brigad will double its workforce by recruiting 350 new employees by 2024. This means the company can continue to improve the experience of businesses and talent on the app, keeping in line with our mission to make work attractive and accessible to all.
Already thinking ahead, these are some of the improvements we plan to achieve with this round of investment:
- Improving the quality of the connection with more reliable Talents, ease of tracking the progress of any missions, and smooth-sailing when meeting for missions for the first time.
- Better management of activity, with a better understanding of any expenses.
- For Talents, a better assessment of skills, pay according to specialism or experience on Brigad, the possibility to evolve in their career, all this, while being paid consistently.
- More visibility for Talents on their future missions, by developing safety nets in case of unforeseen events.
- Finally, overall improved support for everyone who uses Brigad.
Building and improving our team, developing the best applications and accelerating our international growth are all part of Brigad's ambition. Brigad is addressing a market of more than 100 million workers in Europe, who are all facing the same problems of feeling undervalued and under-appreciated, which is why we expand quickly as it is crucial to support this market as soon as possible.
