Having spent more than 15 years working in the hospitality industry, Wing Prakoso, co-founder at Hore! Indonesia, only knows the staffing issues in the sector too well.

He said: “It is difficult to get competent daily workers, especially when hotels have events or are fully booked. The problem is not because no one can be employed, but because millennial workers lack motivation and commitment to work, and also have attitude problems.”

On the other hand, he is also concerned about the growing number of vocational school and university graduates who remain unemployed as hotels cut back on manpower amid current economic situation.

Keen to address this challenge of supply and demand, Wing and two friends in January 2018 launched Hore! Indonesia (which stands for Hire On Ready & Educated) as an platform for hospitality recruiters to hire ready and educated staff to complete daily jobs.

Through the platform, hoteliers can access a ready pool of qualified workers, who have been interviewed, filtered and tested for their abilities. For young people, Hore! offers a flexible way to earn money and build up their experiences while providing flexibility in work hours.

Wing elaborated: “Hore! Indonesia is similar to Grab and Go-Jek. Hotels select the workers, who will then respond whether he or she can or cannot do the work.”

To become members, interested hotels and workers just have to sign up on the website. How then does Hore! ensure that its pool of workers are competent and ready for hire?

Wing explained: “Every worker who registers as a member of Hore! must go through several stages before being allowed to find work. First, they must fill in the profile data and be interviewed by our team, who then gives a review and rating. After that, we will provide training (to them) based on reviews and ratings.”

Hotels or parties can also rate the services of the workers. The higher the rating, the higher the renumeration rate for a worker. The rating also determines the quality and performance of the worker.

He added: “The rating also applies to hotels. Workers have the right to give an assessment, whether the hotel gives a reasonable fee, treats workers well, among others. This is to ensure the welfare of our members.”

Both hotel or workers can submit complaints, which will be followed up by an Hore! staff to mediate and seek a solution for both parties.

Workers who have received complaints will be temporarily suspended and sent to a training or workshop, Wing told TTG Asia.

To date, 1,350 workers have joined Hore! Indonesia as members. The platform has also established cooperation with 40 hotels, 10 restaurants, two event spaces, and one catering service in Surabaya, while in Jakarta it has partnered with seven hotels, one event space and one catering service.

Going forward, Wing hopes to attract more young people to join the platform and increase the workers’ hourly wages, which are currently paid at an average of 120,000 (US$8.40) to 150,000 rupiah.

Next on the start-up’s agenda is expanding into other cities, such as Yogyakarta, Bandung and Bali.

“We hope to work more with big (hotel or restaurant) brands. We also intend to collaborate with tourism institutes and vocational schools.

“We aim to be the platform that will empower young generations for a greater good and to contribute to Indonesia’s hospitality industry,” Wing concluded.