Wyrk CEO Sarj Dhaliwal told DESIBUZZCanada people want flexible hours, flexible commitments, and appropriate remuneration – work/life balance. Organizations want the right person, with the right skills, qualifications, and attitude, at the right time for the right value. Wyrk can do this without sacrificing the goals of the organization.  So how do these two needs intersect with Wyrk? Through the power of technology!

By R. Paul Dhillon – Editor-Founder DESIBUZZCanada 

VANCOUVER – A new way of looking for work, finding work and finding workers App is here and it’s appropriately titled Wyrk.

Wyrk CEO Sarj Dhaliwal told DESIBUZZCanada people want flexible hours, flexible commitments, and appropriate remuneration – work/life balance. Organizations want the right person, with the right skills, qualifications, and attitude, at the right time for the right value.

Wyrk can do this without sacrificing the goals of the organization. 

So how do these two needs intersect with Wyrk? Through the power of technology!

Using Wyrk’s ‘work to worker’ algorithms and AI, work is offered to qualified workers for self-selection, based on their qualifications, skills, desires, and time available.

Wyrk’s AI combines the worker’s needs and those of the organization – to find the best-fit candidate: whether for one-off shifts, short term commitments, or possible future long-term employ

Dhaliwal, who was born in India and came to Canada in 1973 when she was 9, joined Celayix, the company which founded the WYRK app..

Celayix is a company that was started in 2004 to provide scheduling software to a local security company, eventually, Caesars Entertainment came to them in 2007 and asked us to produce a self-scheduling product for their seven properties in Vegas – this led to our flagship product which is used by all the large properties in Vegas, a number of venues, lots of different industries, and even Fox News.

Dhaliwal, who grew up in Quesnel, BC and went to UBC and then to BCIT and eventually got her CA as a result of amazing mentors and support and worked in International Tax for EY and in Corporate Tax at KPMG, said Wyrk is an initiative that has been in the works for a few years.  It took Celayix’s flagship product and modified it so that it looks from a worker's perspective and needs.  

“As we researched the gig economy, we realized that we can do a lot more with Wyrk than just being a middleman,” Dhaliwal said. “We can level the playing field between those who provide the services and those that use those services.  Wyrk is a matchmaker and will redesign the lives of hourly workers by creating transparency that does not exist today between those who work and those who hire those workers.”

Here is DESIBUZZCanada’S full interview with Sarj Dhaliwal. 

DESIBUZZCanada: Can you tell me more about Wyrk - what is it and how it works.

SARJ DHALIWAL: It’s a matchmaking service between workers and those that need the services of those workers.  The matching is done through our various algorithms and AI.  Essentially, for people looking for work register on our platform, we ask them a bunch of questions about their background, experience, and if there is something they want to do outside of what they have done.   With this initial information, we follow up with the worker for a virtual interview to understand some more and request permission for background checks.  Once this process is complete, they are added to the Wyrk platform and they can continuously modify information on the app – new experiences, availability, etc.  There is no fee.

We do the same with clients. 

When a client is looking for someone to do some work for them, be it for a day, a week, a month, or longer, they input their requirements into our platform, the AI and Algorithms search the database and come back with person(s) who match the requirements.   The client selects and sends an offer to all or some of the matched persons.  The Wyrk app alerts the worker of the offer.  The worker will see who the offer is from, what other workers have said about this client – both good and bad, where it is and the timeframe, how much he/she/they will be paid.  The worker can accept or decline the offer.  If they decline, it is gone.  If they accept, they will then get the necessary instructions.  Once the work is done, the payment process is triggered and it is Wyrk that pays so we are responsible for any bad debts.  Initially, we will be paying once a week.  The eventual goal is to go daily if that is what the worker requires.

Once we have sufficient mass, we will allow for people to search for one-off shifts.

The focus of Wyrk is in eight different industries:  security, construction, home healthcare, events, hospitality, cleaning, farming, warehousing.

DBC: Is this another online recruitment tool or is it different and how?

SD: No and a small yes.  The small yes, our clients are encouraged to hire the workers from our platform on a full-time basis once they have found someone they like.  We would be moving away from a one-way interview process (the employer interviews and decides if they want to hire you).  With Wyrk, the interview is working for a prospective employer so each party sees how they fit or don’t fit.

The primary focus of work is allow workers and business is to connect with each other.  We remain in contact with both sides to ensure the relationship is mutually beneficial.

DBC: How do workers and employers use this app?

SD: Workers use the app to get alerted to work that they are pre-approved for.  Their phone will alert them when someone offers them work. They will be able to see as many details of the offer as they deem necessary before accepting or declining. Employers can screen qualified workers within seconds of inputting their request.  They will know what the person is going to cost them for the time requested and what other people for whom this person has worked for thinks of them.  We are cognizant of the racial bias even in AI and are working to ensure that we don’t allow it.

DBC: Is there a cost involved for employees and employers to use this?

SD: There is no cost whatsoever for the employee and they are guaranteed to make more than minimum wage – so there is no bidding down.  As we build up mass, we will be able to provide the employee a similar pay for similar work for we can remove the disparity the current exists in the marketplace – our objective for our algorithms and AI is to be color/race/orientation blind.  A person will stand out based on their merits.

There will be a mark for the employer to use the platform until that employer outright hires the worker as an employee, at that point Wyrk steps aside, no questions asked.

DBC: Are there similar Apps to Wyrk and what sets it apart from the others?

SD: There are some, with the exception a handful, none in Canada, they do not push the work out to the worker.  Some have taken the concept of craigslist and put that into an app and people can go look for work when they want to.  In our case, Wyrk is designed to allow work to be offered based on the person's personal preferences.  I sometimes equate it to an introduced marriage.  When my parents introduced me to my husband, he was pre-approved, I just had to get to know him better before going to the institution.   Same here, the person will be selected (introduced), they can show up to work, do the work, get paid and if the relationship needs to become more, they become the employee and leave Wyrk’s platform behind.  If it’s not a fit, everyone goes their own way.  The current turnover rate of hourly workers is as high as 74%, Indian divorce rate is well below the national average, I am guessing but single digits.  Can you imagine if Wyrk can reduce the turnover to less than 50% because people get to know each other before making a commitment?  It costs an average of $1500 to replace an hourly worker (overtime prior to finding a replacement, training, recruiting, advertising).

DBC: Why is it being introduced now and what is the company's goal?

SD: It’s time.  We have been in the workforce management for almost two decades now.  We know that as the world continues to move towards the future, people are looking at their lives differently than say we did or our parents did.  As this pandemic has shown, the poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer.  With Wyrk we want to help the bottom half of the population from falling further behind.  We want to level the playing field where people are paid fairly for the work they do.  

We believe that everyone is capable of achieving great things, sometimes they just need help.  We want to be that hand.  We want to uplift families.  We want people to be paid a living wage so that they have what everyone wants, a home, a car or two, 1.6 kids, and a vacation without worrying about how they are going to put food on the table. 

I have been there when my mom didn’t have enough money to buy milk.  I know how it feels.  No one should have to.  I believe that Wyrk can help.   I also believe in an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work.  I know that is cliché, but I was once a janitor in a pub nonetheless.  I also know what it means when someone doesn’t call you back even though you are the most qualified.  Remember I grew up in 1980s Canada.  But I have also had the privilege of having people open doors for me and pull and push me through those doors and it is my job to do the same for those who come behind me.  If we don’t the world isn’t going to change for the better.

There are lots of things that I want Wyrk to do.  Wyrk is a social organization that can make lives better for people at the low end of socioeconomic scale.

DBC: Is the App worldwide or designed specifically for local employers in Metro Vancouver, BC, Canada?

SD: The plan is worldwide!  We are starting in Vancouver because this is home.  We have a significant client base in Las Vegas, that’s the next stop.  Then we will spread out east, south and west.  We, meaning Celayix, have extremely large clients in NY, Chicago, Houston, Dallas and many other major cities.